Blue Jays named in wild trade proposal for Cleveland Guardians star infielder

All of Canada is still heartbroken from the Toronto Blue Jays' loss in the 2025 World Series. However, the offseason comes quickly and the Blue Jays must now focus on 2026.

The Blue Jays will have decisions to make on some free agents on the roster including Bo Bichette, Chris Bassitt and Max Scherzer. The Blue Jays have also been projected to get in on the free agency action, already being linked to big-name pitchers including Ranger Suarez and Framber Valdez.

Another avenue the Blue Jays will likely explore is the trade market and they could potentially reignite talks with a team that has become a frequent trading partner with the Blue Jays over the last several years.

Blue Jays named a landing spot for Ramirez

Recently, Bleacher Report's Zachary D. Rymer wrote an article titled "Pitching Unpopular MLB Offseason Trade Ideas." Rymer had the idea that the Blue Jays should make a trade for Jose Ramirez from the Guardians. His trade proposal would see the Blue Jays land Ramirez in exchange for Andres Gimenez, Addison Barger, JoJo Parker and Arjun Nimmala. In 2022, the Blue Jays did try to trade for Ramirez. However, Rymer made a valid point as to why this offseason could be the year for the Blue Jays to land him.

"They'll need to make splashes this winter if they want to maximize their odds of defending their AL pennant," Rymer said. There's no denying that Ramirez is a superstar player. Since 2017, Ramirez has made the All-Star Game in all but two seasons. Ramirez has had four seasons of recording at least 100 RBIs, and has hit 285 career home runs at 33 years old. An advantage that Ramirez can bring to a lineup is that he puts up big numbers as a switch-hitter.

While he's never won the award, Ramirez has been near the AL MVP discussion each year since he finished third in 2017. Ramirez has also won five Silver Sluggers. Ramirez is one of the AL MVP candidates this year with Aaron Judge and Cal Raleigh.

What makes this deal work is that the Guardians could be in a position this offseason to try and move Ramirez after another postseason failure and on their end, trying to bring in some impact pieces for now and the future would be a huge coup for them, and a nice selling point to the fans who adore Ramirez. For the Blue Jays, Ramirez is a superstar and would give the Blue Jays a ton of length in the lineup, especially if they lose Bichette.

However, this is an enormous price to pay for the Blue Jays as they covet positional flexibility and the two major leaguers in this deal give them a ton of it. Both Barger and Giménez can play multiple positions, while the two minor leaguers are up the middle type prospects who are still teenagers and several years away from their prime.

Ramirez does have three years remaining on his contract though, and if he replicates those MVP type seasons in a Toronto uniform it would lessen the sting of seeing a Barger, Parker or Nimmala excel in Cleveland. But would Cleveland be so open to bringing Giménez back on the same contract they got rid of him for just one year ago?

The Blue Jays will be hungry for bigger things in 2026, and trading for Ramirez is an option the team may consider this offseason, but if that's the price Cleveland sets, it would be hard to envision the Blue Jays pulling the trigger.