Who will be the starting second baseman for the Blue Jays in 2023?

The New Guy- Whit Merrifield

The Blue Jays didn’t do much to boost their lineup ahead of last season’s trade deadline, but the one move they did make was acquiring Whit Merrifield from the Kansas City Royals. Merrifield is a 2x All-Star and had several productive seasons for the rebuilding Royals, and after years of resisting the temptation to trade him, including when his value would have been much higher, they finally decided to move on in exchange for Max Castillo and Samad Taylor.

The 33 year old had a slow start in his new uniform, but he finished the year hitting .281/.323/.446 with five home runs, five doubles, and 16 RBI over 121 at-bats as a Blue Jay. He also finished the regular season as hot at the plate as any hitter in baseball as he slashed .500/.500/.708 over his last seven games. With Merrifield playing so well he deservedly entered the playoffs as a no-doubt starter, appearing both at second base and in left field.

One of the added bonuses that came with picking up Merrifield was the extra year of contract control he came with rather than being a rental. He’s finally finishing up the bargain contract he signed with the Royals, and according to spotrac.com he’ll make just 2.75 million next year, with an incentive that could increase the total by four million as long as he spends 110 games on the active roster. After that he also has a club option for 18 million for 2024, but it’ll almost certainly be passed on since it comes with just a 500k buyout.

While there are a few directions the Blue Jays could go with second base in 2023, I wouldn’t be surprised at all if they looked to Merrifield as the majority starter at the position. He does have the versatility to play in the outfield as well, and I’m sure he’ll move around a bit no matter what happens, but he showed why he can be a valuable guy to have around down the stretch and probably earned another look next year.

The Jays could decide to allocate the 6.75 million he’ll likely make to another area of the roster, but considering the return they could get for the reasonable salary, I think he’ll stick around for another year. That said, there are several other options available to them.

Rolling with a platoon

As I said earlier, the Blue Jays have several options returning from their 2022 roster unless they make some changes over the winter. A roster tweak or two could come from the group we’re talking about today, or it’s equally possible that we could be looking at another job share for Cavan Biggio and Santiago Espinal.

Most of the fan base is familiar with what the duo brings to the table, and it’s a pretty serviceable combination. Espinal is an elite defender who is capable of also backing up Bo Bichette at shortstop and Matt Chapman at third base, and having him at second gives them a very strong group as a whole. He’s also been an improving hitter, and is certainly capable of hitting in the bottom third, especially when he adds his quality glove work to the fold.

As for Biggio, he’s had some pretty mixed results over the last two seasons but he did play much better this year than he did in 2022. The fact that he brings a left-handed bat, has the ability to play third base, first base, and in the outfield, and that he’s been a long-time teammate of most of this core might cloud our perceptions of his true value, but he was still worth 0.9 bWAR with just 257 at-bats this year.

Biggio will be arbitration eligible for the second time this offseason after making a little over 2.1 million this year, and spotrac.com has him projected for a modest raise to 2.7 million for next year. He has three more years of contract control, and his salary is still pretty reasonable. As for Espinal, he is arbitration eligible for the first time this offseason, and spotrac estimates his salary at just over 1.8 million after making just $723,550 this year.

While the Jays could certainly use this duo as a platoon at second base next year, it’s equally possible that both return in some sort of platoon role. The bench could be an interesting area of the team that they may or may not address, but both players are versatile enough to bring a lot of value as full, or part-time players.

Ross Atkins could ultimately decide to trade from his deeper second base group, but I wouldn’t be surprised if all three of Merrifield, Biggio, and Espinal were still on the roster next season either.

A Creative Solution

As I’ve already said, I wouldn’t be surprised if the Blue Jays stayed with the status quo as they begin the 2023 season, but I wouldn’t be shocked if they decided to get creative either. What do I mean by that? How about using their top prospect Gabriel Moreno more at a secondary position?

Moreno is one of the top catching prospects in baseball, but he’s not your typical backstop due to his elite athletic ability. We got to witness some of that versatility as the Blue Jays moved him around the field during the last game of the season, but his abilities make what we saw anything but a gimmick.

The biggest reason that I’m personally entertaining the idea (not that I have any say) is I’m not really sold on the idea of trading Moreno this winter unless the return warrants the move in a big way. The Blue Jays have an embarrassment of riches at the catching position, and while it’s possible that they could trade Danny Jansen or even Alejandro Kirk instead, I don’t think it’s out of the realm of possibility that they could look to keep all three. By the end of this past season both Kirk and Jansen were lineup regulars between catching and the DH spot, and if that were to continue it would be hard to make room for Moreno.

Of course, that aforementioned athletic ability has landed him professional experience at a few different positions, and with his elite hitting tool in tow as well, I don’t think it’s out of the question that he could see reps at second base. The Blue Jays have long been fans of versatility, and it could be a creative solution that allows them to keep all three of their talented catchers.

Do I think this is going to happen? I can’t say that I do, as I think the temptation to use an area of roster depth and strength will be too great as they pursue pitching upgrades over the winter. There’s no doubt that plenty of rival GM’s will be calling and asking for the going rate on a starting catcher, but if Atkins can’t bring himself to let any of them go, there might be a solution to find room for everyone.

Fine, I’ll admit it’s possible

By now I’m sure there’s a portion of you that have been waiting to finish this article and tell me about the option I haven’t mentioned. Well, even though I don’t agree with the idea at all, I’ll admit that it’s possible that the Blue Jays could move Bo Bichette to second base.

In my view, I think young Bo takes more heat than he deserves for his defence, even if I’m willing to admit that he made his fair share of poor errors in 2022. We’ve long heard about his work ethic and his desire to improve his defence, and I think we’ve seen plenty of evidence of improvement over the last season or two, even if the results don’t always show up on paper.

I know some fans and even some writers have suggested that the Blue Jays could experiment with Bichette at second base while starting Espinal at shortstop, and I’ll concede that it makes sense to some degree. I’ll admit that Espinal is the superior defender, but he’s nowhere near the two-way player that Bichette has proven to be, and I’m not sure I love the idea of locking him into an every day gig either.

There’s also the fact that Bichette is just three years away from free agency, and there’s a strong chance that the Blue Jays still want to lock him up for the long-term. He’s stated many times that he’s committed to the position, and I don’t think he’d give up his spot without a fight. Of course, if the Blue Jays went out and signed someone like Carlos Correa then the story could be different, but I don’t expect that to happen either.

In my opinion, I’ve seen enough improvement in Bichette to believe that he’ll continue to move in a positive direction as a shortstop, and that patience will ultimately be the Blue Jays’ friend here. However, instead of just waiting for the “Bo will be the 2B comments!” to come in, I thought I’d just address it directly.

Unless something major happens over the winter, I fully expect Bichette to return as the starting shortstop in 2023, even if I’ll reluctantly admit that it’s possible that might not be the case.