Blue Jays: Potential replacements for Marcus Semien

Chris Taylor

Lack of postseason experience isn’t a problem with Chris Taylor. The versatile free agent, who spent the last five seasons with the Los Angeles Dodgers, has appeared in 62 postseason games over that span; only former teammates Joc Pederson, Justin Turner, and Cody Bellinger, plus four members of the Houston Astros, have played more.

Taylor is the type of player the Blue Jays would be able to plug in anywhere in the lineup. Just in 2021, he played 61 games in centre field, 46 at second, 30 in left, 23 at short, and even added 11 at third base. He appeared in at least 10 games at five different positions.

It would be as a second baseman, replacing Semien, that the Blue Jays would likely utilize Taylor the most. If he played there on a full-time basis, Taylor would rank eighth in the Majors with a .804 OPS since 2017. Just nine other second basemen last year matched Taylor’s 20 home runs, 73 RBI, and .782 OPS. None of them displayed the same versatility and possess the same playoff experience that he does.

Taylor is coming from an organization that made deep playoff runs a yearly ritual. He’s played in three World Series over the last five years, winning a championship in 2020. It’s something the current Blue Jays regime is trying to build. Among players to appear in at least 70 games for the Blue Jays in 2021, only Randal Grichuk and George Springer have played a postseason game further than the Wild Card Round.