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Toronto Blue Jays choose your own adventure: Option 3.1

By Chris Henderson

Jul 27, 2019; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Toronto Blue Jays relief pitcher Daniel Hudson (46) delivers a pitch against Tampa Bay Rays in the 12th inning at Rogers Centre. Mandatory Credit: Dan Hamilton-USA TODAY Sports
Jul 27, 2019; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Toronto Blue Jays relief pitcher Daniel Hudson (46) delivers a pitch against Tampa Bay Rays in the 12th inning at Rogers Centre. Mandatory Credit: Dan Hamilton-USA TODAY Sports /
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If you’re here, you’ll either know exactly why, or you’ve started from the wrong spot. To begin your Blue Jays choose your own adventure at the start, click here.

So you’ve decided that a long-term deal for a free agent over 30 just isn’t your thing. That’s understandable, although you’ll have some work to do in order to get the fan base to forgive you. Fortunately winning solves everything, and while Gray and Matz are no Robbie Ray, the rotation is still in good shape.

From here you’ve chosen to stick to the free agent market to take care of the rest of your needs, and you have some payroll to play with. However, will that strategy pay off?

It certainly won’t hurt when it comes to the strength of the bullpen, as you’ve made the smart decision to bolster the greatest weakness of the club from 2021. Daniel Hudson is back on a new two-year pact for 12 million, and you also bought in Mark Melancon on a one-year, seven million dollar deal. Both right-handers have experience as a closer, and will provide a much better cushion for Jordan Romano and Tim Mayza in the late innings.

And then came the surprise of the offseason. The front office ended up approving the funds you needed in order to sign Chris Taylor to a 4 year, 60 million dollar contract. He wasn’t really even on the radar, but he makes a lot of sense for this roster. He’ll slot in at second base for the departed Marcus Semien, and he can play centre field as well if George Springer has injury troubles again in 2022. While other teams were focused on the top of the middle infield market, you were smart enough to jump on the chance to sign Taylor.

Blue Jays Choose Your Own Adventure. dark. Next

When you look at the sum of the parts, you’ve had a nice offseason by signing Jon Gray and Steven Matz to boost the rotation, Daniel Hudson and Mark Melancon to improve the bullpen, and Chris Taylor to play the infield. There wasn’t the same degree of headline-grabbing move that we’ve seen the past two offseasons, but there was a tidy bit of work done here. Nice job.

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