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

The Blue Jays could be in for some roster turnover this offseason, and that could include a bit of a glut that’s developed at second base.

Throughout the 2022 campaign the Jays actually had a fair bit of stability in their starting lineup. They dealt with a few injuries to George Springer, Teoscar Hernandez and Lourdes Gurriel Jr. each also missed some time, and they saw two IL stints for Danny Jansen, among other trips to the Injured List for the roster, but most of their hitters had a pretty healthy season overall. That meant that we saw a pretty steady presence at the hot corner from Matt Chapman with Vladimir Guerrero Jr. on the other corner, and 157 games from Bo Bichette at shortstop as well.

The position that had the biggest revolving door would be at second base, and in a lot of ways that was by design. Both Charlie Montoyo and John Schneider had the option to use a platoon at the position, and that’s often the strategy that was utilized. Looking ahead, there’s a decent chance they could continue that plan into 2023 as well, but that could also depend on a few of the roster decisions that they’ll make over the winter.

While we wait for Ross Atkins and company to make those decisions, I thought it would be fun to review who the Blue Jays could line up as their regular starter in 2023. They finished the year with at least 3-4 options on their big league roster, and all of those players remain under contract control for next season and beyond.

Let’s have a look.

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.

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.