4 perfect trade partners for the Blue Jays to fix infield logjam

Milwaukee Brewers

Finally, for one of the more surprising teams in the league. Despite the Brewers’ recent track record of having great success during the regular season for five of the past six years, they appear to be headed towards an unexpected rebuild following the exodus of key players this offseason.

In particular, they traded away their ace Corbin Burnes to the Baltimore Orioles, and lost the likes of Victor Caratini, Rowdy Tellez and Brian Anderson to free agency. They had also even non-tendered front-end starter Brandon Woodruff, before they doubled back and brought him back on a two-year deal. The Brewers’ likely plan was to hope that when he returns from his injury in 2025, they will be ready to compete again after a short rebuild.

With just Willy Adames and newly-signed Rhys Hoskins left to anchor the Brewers’ infield in the coming year, they need considerable help with both their second and third base positions if they intend to at least be a passable competitive team in 2024.

The Jays have the excess bodies in those positions and could lend a hand in helping the Brewers out to fill that void. Among the players that could be of interest for the Jays, we had once before brought up the idea of acquiring former MVP Christian Yelich to bolster their lineup. In addition, the highly-underrated Devin Williams could be one of the best closers in all of baseball, but has been often overshadowed by the likes of Josh Hader in the past few years. Also, if the Brewers go into full strip-down mode for their rebuild, Adames would be a great option for the Jays even with their infield logjam, since he would be a significant upgrade from what they have in place at third.

In terms of the likelihood of players that the Jays would put on the trade block, Espinal is the leading candidate to be dealt, since he will likely get the short end of the stick in terms of playing time again this season. New additions Turner and IKF won’t be going anywhere, while Biggio showed in the second half of last season that he could be a viable flex option that could play multiple positions well in the infield and outfield. If a potential deal involves recruiting a star player to the team, then the Jays would probably need to up the ante by involving Schneider, or even top prospects Barger and Martinez to get it done. Nevertheless, the excess of quality infielders is a great problem to have for the Jays, so it’s now up to them if they are able to fully take advantage of the situation.