Blue Jays getting an assist from an old friend?

If the rumours are true, the Blue Jays could be very close to making an impact addition to other roster. Oddly enough, an old friend had something to do with it.

Surprisingly there have been more rumours than actual transactions since the lockout came to an end, and Monday wasn’t a whole lot different, at least as of this writing. There were a handful of signings across the league, but only one roster move that would fall into the elite tier in my mind. That would be the trade of Matt Olson from the Oakland A’s to the Atlanta Braves for a haul of young players and prospects. While that’s a huge addition for the Braves, it also means they’ll be saying goodbye to a franchise icon in Freddie Freeman.

And if the rumours are true, the Blue Jays might be the team to swoop in and sign the 2020 National League MVP.

According to former big leaguer Carlos Baerga, Freeman could be headed to the Blue Jays now that he’s looking for a new home. Speculation ran wild on social media throughout Monday, especially after Lourdes Gurriel Jr. commented on the thread on Instagram. I wouldn’t call Baerga an MLB insider necessarily, but it is noteworthy that he’s been the one to break Blue Jays related news before, so there could be fire where there’s some smoke here.

Freeman is a bit of an odd fit in Toronto, and that’s something we’ve talked about before here at Jays Journal, but truly elite hitters like the left-handed slugger don’t grow on trees. While he’s a bit redundant defensively with the presence of Vladimir Guerrero Jr., his bat is a nearly perfect fit to compliment what the Blue Jays already have going on.

As a little aside, and I’m not at all suggesting anything strange went on here or anything, but the Blue Jays may have received an assist from an old friend if they end up signing Freeman. That’s because Alex Anthopoulos, their former GM, was the man that ultimately made the decision to trade for Olson rather than re-sign Freeman. It was a gutsy call to move on from such a popular player in Atlanta, and one that just helped bring them a World Series title, but Anthopoulos has made a lot of smart decisions over the course of his career. Only time will tell if he made the right choice here.

Speaking of only time will tell, we still don’t know who or if the Blue Jays will announce as their latest impact roster addition, but it feels like something big is close, and that could very well be the former Atlanta slugger. These are the fun days to be a Blue Jays fan, my friends.