Blue Jays: Questions that need to be answered yet this season

How to spend the winter budget

For as great as the roster that Ross Atkins and his team have assembled in Toronto, there is a lot of work to be done this coming winter.

By far the biggest questions will be about the pending free agency of two star players in Marcus Semien and Robbie Ray. We’ve talked about this quite a bit at Jays Journal recently, and I even wrote about how the Blue jays probably can’t extend everyone that they’d like to. In fact, I’d argue that it will come down to Ray OR Semien this winter, and that’s not a choice that I envy at all.

A month ago I would have bet that there wasn’t much of a choice, even if the Jays would like to keep both of them. That was before Austin Martin was traded to Minnesota, so he clearly won’t be taking over at second base if Semien leaves. I’m sure the Jays were hoping that Martin and Jordan Groshans could be realistic candidates for promotion in 2022, but even Groshans is still playing in AA at this point.

It’s possible that the Blue Jays will stay very close to Semien’s free agency and hope that his market isn’t as good as the 30 year old deserves. He was an All-Star and has had a seamless transition to second base this year, and will likely finish with several career highs in offensive categories. With the ability to play shortstop and his well deserved reputation as a premium player and clubhouse presence, I wouldn’t rule out the Blue Jays making a serious bid.

I’m certain they will want to keep Ray around as well if they can, but it may come down to what he’s able to fetch in free agency. Like Semien, Ray is arguably having a career season, and his improvement in the control department has put him on a new level. A month or two ago it seemed unthinkable that they could let him walk, but after trading for Berrios and seeing Alek Manoah’s emergence as a quality MLB starter, it’s not as clear as it once was.

Of course, the Blue Jays will also face some serious pressure to spend money to improve their bullpen too, so even if ownership approves a significant boost to the payroll there’s still going to be a limit to what they can do. I think most of us can agree that this team is “good”, but not quite “great” just yet, and the decisions that Atkins and company make this offseason will have a tremendous impact on the future of this team.

No pressure or anything.