Blue Jays: Beyond Bauer- Top five rotation options remaining

The Blue Jays still have a need in their starting rotation if they truly want to compete. Beyond signing Trevor Bauer, what are their best options?

I’m sure that’s a question that Ross Atkins and the front office are asking themselves multiple times a day right now. They’ve already landed their big fish for the winter, officially agreeing to a six-year, 150 million dollar pact with George Springer, but they have the available payroll and potential trade assets to take the roster improvement another step further.

They still need to address third base as well, as I don’t think the Blue Jays are going to hand the job back to Vladimir Guerrero Jr., but the greatest need remains in the starting rotation. The obvious fix would be to sign Trevor Bauer, but that’s going to be extremely expensive and there are reasons to be reluctant about signing him even if he’s one of the best pitchers in the world. I’m not ruling out the possibility, but I think the Blue Jays will look elsewhere. Which leads me to my question for today:

What the best options available to them?

I’m going to leave Bauer off the list, and I’ll do the same with Luis Castillo of the Cincinnati Reds, as I don’t think he’ll end up traded, and I think we can all agree he’s included if he is available anyway. For now, let’s look at some less obvious names that could still fill the Blue Jays’ needs in the rotation, and hopefully give them the kind of production that will truly move the needle in 2021.