Blue Jays: Ranking the best infield options that are still available

The Blue Jays managed to make an impact signing for their rotation before the lockout began, but they’ll still need to address the infield once they’re able to re-engage with players again.

As things stand at the moment teams can’t be in contact with their own players, let alone free agents, so even if Ross Atkins and company wanted to keep working on improving the roster they would have to break the rules in order to do so. I doubt that’s going to happen, especially in a situation that has both the league and the Player’s Association taking a pretty firm stance.

Still, Atkins is going to have plans in place for when things get moving again, so I thought it would be fun to have a look at the best remaining infielders that could be available to the Blue Jays. We’ve already seen new contracts for top-of-the-market free agents like Marcus Semien (seven years, 175 million with Texas), Corey Seager (10 years, 325 million with Texas), and Javier Baez (six years, 140 million), and Carlos Correa and Trevor Story still remain available. That said, I really don’t expect the Blue Jays to swim in the deep end at this stage, so I’m not going to talk about Correa or Story in this article.

Instead I’d rather look at the rest of the free agent market, and also at players that could potentially be available in a trade to see how many realistic solutions there are for Atkins and his team to consider. With the presence of Cavan Biggio and Santiago Espinal it’s likely that the Jays will only add one player to the mix, and rely on those two to fill the other role. That could mean the Blue Jays pursue a second baseman, a third baseman, or who knows, maybe they’ll acquire another shortstop and ask them to change positions again.

Let’s have a look at some of the best who could be available.

A surprising free agent possibility

One player that was actually linked to the Blue Jays quite a bit over the last week has been Kris Bryant, which I found to be at least a bit surprising.

I’ve ranked Bryant as the fifth best option that could be available, but that’s based on a few factors other than his ability. If that was the sole focus here, then the former NL MVP is higher on the list. That said, I think Bryant is still going to command a fairly hefty contract, and likely one for a lengthy term. He won’t turn 30 until January, so he should have at least a few years of prime production left in the tank.

On the plus side, Bryant would be a pretty nice fit with the Jays to fill the hole at the hot corner, which would allow Biggio and Espinal to slide to second base. Bryant also has the ability to play throughout the outfield, which could come in handy over the course of a 162 game season, especially as the Jays rotate players through the DH spot to give their regulars a rest. He slashed .265/.353/.481 with 25 home runs, 32 doubles, and 73 RBI over 513 at-bats, good for 3.3 bWAR on the year. He might not be the MVP-level performer he used to be, but he’s still very much an impact player.

For the Blue Jays, the biggest obstacle I see here is the length of the contract that Bryant is likely seeking. They likely can afford to pay him a salary of 20 million or more in 2022, but that’s going to get more difficult in a few years when Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Bo Bichette get closer to free agency, not to mention the rest of the roster. They’ve already committed an AAV salary of 22 million to Kevin Gausman for the next five years, up to 20 million per season for the next seven years for Jose Berrios, 25 million per year for George Springer for five more, and more.

In my mind a more likely solution is that the Blue Jays find an infielder that can help them without their having to make a big-money, long-term commitment. For that reason, I have Bryant ranked fifth, even if the fit would work pretty well.

A new name on the trade market?

There were a flurry of moves ahead of the expiration of the last Collective Bargaining Agreement, and no team was more aggressive than the Texas Rangers. They managed to steal away Marcus Semien from the Jays, but they had to handsomely reward him with a seven-year deal to do it. As I mentioned earlier, they also handed Corey Seager the offseason’s biggest contract so far, shoring up their middle infield for years to come.

What does that mean for Isiah Kiner-Falefa, who had a solid season in 2021? It could mean a position change to third base in 2022, or maybe that he ends up in a new uniform instead. He spent last season making 155 starts at shortstop for the Rangers, but he’s played plenty of third base in the past, so it would be an easy enough transition for him I’m sure.

Kiner-Falefa was quietly a valuable contributor in Texas last season, slashing .271/.312/.357 with eight home runs, 25 doubles, and 53 RBI, also swiping 20 bases on his way to earning 3.7 bWAR. A fair bit of his value comes from his glove work, and for that reason I’d be interested in seeing what he looks like as a second baseman. That said, if he were to join the Blue Jays they may prefer him at third anyway.

He wouldn’t bring a traditional power bat to third base, but the 26 year old still finds plenty of ways to bring value to his team. He has two years of arbitration eligibility remaining, and spotrac.com has him projected for five million in 2022, so salary obviously wouldn’t be a problem. The bigger hurdle would be seeing if the Rangers were willing to trade him, and what they’d ask for in return. I see Kiner-Falefa as an under the radar candidate that could make sense for the Jays, but not among the top three. Don’t be shocked if you see his name floated in the rumour mill if and when the lockout ends though.

Back to the potential trade market

I made a bit of a prediction that Kiner-Falefa might be available at some point this offseason, and I’m prepared to do the same for another player. That would be Jeff McNeil of the New York Mets.

The Mets are another team that has been very busy so far this offseason, already signing Max Scherzer to a massive three-year deal, as well as bringing in Starling Marte, Mark Cantha, and Eduardo Escobar on free agent contracts. It would appear that the Mets are tired of missing the playoffs.

The addition of Escobar is what makes me wonder if the Mets might make McNeil available. As it stands they have an infield that includes Franciso Lindor at shortstop and Pete Alonso at first base, and Escobar will play one of the other two positions. The Mets could start Escobar at third base and keep McNeil as their regular second baseman, or it’s possible that they could use someone like J.D. Davis at the hot corner, which would allow Escobar to play second.

In this case you may have to convince the Mets to give up McNeil, but they don’t have the same urgency for his presence on the roster as they once did. He’s a utility man by trade, but they don’t need him to play the outfield anymore now that they have Marte, Cantha, Brandon Nimmo, and even Dominic Smith. Again, he’s probably the most likely candidate to start at second base for the Mets next season, but they do have other options, and it’s possible they’re not done improving the roster either.

Considering McNeil is coming off of a down season that saw him slash just .251/.319/.360 with seven home runs and 35 RBI over 120 games, his value isn’t as high as it was a year ago. Prior to that he had averaged a .383 OBP from 2018-2020 over his first three years in the league, and he was an All-Star in 2019 when he hit .318 and provided 23 home runs and 73 RBI will he bounced all over the field defensively.

It’s entirely possible that the Mets just decide to hang on to the 29 year old, but their roster also feels pretty fluid at the moment. I’m willing to bet if the Blue Jays called and made an offer that they liked, they’d at least entertain the idea. With three years remaining of contract control (under the past CBA, anyway), McNeil is one player I’m certainly intrigued by.

Going back to the same well

As I said earlier, I’m not going to write about Jose Ramirez or Ketel Marte much today other than to say that I think they’re the obvious top trade targets, I’m just not sure that either are going to be available.

Matt Chapman of the Oakland A’s on the other hand, should be.

With the A’s rumoured to be on the cusp of a rebuild, it’s possible that they could make several of their talented veterans available on the trade market. For a Blue Jays team looking for a star infielder to help mitigate the loss of Marcus Semien, Chapman could be a feasible target. Spotrac.com has him estimated a salary of 9.5 million for the 3x Gold Glove winner, and he’ll have one more year of arbitration eligibility in 2023 before he’ll become an unrestricted free agent.

I’ll admit that Chapman isn’t an ideal candidate, mostly because he’s coming off of a season and a half of down production by his standards. In 2021 he slashed just .210/.314/.403 with 27 home runs and 72 RBI over 151 games, and that’s a far cry from the numbers that saw him receive MVP votes in 2018 and 2019. However, Chapman won’t turn 29 until late April of next year, so age-related regression should have nothing to do with it. In my mind, he’s a solid bounce back candidate, and he’s still one of the very best defenders in all of baseball.

On top of his gold standard defence and potential to be a real asset with the bat, the idea of acquiring Chapman has other angles that could be beneficial. At this stage the Blue Jays may also be looking for a fifth starter to join Jose Berrios, Kevin Gausman, Hyun Jin Ryu, and Alek Manoah, and the A’s just so happen to have a few valuable veterans. The most likely candidate would be Sean Manaea because of his expiring contract after 2022, but with Chris Bassitt and Frankie Montas both having just two years each before becoming free agents, the A’s might consider moving them as well. Not that expanding a trade always makes it easier, but it could certainly catch Oakland’s eye in this situation.

If the A’s are serious about trimming the payroll and turning to more of a rebuild in Oakland, the Jays could be a great fit for a big trade, even if that didn’t work out so well for them back in 2014 when Josh Donaldson became a Blue Jay. It looked like a pretty significant package that was sent to Oakland for the eventual 2015 AL MVP when Toronto swapped Brett Lawrie, Kendall Graveman, Sean Nolin, and Franklin Barretto in exchange for the star that hadn’t even found his full potential yet. Let’s just say that one worked out pretty well for then-GM Alex Anthopoulos.

Could there be another opportunity for the Blue Jays to acquire a former Oakland third baseman? As I already said, it’s not an ideal fit by any means, as they would be gambling on a return to form, and bringing in another power-dominant right-handed hitter. Still, as I survey the rest of the options that could be available (excluding Ramirez, Marte, Correa, and Story), I feel like Chapman makes the most sense.

What do you think Blue Jays fans? It might be a while before we find out the answer to this question, but who do you think the Jays will target to fill their infield vacancy?