Kevin Pillar sparked the debate, but Blue Jays can’t afford to trade Alejandro Kirk

Everyone is in agreement that the Toronto Blue Jays need to make big changes this winter after a last-place finish in 2026 — but who exactly should that involve? Former Blue Jay outfielder Kevin Pillar believes that the front office should test the market for just about all its players, including All-Star catcher Alejandro Kirk. 

While Pillar has since clarified he is not suggesting Toronto should trade Kirk, it doesn’t change the fact that any deal that ships him out of town would be a step in the wrong direction for the Blue Jays.

Why shouldn’t the Blue Jays listen to offers on Alejandro Kirk?

Catchers who can hit and field at an elite level are unicorns in today’s game. It’s easy enough to find guys who are great behind the plate—Brandon Valenzuela is proof—but very few can hold their own at the plate. 

When teams are lucky enough to find one of those two-way catchers, the next challenge is keeping them around. Well, the Blue Jays also took care of that problem when they inked Kirk to a team-friendly $58 million contract that runs through 2030. He probably would have gotten close to double that salary had he hit the open market in his prime. 

Teams would of course pay a high price for Kirk with all this in mind, but who would the Blue Jays get back that would be worth it? Unless the Milwaukee Brewers are calling to offer playoff hero William Contreras, there isn’t a swap out there that makes sense. 

Kirk’s combination of offensive prowess and strong defensive play on a cheap contract make him borderline irreplaceable. That’s before even considering his intangible value as a leader and game-caller. Moving on from him would only push the Blue Jays further away from winning a World Series. 

Pillar understands all this, though. He also understands that sometimes the best trades are the ones nobody expects for players who nobody thought were available. The Blue Jays’ trading Fred McGriff and Tony Fernandez for Joe Carter and Roberto Alomar in December of 1990 is the classic example of a shocking deal that paid huge dividends. 

Unfortunately, it would be hard to trust current Blue Jays general manager Ross Atkins to execute the kind of swap that Pat Gillick pulled off. For all his wins in free agency, Atkins has been far less successful in the trade market. He failed miserably the last time he traded away a fan-favourite hitter. 

The smartest and safest path for the Blue Jays getting back to contention is building around Kirk. They should be working to supplement him with some potent bats while also bolstering their pitching staff. Getting Vladimir Guerrero Jr. back on track is also key to a turnaround, for obvious reasons. 

While, yes, it’s important to always pick up the phone when rival GMs call just in case someone offers something truly unexpected, Toronto shouldn’t make any proactive calls on Kirk. He’s too good and too cheap to trade away. The Blue Jays will be a better team in 2027 with him as their catcher. 

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