Blue Jays: Top Three Trade Chips On The 40-Man Roster

(1) Randal Grichuk- OF

Randal Grichuk is set to make $31m USD between 2021 and 2023. Grichuk has been subpar at getting on base throughout his whole Jays career, producing an abysmal OBP of .293 in over 1300 PA. On the other hand, he has also been one of the more consistent power threats for the Jays, mustering a .477 slugging percentage since joining the club in 2018. Although nothing special as an aggregate player, you know what you will get from Grichuk: a serviceable OF defender with 30-homer pop who will be in the bottom 10 percentile in walk-rate.

If the Jays acquire a George Springer or a Michael Brantley in the coming weeks, then paying Grichuk to be a $10m bench bat is more of a cost redundancy than anything. As it stands presently, Grichuk is not worth $10m USD AAV, especially in this slow market. With that said, I think $5m-$7m USD is more than reasonable for Grichuk’s repertoire. Even if the Jays had to eat a couple million a year, it would still make sense so that they could use the rest of the contract savings as leverage to acquire players that fulfill other areas of need.

Possible Return: Veteran Relievers

Here’s an idea: trade Grichuk to a team in need of offence in the OF and look for bullpen depth in return. The Jays current bullpen is very inexperienced and it could be wise to add a few veterans into the mix to stabilize the pen. The Jays may have to eat a couple million each year of Grichuk’s contract, but if they do add to the OF, then it makes little sense to keep Grichuk around at his current cost unless manager Charlie Montoyo could find him AB’s.