The Blue Jays must build around Vladimir Guerrero Jr. this offseason

The Toronto Blue Jays are sitting in a weird place right now, which has been evident since day one of the 2024 season.

Armed with Bo Bichette and Vladimir Guerrero Jr., two of the game's brightest young stars, it felt like this club should've been prepared to take the next step after failing to advance past the Wild Card Series last year. Instead, the team has fallen flat and Bichette has completely disappeared.

Through it all though, Guerrero has remained the elite talent he's always been. Not only is he matching his 2021 MVP-worthy output, but he's also one of the game's hottest hitters and the undisputed face of the Blue Jays' franchise. An extension for him needs to be priority No. 1 for the Blue Jays moving forward.

Beyond that, it is of the utmost importance that the Jays have a busy offseason coming up, one that sees them aggressively build around Guerrero.

The Blue Jays need to build around Vladimir Guerrero Jr.

We've already established time and time again that Bichette is not long for the Blue Jays. The fit has gradually been fading as the years have gone on, and now it's at the point where he needs to be shipped out to the highest bidder and the Jays turn their attention to a Guerrero-based core.

Fortunately, there's already a pretty solid group in place in Toronto. Spencer Horwitz has emerged as an excellent infielder with a bat worth playing on an every day basis. Joey Loperfido and Will Wagner are sure to have growing pains as they develop in the big leagues, but they're highly touted prospects who should have no problem sticking. Those names are nice to have, but there needs to be more.

If the season ended today, there'd be some pretty significant names hitting the open market, but there's a possibility that some extensions get signed before the offseason begins.

As of right now, Pete Alonso, Willy Adames, Juan Soto, Alex Bregman, Matt Chapman, Jurickson Profar and Anthony Santander stand out as some of the top position players who will be available. It's unrealistic to expect the Blue Jays to land more than one of these names, but there needs to be at least one signed to a deal if the offseason is to be considered a success.

The name that sticks out the most is Santander, who has spent the last eight years patrolling the division rival Orioles' outfield and torturing the Blue Jays all the while. A first-time All-Star this year, the 29-year-old is on fire, hitting 36 home runs with 80 RBI and a 136 OPS+ through 119 games. He's not going to be cheap, but he also may not demand quite as much as someone like Soto, Bregman or Alonso.

But if Bregman is available and within the Blue Jays' price range, he'd be an incredible upgrade at the hot corner. He's a two-time All-Star and two-time World Series champion, so he'd automatically bring a ton of experience and professionalism to a dugout that needs it.

Bregman, 30, has 19 home runs and a .764 OPS through 116 games this year. His production has ever-so-slightly dipped this year compared to years past, but he remains one of the top offensive third basemen in the league. Again, he'd be a massive upgrade over the laundry list of names the Jays have thrown out at third base this year.

The point is the Blue Jays desperately need to lock up Guerrero and then do everything they can to build around him. Last offseason they made some impressive runs at Soto and Shohei Ohtani but came up empty-handed. This time around, it needs to be different.