Blue Jays: Some of the best moves that Ross Atkins didn’t make

I can’t even imagine the panic and frustration

Like I said when talking about Luis Castillo, this is another situation that I expect to resolve itself over time, and probably sooner than later. That said, the start of Francisco Lindor‘s tenure with the Mets has been nothing short of a disaster, and that’s after they signed him to a fresh 10-year, 341 million dollar deal before the season began.

And there was a time when it felt like he was destined to land with the Blue Jays

Because Atkins and Mark Shapiro had come from Cleveland before working in Toronto, they’re perpetually linked to anyone from that organization that might be available. In the case of Lindor, there was a lot of speculation that saw him ultimately landing with the Blue Jays, and it might have happened if the cards had been played a little differently.

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For what it’s worth, I still believe that Lindor is one of the best baseball players in the world, but his performance so far has been dreadful. He’s currently slashing .163/.297/.207 over his first 25 games and 92 at-bats. Just this week he snapped on 0-26 skid that nearly topped the worst stretch of his career, and somehow he’s collected just one home run and three RBI. Again, this isn’t going to last forever, but I can’t say I blame Mets fans if they’re a little worried at the moment.

What could have made matters even more frustrating would have been if the Jays sought a package that included Carlos Carrasco as well in order to upgrade the rotation. It would have made sense at the time, but unfortunately the right-hander hasn’t been able to make an appearance for the Mets in the regular season yet, and it sounds like he won’t make it back until late-May at the earliest.

As stressful as that could have been, it also would have been tough to see the type of return that Cleveland would have wanted for Lindor and/or Carrasco. Similar names like Gurriel Jr., Groshans, Woods Richardson, and Manoah would have been in the conversation, and the price would have been even steeper if the Jays wanted both. For the time being, it looks like a major bullet dodged, even if Lindor is bound to get back on track sooner or later.

As much as we all want to see the front office acting aggressively throughout the offseason, sometimes it’s the changes they don’t make that pay off the most. Considering all of the moves they were reportedly interested in looking at, things could have turned out a lot worse, at least at this early stage in the year.