Buzz is beginning to grow around another Blue Jays trade chip ahead of 2025 season

Back in July, Jays Journal made the case the Toronto Blue Jays should have traded starter Chris Bassitt at the trade deadline. The impressive return the Blue Jays front office acquired for a two-month rental of back-of-the-rotation starter Yusei Kikuchi and a clear need to restock their organization with higher-end, young talent were reasons to move the veteran righty.

We also noted that the Baltimore Orioles and Los Angeles Dodgers, with their highly-ranked farm systems, stocked with exactly the type of MLB-ready prospects the Blue Jays organization covets, were both in the market for starting pitching at the time to try to help them win the 2024 World Series.

Two potential playoff runs with a consistent starter like Bassitt should have been on the table. Now again in November, a year of Bassitt, at an AAV of $21M, holds trade value for a contending team in 2025.

Buzz is beginning to grow around Chris Bassitt as another Blue Jays trade chip

Jim Bowden of The Athletic agrees, listing Bassitt along with Vladimir Guerrero Jr. as notable Blue Jays players who could be traded this offseason (subscription required). Bowden also noted how Toronto’s farm system needs an infusion of prospects.

Just like Bowden argues that, “trading Guerrero is imperative if they can’t sign him to a long-term deal this offseason,” he doubts the Blue Jays will extend Bassitt, who is only signed through next season. Therefore, he believes, “they should move the 35-year-old righty now while he still has trade value.”

So this is where we need to peer into our crystal ball while also looking in the mirror. Does this front office truly believe “that there's enough talent in place to build a contending, championship-caliber team next year” as team president Mark Shapiro stated in August after the trade deadline sell-off?

The answer to that question may be dependent on their ability to sign franchise-altering talent Juan Soto. However, wouldn’t a big, long term extension for Soto’s good friend Guerrero Jr. be a prerequisite before he would commit to taking Toronto’s riches?

Wouldn’t he want to take his talents to Rogers Centre knowing that he’d be competing for World Series championships over the next decade-plus with his Dominican national teammate, and continue the long line of Dominican baseball royalty that has called Toronto home?

But some MLB pundits like Bowden are calling for a Blue Jays teardown because they don’t believe Soto will sign with Toronto, and they don’t see extensions for any of Guerrero, Bo Bichette, Jordan Romano, Chad Green or Bassitt, who would all be free agents after next season. In other words, they don’t believe that the Jays will contend in 2025 and should, therefore, trade anyone who holds value and could return top-tier prospects to help with a rebuild.

Bassitt’s frustrations came out after a tough season

Toronto’s front office under Shapiro has a long history of trading away players who express frustration with the direction of the organization. Bassitt certainly raised eyebrows in late August with his brutally frank assessment of the Blue Jays' struggles in 2024, when he said, “I don't want to identify the problems because some of the problems I don't think are fixable.”

Later in September, Bassitt said, “You have a lot of so-called ‘pissed-off veterans’ in there ” and that “It’s been the worst year of my career” in an interview with baseball columnist Mike Wilner of the Toronto Star.

Those sentiments were later echoed by his rotation mate, Kevin Gausman, who told Rob Longley of the Toronto Sun:

“I’m sick of the ‘talent’ talk. We’re so talented, this and that. We’ve got to start winning games. We’ve got to figure it out. We’ve got to do it quickly. I’m only getting older. Bassitt is only getting older. If we want it to happen with this group, it has to happen soon. So what are we going to do?”

At Shapiro’s year-end press conference in early October, Toronto Star columnist Rosie DiManno mentioned that she’d heard recently from a player that the club was a “f%&#ing sh$tshow." If that truly came from a clubhouse leader, it sure sounds like it could be attributed to one of Gausman or Bassitt, who clearly don’t have that many more years left at the peak of their powers to win a ring.

If legacy is what Bassitt is thinking, then that frustration is understandable. Nicknamed "Hound," he clearly wants to win his first championship, and likely only has a few good years left as he enters his age-36 season.

He has been remarkably consistent, averaging 29 starts per full regular season since 2019, or 157 starts in total over that stretch, which included only 11 starts in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season. He has pitched to a 3.43 ERA, 3.93 FIP and ERA+ of 117 over 917 innings since then. Surely every contending team could use an innings eater like that.

Ahead of the July trade deadline, Sportsnet’s Ben Nicholson-Smith wrote that the Blue Jays front office planned, “to keep the door open on contending in 2025,” so that prying a player like Bassitt or Guerrero away from Toronto would be extremely difficult.

But the leap from planning to contend to actually contending in 2025 is a big one. If they can’t sign Soto or another big bat, as well as completely rebuild their bullpen, it may be near impossible. With so many holes to fill, is the Hound a luxury the Blue Jays can no longer afford?

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