Blue Jays tried to sign Corey Seager? What does that mean?

According to ESPN’s Jeff Passan, the Blue Jays were legitimate contenders to sign superstar shortstop Corey Seager. We’ll likely never know just how close they came to landing the former L.A. Dodger, but in a lot of ways I’m glad they weren’t willing to match the 10-year, 325 million dollar contract that he ultimately signed with the Texas Rangers.

I have to admit, I was genuinely surprised to hear this report from Passan, and he’s one of the handful of reporters that I’ll generally take at their word. It’s not that I don’t think the Jays are willing to spend, but I’m sure they understood that it was going to take a mega-contract in order to secure Seager’s services. The fact that Passan names them as a team that was legitimately in the mix could mean a few different things.

The most obvious would be that they really liked what Seager brings to the table, which is fair enough considering the 27 year old is one of the premier infielders in baseball when he’s healthy. He missed some time in 2021 that held him to just 95 games, but he finished with a slash line of .306/.394/.521 with 16 home runs, 22 doubles, and 57 RBI, good for 3.7 bWAR. He’s a 2x All-Star, a 2x Silver Slugger award winner, and has received MVP votes in three of his seven seasons, and that number would likely be higher if not for his injury history.

In my view the Blue Jays’ interest in Seager is a pretty huge development, and it could mean a number of different things. For today I’d like to present what could be the good news, what could be the bad news, and what I think their interest most likely means. This is my own speculation of course, but now that we know that the Jays were interested in fishing in the deep end for roster upgrades, the possibilities have opened up in a significant way.