5 reunions the Blue Jays absolutely cannot pursue during the 2024-25 offseason

Paul DeJong, INF

This past season, Paul DeJong was a revelation as he put together his best season since his 30-homer, 78-RBI All-Star campaign back in 2019 with the St. Louis Cardinals. Signing on as a free agent with the Chicago White Sox during the 2023-24 offseason, DeJong busted out offensively after struggling for much of his previous four seasons.

He posted a .227 average and a .703 OPS, along with 54 runs scored, 17 doubles, 24 home runs and 56 RBI in 139 games split between the White Sox and his post-trade deadline club, the Kansas City Royals.

However, despite the offensive outburst, some worrisome underlying numbers include his atrocious .168 batting average when hitting with runners in scoring position, along with his extremely high strikeout rate of an alarming 37%. As a result, it appears that most of his numbers were generated in a “boom or bust” approach at the plate. So it was either going to be the long ball or a feeble strikeout for much of his outcomes.

But more importantly from the Jays’ standpoint, it will be difficult for the club and their fanbase to forget about the horrendous stint DeJong previously had following the 2023 trade deadline. As a temporary replacement for Bo Bichette, who was sidelined with an ill-timed right knee injury right before the deadline, DeJong failed miserably to provide any impact at all during Bichette’s absence.

In 13 games, he managed only one run on three hits with one RBI, along with zero walks and a whopping 18 strikeouts in 44 at-bats for an .068 average and .136 OPS. Frankly, DeJong was finished before anything even began as he was promptly and deservingly designated for assignment upon Bichette’s return to the lineup.

To prevent all of that from ever happening again, it should be in the Jays’ best interest to stay away from something that didn’t work out once before. Unless of course they want to take the chance of it blowing up in their faces again as an encore.