Toronto Blue Jays: Ideas and Trade Partners for Randal Grichuk

Prior to the 2018 season, the Toronto Blue Jays acquired OF Randal Grichuk, for RHP Dominic Leone and pitching prospect Conner Greene.  The former Angels 1st round pick was immediately given an every-day role with a then-rebuilding Blue Jays team.

After swatting 25 dingers and a 107 OPS+ in his first season as a Blue Jay, one week into the 2019 season – with two years still left of control – he was rewarded a five year, $52 million extension. This was only hours after the Jays traded away their defensive highlight reel man, CF Kevin Pillar, solidifying Grichuk as a piece of the future.  At the time it made sense as the Blue Jays had aspirations to contend in the near future (and plenty of payroll room) and not much for promising outfield prospects (Anthony Alford and Jonathan Davis among them, but both no longer with organization).

With the Blue Jays no longer in rebuild mode and now striving for playoff/World Series contention, it is clearly stated over the last year how many fans want Grichuk’s contract gone due to the flaws in his game – GIDP machine, very streaky hitter, when he’s on a cold streak, he’s COLD.  However, and to be fair, if we’re going to point out the flaws, the positives need to be made as well.  He lead the Blue Jays in home runs and RBI over the 2019-2020 seasons combined.  When George Springer went down with an injury at the start of last season, he filled the needed CF role on both sides of the ball, and from April thru June, he had 14 HR and a wRC+ of 102, proving to be a viable replacement (though the same stat rest of the season was a very poor 62).  Although he’s definitely not top of the lineup hitter, he has played whatever role needed by this organization during his tenure.

Entering the 2022 season, Grichuk is still owed $10.333-mil in each of the next two years according to Spotrac.  It is not a great contract, but there are worse currently out there across the league.  All that said, while there is still value to the Jays due to his ability to play CF if Springer were to go down again – it may be better to reallocate that money to fill another need if there is a trade partner out there.

Just because a player brings a certain value to one team, doesn’t mean the same for others.  Especially when you are talking about potential contract swaps – though they could go the route of dumping him and including a prospect to minimize the amount eaten, but I wouldn’t expect that – and actually think Grichuk is worth more than that. The Jays need a trade partner who has a need for an average OF (100 OPS+ last 4 years), that can capably play CF, while adding some pop.  A team that also would like to either shed payroll or reallocate a contract of their own to their outfield.

Here are a few potential suitors:

Philadelphia Phillies

Back in October, Phillies President Dave Dombrowski was open about the shortstop position not guaranteed to be‘ for the 2022 season.  After a rough season on both sides of the ball and the Phillies’ motivation to make a playoff push (hence why they brought in Dombrowski), it is fair for them to keep options open at the important position.

If the Phillies choose to go another route at SS, mixed with Alec Bohm penciled in as the 3B, Gregorius could find himself on the outside looking in.  Yes, Jose Ramirez is on top of the wish list for 3B.  No, this doesn’t mean Didi is better suited than him either.  But, even if Ross Atkins himself was certain a deal will get done for JRam, he’d be foolish to not entertain other ways to upgrade 3B as a position to reallocate the Grichuk contract, if possible.

Entering his age 32 season, Gregorius is coming off a very poor and below-his-standards year with a .639 OPS, and is in his final year under contract for $15.25-mil, plus $1.5 mil in deferred money as per Spotrac.com.

He may not have the type of pop you would hope from a corner position, but he provides an upgrade on defence with capability to play SS and 3B, a left-handed bat to balance out the offence and comes with five years experience playing in the AL East.  While he is coming off a rough 2021 season, from 2018-2020 he had an OPS+ of 112, if he can regain that form he would be an upgrade on offence as well.

I’m not sure how specifics would go here, but one would imagine either some cash or someone the Jays can plug into their pen or minor league pitching depth would also be coming their way.  A deal for Gregorius wouldn’t hurt the payroll by preventing any other moves given only one year left, and this would temporarily solve the need for a 3B, and still enables the Jays to use free agency and prospect capital to address other needs.

Cincinnati Reds

The Reds have been rumoured to be sellers this off-season and can go many ways about it as they have both attractable pitching and contracts they could look to move.  Whether they look to tie those players together to attract a partner or conduct trades separately remains to be seen.

They have two contracts that come to mind that they may be looking to move.  Eugenio Suarez, 30, is guaranteed ~$36-mil over the next three years including his $2-mil 4th year buyout, and Mike Moustakas, 33, is guaranteed $34-mil over the next two years including his $4-mil 3rd year buyout.

We have no idea what the Reds’ intentions are, and even when a team looks to shed payroll or go through a minor rebuild, they are still a big league team and one would hope they would be interested in fielding a competitive roster.  With the departure of Nick Castellanos – who opted out of his contract – the Reds could look to replace that bat.  While Grichuk is no Castellanos, he could certainly fill that void for a corner OF with pop.

Both Suarez and Moustakas seem appealing as they both play 3B.  The former is a RH hitter who strikes out a lot but provides the stereotypical needed 3B power – three seasons of 30+ HR, including 49 in 2019 – while the latter is a World Series champion who brings some power of his own with 71 HR from 2018-2020, along with a 110 OPS+ during that duration, all the while balancing the lineup with his LH bat.

If the Blue Jays and Reds have mutual interest in such a trade, I feel this one could consist more along the lines of a multi-player deal with more pieces going in both directions.  However this would play out, such move would require the Jays to spend more of their available funds and dedicating to the hot corner for multiple years (depending on the player and if option is picked up).  Maybe by working out a deal that includes one of the Reds’ SP could entice the financial commitment in this scenario by solving multiple off-season needs.