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Blue Jays Trade Cavan Biggio To Dodgers

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12:15pm: The teams have now announced the trade.

11:16am: The Dodgers are optioning Miguel Vargas to Triple-A to open a spot on the roster for Biggio, reports Jack Harris of the L.A. Times. Vargas has hit well in his tiny sample of work this season, but the Dodgers have moved him from the infield to left field this year and don’t have much playing time available for him at the moment. Vargas has just one plate appearance in the past five days and has only appeared in three games this month despite being on the active roster since mid-May.

Meanwhile, Shi Davidi of Sportsnet adds that the Jays are sending some cash to the Dodgers in the trade. It’s not clear how much, but the Dodgers won’t take on the full $2.49MM remaining on Biggio’s salary. They’ll still pay a 110% tax on whatever portion of his contract they do absorb, however, just as the Jays will pay a 30% tax on any cash included to offset Biggio’s salary.

8:30am: The Dodgers and Blue Jays are in agreement on a trade sending infielder/outfielder Cavan Biggio from Toronto to Los Angeles in exchange for a minor league player, reports Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet. Minor league righty Braydon Fisher is heading back to Toronto, reports ESPN’s Jeff Passan. Biggio was designated for assignment earlier in the week. The Dodgers have an open 40-man roster spot, so they’ll only need to clear space on the active, 26-man roster for Biggio.

The trade formally closes the book on Biggio’s tenure with the Blue Jays after nearly a decade-long run. Selected in the fifth-round of the 2016 draft, the now-29-year-old Biggio emerged as one of the organization’s better prospects prior to his debut and looked early in his career to be a potential core member of the Jays. From 2019-20, Biggio batted .240/.368/.430 with 24 home runs and 20 steals in roughly one full season’s worth of playing time (159 games, 695 plate appearances). His massive walk rate and blend of power, speed and defensive versatility made him one of the more intriguing young players on the Jays’ roster, setting up a potential core trio of second-generation talents alongside Bo Bichette and Vladimir Guerrero Jr.

As those high-profile teammates blossomed into All-Stars for the Jays, however, Biggio trended in the other direction. Over the next two seasons, he turned in a tepid .213/.320/.353 batting line with 13 homers and seven steals. His strikeout rate climbed from 2020’s mark of 23% into the upper-20s, and Biggio’s walk rate dropped by three percentage points as well. He rebounded to post roughly league-average numbers at the plate in a limited role last year but has slipped to .200/.323/.291 with a career-worst 32% strikeout rate this season.

Overall, since that promising 2019-20 start to his career, Biggio has batted .219/.327/.351 with a 12.1% walk rate against a 27.5% strikeout rate. That production comes despite a fair bit of platooning. Biggio has mostly even platoon splits in his career, but the overwhelming amount of his production against lefties came back in 2019-20. His bat fell off against southpaws, in particular, in 2021 (.200/.290/.250), and the Jays began limiting his time against lefties more regularly in subsequent seasons.

Flawed as he may have been over his past several seasons, Biggio is a sensible flyer for a Dodgers club that has received minimal production out of second base (and, to a lesser extent, left field) in 2024. The bottom of the L.A. lineup has been an issue throughout the season. Veterans like Chris Taylor and Enrique Hernandez have struggled immensely, as has former top prospect Gavin Lux, who’s been the team’s primary second baseman but hit just .223/.277/.297 through 188 trips to the plate in his return after his 2023 season was wiped out by a torn ACL.

Biggio passed five years of major league service time earlier this season, meaning he can’t be optioned to Triple-A without his consent. He’ll likely join the big league roster and do so at the expense one of those struggling veterans. Lux has minor league options remaining and could be sent down in order to preserve maximum depth.

Biggio could step in as the Dodgers’ primary second baseman against right-handed pitching, perhaps taking a seat on the bench in favor of star Mookie Betts against lefties. Veteran Miguel Rojas could handle shortstop on those days. It’s also possible that Biggio could see some time at third base, where the Dodgers are currently without Max Muncy (oblique strain). Hernandez has filled in at the hot corner in Muncy’s absence but is hitting just .207/.277/.314 on the season. Biggio has plenty of outfield experience as well, but with Teoscar Hernandez, Andy Pages and Jason Heyward all healthy at the moment, there’s a greater need in the infield.

Biggio is earning a $4.21MM salary this season and has about $2.49MM of that sum left to be paid out. The Dodgers are in the top luxury bracket and will pay a 110% tax on that salary, meaning they’re effectively spending a bit more than $5MM to acquire Biggio. He’s controlled through next season via arbitration, so if he’s able to turn things around following the change of scenery, Biggio could be a multi-year piece for the Dodgers. The Blue Jays are also luxury tax payors at present, so they’ll save not only that $2.49MM but also a 30% tax hit on that sum.

In addition to sheer cost savings, the Blue Jays will pick up a 23-year-old righty whom the Dodgers selected with their fourth-round pick back in 2018. Fisher is a pure relief prospect who has missed bats in massive quantities throughout his minor league tenure but as also regularly battled subpar command. He’s worked to a combined 5.68 earned run average between Double-A and his first taste of Triple-A work this season. Nearly all of the damage against him came in one meltdown outing that saw him yield six runs in just 1 2/3 innings late last month.

This season, Fisher has struck out exactly one-third of his opponents (30 of 90) but also walked one-sixth of them (15). The 6’4″ Texas native punched out 30.8% of his opponents in 2022 and 32.7% of them last season but also logged walk rates of 17% and 13.4% in those respective seasons.

Given that Fisher has climbed to Triple-A this season, he could be an option for the Blue Jays in the short term. His walk rates are an obvious red flag, but it’s hard not to be intrigued by a relief prospect who’s regularly whiffed 30-33% of his opponents while posting gaudy swinging-strike rates along the way.

Cubs Have Reportedly “Privately Discussed” Vladimir Guerrero Jr. Trade

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If the Blue Jays make star slugger Vladimir Guerrero Jr. available this summer, it appears that the Cubs would be among the suitors for his services. USA Today’s Bob Nightengale reported this morning that Chicago’s brass have “privately discussed” the possibility of pursuing Guerrero ahead of the trade deadline next month.

Of course, such a deal would be predicated on Toronto actually making Guerrero available. Toronto is tied for fifth place in the AL East with a 31-33 record but currently sits just two games out of the final AL Wild Card spot, making a postseason push more than feasible in the event that the Jays manage to turn things around. Even if they don’t manage to climb back into contention, club GM Ross Atkins recently took to the radio to emphasize that trading either Guerrero or fellow star infielder Bo Bichette “doesn’t make any sense” for the Blue Jays to consider. This sort of deal would also surely require the Cubs themselves to turn things around prior to the trade deadline. While Chicago is just one game out of an NL Wild Card spot at the moment, their 31-34 record puts them mere percentage points ahead of the Cardinals for last place in a crowded NL Central division after a brutal skid that has seen them go 7-17 over their last 24 games.

All those caveats make it appear unlikely that a deal between the Jays and the Cubs will actually come together, although it’s worth noting that things can certainly change with nearly two months to go until deadline day. The idea that the two sides could come together on a Guerrero deal certainly has some logic to it, even as plenty of roadblocks remain in the way of a trade occurring. Reporting from ESPN’s Jeff Passan earlier this week indicated that the Jays are unlikely to set a course for their trade deadline strategy until after the All Star break, while Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer recently made note of the fact that the club has struggled with power production this season and indicated that he could look to address that issue ahead of the deadline.

If the Cubs are looking for power, Guerrero would certainly provide it. A three-time All Star in the midst of his age-25 season, the slugger has slashed a combined .284/.364/.498 with 113 home runs in 541 games since his breakout 2021 season where he led the majors with 48 long balls and finished second to Shohei Ohtani in AL MVP voting. In addition to his impactful offensive ability, Guerrero could be a particularly attractive trade candidate for Chicago due to his remaining team control. Most other speculative trade candidates who could add some thump to a lineup, such as Alex Bregman, Pete Alonso, and Christian Walker, are set to become free agents after the 2024 campaign. Guerrero, on the other hand, is currently slated to hit free agency after 2025. That would not only give Chicago an additional full season of team control over Guerrero’s services, but also give them the opportunity to extend him a Qualifying Offer in the event he departs in free agency.

Guerrero has almost exclusively appeared at first base and DH in recent years, where the Cubs have relied primarily on Michael Busch and Mike Tauchman this season. While the pair have been perhaps the Cubs’ most effective hitters this year, neither player figures to get in the way of a trade for a player of Guerrero’s caliber. Busch has cooled off somewhat after a hot start to the year in April and is striking out a 33.8% clip on the season, while Tauchman turns 34 in December and is unlikely to be viewed as a long-term piece even in spite of his excellent play with the Cubs over the past year. For an impact talent like Guerrero, the Cubs would surely be willing to push Tauchman into more of a fourth outfielder role while still allowing him to draw some starts on days where Busch sits. It’s even possible that the Cubs could look to free up more playing time by getting Guerrero occasional time at third base, as the Blue Jays have started to do for the first time since moving him off the position back in 2019.

Guerrero offers little in terms of defensive value at the hot corner, but the Cubs’s options at third are hardly defensively robust in their own right. Christopher Morel has gotten the lion’s share of playing time at the position this year but has received terrible ratings from defensive metrics. His -11 Outs Above Average is dead last among all qualified fielders this year according to Statcast, while his -8 Defensive Runs Saved is tied for last among all qualified infielders according to Fielding Bible. Patrick Wisdom, Nick Madrigal, and David Bote have all also seen occasional time at the hot corner for the Cubs this year, but none of them profile as quality defenders at the position themselves. If the Cubs share in Toronto’s willingness to give Guerrero even occasional starts at third base, that could allow manager Craig Counsell plenty of room to mix and match as he juggles Guerrero, Morel, Busch, and Cody Bellinger between the infield corners while also utilizing Bellinger alongside Tauchman, Ian Happ, Seiya Suzuki, and Pete Crow-Armstrong in the club’s outfield mix.

AL East Notes: Soto, Kremer, Tiedemann

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Yankees fans received an update regarding the status of superstar outfielder Juan Soto today after he underwent imaging on his forearm yesterday. Manager Aaron Boone spoke to reporters (including MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch and Brendan Kuty of The Athletic) this afternoon prior to the club’s scheduled game against the Dodgers about the young star’s status and noted that while a trip to the injured list “remains a possibility” for Soto, the club doesn’t currently anticipate one being necessary. Even so, Boone added that it could be at least “a couple” of days before Soto returns to the lineup as the club continues to be cautious about the injury.

That Soto is expected to avoid an IL stint is surely a relief for the Yankees, as their biggest offseason acquisition has carried the club offensively alongside Aaron Judge to this point in the season. Even by his own lofty standards, the young star has gotten off to an excellent start this year with a .318/.424/.603 slash line in 290 trips to the plate since the Yankees acquired him from the Padres in a blockbuster deal that sent a multi-player packaged headlined by righty Michael King to San Diego. A significant absence by Soto would be particularly devastating for the Yankees seeing as the 25-year-old has helped to pick up the club’s offense amid struggles from key regulars like Anthony Rizzo and Gleyber Torres.

With Soto temporarily out of action, Trent Grisham figures to receive regular starts in the outfield, taking on the center field job and kicking Judge back to his previous role as the club’s everyday right fielder. If Soto were to ultimately require a trip to the shelf, it’s possible the Yankees could turn to youngster Everson Pereira to fill out their outfield mix. The well-regarded prospect struggled in his first taste of big league action last year but has slashed a solid .265/.346/.512 at the Triple-A level this season.

More to come…

  • Orioles right-hander Dean Kremer is making progress in his rehab from a triceps strain that sent him to the injured list late last month, as manager Brandon Hyde told reporters (including Jacob Calvin Meyer of the Baltimore Sun) earlier this afternoon. As Meyer notes, Hyde indicated that Kremer is set to throw a bullpen within the next few days, with Hyde adding that “everything is trending in the right direction” regarding his recovery. While Hyde did not place a timeline on the right-hander beginning a rehab assignment to the minor leagues, a speedy return by Kremer would surely be a huge relief to an Orioles club that will be without both Tyler Wells and John Means for the remainder of the 2024 campaign. As things stand, the club is relying on Albert Suarez, Cole Irvin, and Cade Povich to fill out the rotation behind Corbin Burnes, Kyle Bradish, and Grayson Rodriguez.
  • Blue Jays top pitching prospect Ricky Tiedemann was thought to be on the cusp of his big league debut entering the 2024 campaign, but those plans were scuttled when he was sidelined just eight innings into his season by inflammation of the ulnar nerve in his elbow. While it’s certainly fortunate that the lefty avoided any structural damage, the injury has nonetheless left him sidelined for the majority of the season. Fortunately, Sportsnet’s Shi Davidi relayed earlier today that, according to Toronto manager John Schneider, Tiedemann threw a live bullpen yesterday where “everything went well.” Schneider went on to note that the next step for Tiedemann could be a rehab game either with Single-A Dunedin or perhaps with the club’s Florida Complex League team.

Blue Jays Designate Cavan Biggio For Assignment

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The Blue Jays announced that they have recalled infielder Spencer Horwitz, with infielder/outfielder Cavan Biggio designated for assignment in a corresponding move. Their 40-man roster count drops to 39. Shi Davidi of Sportsnet relayed on X earlier that Horwitz was joining the club.

Biggio, 29, has been in a multi-positional role for the Jays for a while. He showed a keen eye at the plate when he first arrived in the big leagues but it seems that pitchers realized he wasn’t likely to do much damage if they threw him more strikes. He drew a walk in 16.5% of his plate appearances in his rookie season in 2019 but that number has dropped year over year. It was 15.5% in 2020 and then went to 12.6%, 12.5% and 11.8% in the years after that.

Here in 2024, Biggio has only walked at a 10.7% clip. That is still above league average, which is 8.3% so far this season, but a huge drop from where he started. Strikeouts have also become a growing problem for him over the years. In 2021, he was punched out at a roughly league average rate of 23% but that ticked up into the high 20s in subsequent campaigns and is currently at a 32.1% clip here this year.

Thanks to his on-base abilities, Biggio was able to hit .240/.368/.430 over the 2019 and 2020 seasons. He hit 16 home runs in the first of those seasons but that is now considered by many to be a “juiced ball” season where home runs reached unprecedented levels. That production still translated to a wRC+ of 118 but he’s hit just .219/.327/.351 since then for a 94 wRC+, which includes a line of .200/.323/.291 and 88 wRC+ here in 2024.

Defensively, Biggio has never received especially strong grades anywhere on the diamond but has at least provided the Jays with plenty of versatility. That includes one inning at shortstop but plenty of time at the other three infield positions and in the outfield as well.

As Biggio’s results have declined over the years, other players have slid into his multi-positional role. Davis Schneider is splitting his time between second base and left field and has hit .254/.364/.505 since his call-up last year for a 145 wRC+. The Jays signed Isiah Kiner-Falefa in the offseason and he is hitting around league average with strong defense at various infield positions. Ernie Clement isn’t hitting much but gets stronger grades for his glovework than Biggio.

On top of those three, there’s also the aforementioned Horwitz. He has been hitting very well in Triple-A this year, walking in 17% of his plate appearances and producing a line of .335/.456/.514 for a 157 wRC+. He has primarily played first base but the Jays recently started getting him some work at second base in order to help him coexist with Vladimir Guerrero Jr., who plays first most days. The Jays have also experimented with Guerrero playing some third base of late but also have Justin Turner and Daniel Vogelbach in the first base/designated hitter rotation.

Amid all of that, it seems Biggio has been nudged off the roster for being sort of in between. He doesn’t have as much offensive potential as guys like Schneider, Turner, Vogelbach and perhaps Horwitz, while Kiner-Falefa and Clement are stronger defenders. The Jays also couldn’t send Biggio down to the minors as he now has more than five years of service time.

That has nudged Biggio off the 40-man roster and the Jays will now have one week to trade him or pass him through waivers. Since he has passed the five-year service time marker, he has the right to reject an outright assignment and elect free agency while also retaining all of his salary. He is making $4.21MM this year, with about $2.78MM left to be paid out. If anyone were to claim him, they would have to take on that salary but would also have the ability to retain Biggio via arbitration for next year.

Alek Manoah To Undergo UCL Surgery

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Alek Manoah will undergo surgery to repair the UCL in his throwing elbow on June 17, Blue Jays manager John Schneider told reporters (X link via Shi Davidi of Sportsnet). Doctors won’t know whether he’ll need to undergo a full Tommy John or the slightly less invasive internal brace procedure, but either surgery will end his 2024 season and sideline him well into next year.

Manoah left his start against the White Sox on May 29 with elbow soreness. His velocity was down early in that appearance and he winced on his final pitch of the evening. TSN’s Scott Mitchell reported shortly thereafter that Manoah was headed for a second opinion — typically an ominous sign that initial evaluation suggested surgery could be necessary.

That’ll unfortunately come to pass, likely costing the former All-Star more than a year of game reps. A former first-round pick and top prospect, Manoah looked the part of a budding ace between 2021-22. Over his first season and a half in the majors, he turned in a 2.60 ERA while punching out almost a quarter of batters faced over 51 starts. Manoah finished third in AL Cy Young balloting during his sophomore campaign thanks to a sterling 2.24 mark in 196 2/3 innings.

The last two seasons have been far more challenging. Manoah couldn’t find his form in 2023. He was tagged for nearly six earned runs per nine over 19 starts, leading the Jays to option him to the minors on two separate occasions. While he’d been searching for a rebound in 2024, health intervened. Manoah was delayed by shoulder soreness in Spring Training and began the season on the injured list. He made his season debut on May 5 and was out to a decent start. In five outings, he worked to a 3.70 ERA with a 25.2% strikeout rate across 24 1/3 innings.

Manoah has between two and three years of major league service. He’ll be eligible for arbitration for the first time next offseason and is under team control through 2027. The internal brace surgery typically involves a roughly year-long rehab process. Tommy John procedures usually last 14-16 months. If he requires the latter operation, his ’25 season could be in jeopardy.

Toronto will need to figure out a solution for the fifth rotation spot. They’re fairly well set in the top four with Kevin Gausman, Yusei Kikuchi, José Berríos and Chris Bassitt. Righty Bowden Francis occupied the fifth starter role during Manoah’s season-opening IL stint. He was rocked in two starts and quickly moved back to the bullpen. Francis spent around six weeks on the injured list before returning this week. He tossed 3 1/3 innings of four-run ball behind Trevor Richards in a bullpen game.

The Jays used a few Richards-led bullpen games late last summer while Manoah was trying to work through mechanical issues. That doesn’t feel like a sustainable solution for a couple months. Offseason pickup Yariel Rodríguez could step back into the starting five. The Cuban right-hander has been on the IL since April 30 with thoracic spine inflammation. He’s on a rehab stint at Triple-A Buffalo, where he tossed three innings on Wednesday. Rodríguez has started four games in his first season in Canada but has yet to throw more than four innings or surpass 20 batters faced.

Toronto, which sits three games back in the AL Wild Card mix at 30-32, could find itself in the market for starting pitching at the deadline. They’d be joined by upwards of a dozen teams in that regard. If the Jays fall out of the playoff picture, they’d be in position to market one of the top rental arms (Kikuchi). They’re one of the more interesting borderline contenders to follow over the next six weeks.

Blue Jays Notes: Deadline, Vlad, Horwitz

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The Blue Jays enter the summer as one of the most fascinating teams to monitor ahead of next month’s trade deadline. Sitting with a disappointing 29-32 record that has them in the AL East cellar, Toronto could upend the trade market if names like Bo Bichette, Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Danny Jansen, Chris Bassitt, Yusei Kikuchi and others eventually are made available to contending teams. They’ve not yet reached the point where that’s under consideration, however. GM Ross Atkins recently went on record to quash such rumblings, stating that it “doesn’t make any sense” for the Jays to consider moving Bichette and/or Guerrero.

There’s some logic behind that sentiment, to be sure. The Jays may be buried with a 14-game deficit in the division, but they’re also only four games back of the third AL Wild Card spot at the moment. That’s despite the fact that key bats like Bichette, Guerrero, George Springer and offseason signee Justin Turner have underperformed. (Turner had a blistering April but fell into perhaps the worst slump of his career in May.) It hasn’t manifested yet, but the talent is certainly there for the Jays’ offense to go on a run and surge back into the playoff picture.

Any fans hoping for a proactive trade to boost the offense or an early waving of the white flag appear to be in for a letdown, however. ESPN’s Jeff Passan reports that the Jays aren’t planning to make any firm calls on their deadline approach until after the All-Star break.

Some could read that as an indication that if the Jays’ standing in the Wild Card race dramatically falls off, perhaps they’ll reconsider moving Bichette and/or Guerrero. While there are few absolutes in the game — the Nationals famously traded Juan Soto less than two months after GM Mike Rizzo publicly proclaimed he would not do so, for instance — the overwhelming majority of instances where an executive goes on record to publicly downplay such a possibility tend to play out just as the GM or president in question indicates. That said, with Jansen, Kikuchi, Bassitt, Isiah Kiner-Falefa, Yimi Garcia, Kevin Kiermaier and others all signed/controlled only through this season or next, the Jays would still have plenty of attractive trade chips if they do end up as sellers.

That All-Star break target for a final call gives the current roster about six weeks to right the ship and prove that there is indeed a playoff-caliber club here — as was the general expectation heading into the season. The Jays are already getting creative in ways to change up their defensive alignment in an effort to get more bats in the lineup, giving Guerrero some starts at third base for the first time since 2019. It’s not an everyday arrangement, but manager John Schneider has suggested Guerrero could play there every five or six games or so, giving Toronto an avenue to have Guerrero and Justin Turner at the corners with both Jansen and Alejandro Kirk in the lineup (one at DH, the other at catcher).

Some may wonder why the Jays don’t simply play Turner at third base with more regularity, given that it’s been his primary position in an excellent big league career. But the 39-year-old Turner has made 11 starts at the hot corner between Boston and Toronto over the past two seasons and committed a glaring five errors in that time. While Guerrero isn’t going to provide plus defense himself, it seems the Jays prefer him to Turner from a defensive standpoint. Turner hasn’t played third base for the Jays since May 7.

Moving Guerrero to third base on occasion isn’t the only defensive shuffle that could be on the horizon, though. Sportsnet’s Ben Nicholson-Smith points out that Toronto has begun getting first baseman Spencer Horwitz reps at second base down in Triple-A and could soon look to him as a second base option at the big league level. Horwitz has now made 11 starts and tallied 87 innings at the position. It’s not an overwhelming amount of experience, but with Horwitz boasting an outrageous .332/.455/.510 slash in 255 plate appearances at the Triple-A level, the Jays are understandably seeking more ways to get him into the lineup.

The added flexibility will give Schneider some more ways to creatively construct his lineup. The ostensibly looming promotion of Horwitz will require Toronto to jettison one position player from the roster, and Toronto has a number of underperforming options to consider. Daniel Vogelbach has been limited to DH against right-handed pitching and managed only a .203/.282/.328 slash on the season. The aforementioned Kiermaier is hitting only .202/.254/.303, though he remains an elite outfield defender. Cavan Biggio’s .200/.323/.293 marks his fourth straight year of middling results at the dish.

However the Jays choose to proceed, getting Horwitz onto the big league roster in the near future seems prudent, particularly with Guerrero and Bichette beginning to turn things around at the plate. Guerrero entered today’s game hitting .356/.433/.477 over his past 150 plate appearances and has already launched a three-run homer. Bichette’s slow start lasted longer, but he entered play Thursday with a .303/.324/.470 batting line over his past 16 games (68 plate appearances).

MLBTR Podcast: Gambling Scandal, The State Of The Blue Jays And The Orioles’ Rotation Depth

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The latest episode of the MLB Trade Rumors Podcast is now live on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts! Make sure you subscribe as well! You can also use the player at this link to listen, if you don’t use Spotify or Apple for podcasts.

This week, host Darragh McDonald is joined by Anthony Franco of MLB Trade Rumors to discuss…

Plus, we answer your questions, including…

  • Since the Brewers and Willy Adames didn’t reach an extension, is there any chance the Brewers consider trading him this summer? (24:25)
  • It seems like there are more season-ending injuries, but is there any data to support that? If there is, is MLB taking a look at mitigating? (28:25)
  • What will be the financial components of the deadline? Are there any teams that might have a surprising amount of payroll room? (33:50)

Check out our past episodes!

The podcast intro and outro song “So Long” is provided courtesy of the band Showoff.  Check out their Facebook page here!

Danny Jansen Is Pulling Away From The Rest Of Next Winter’s Catching Class

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Last offseason's free agent catching class was very weak. Only three players received a multi-year deal, all of which checked in at two years. Mitch Garver is more of a designated hitter, while Tom Murphy and Victor Caratini are backups. There wasn't a top target for teams looking to the open market for a #1 option.

Next winter's group looks similarly light, with one exception. It's comprised mostly by players in their mid-30s who are generally better suited for backup roles. Yet unlike last winter, there's one player emerging as the clear top of the class. Danny Jansen has been a very good player for the last three years. He has taken things up another level through this season's first couple months. If he can stay healthy, he'll be well-positioned for the top free agent catching contract since Willson Contreras topped $87MM two years ago.

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Joel Kuhnel Elects Free Agency

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The Blue Jays sent right-hander Joel Kuhnel outright to Triple-A Buffalo but he elected free agency instead, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. That indicates he cleared waivers after being designated for assignment last week. As a player with a previous career outright, he has the right to elect free agency instead of accepting another outright assignment and has exercised that right.

Kuhnel, 29, was only with the Blue Jays a short time and didn’t join the major league club. The righty was designated for assignment by the Astros at the end of April and then flipped to the Jays in early May for cash. The Jays kept Kuhnel on optional assignment for a few weeks, adding to their bullpen depth, before they acquired Ryan Burr and nudged Kuhnel off his roster spot. Kuhnel tossed 8 2/3 innings for Buffalo with a 1.04 earned run average during his brief time in the organization.

He will be able to market himself as a power arm, though one that generally gets more grounders than strikeouts. He has 85 2/3 innings of big league experience with a 6.30 ERA, with his fastball velocity averaging in the mid-90s. His 19% strikeout rate in that time is a few points below average but he has kept 52.2% of balls in play on the ground while also limiting walks to a 6.3% rate. Since the start of 2021, he’s also thrown 82 minor league innings with a 4.28 ERA, 15.7% strikeout rate and 6.5% walk rate while getting opponents to pound the ball into the ground about half the time.

The fact that Kuhnel cleared waivers suggests that no club was willing to give him a 40-man spot, but he should be able to land a minor league deal somewhere. If he eventually gets a roster spot again, he is in his final option year and will therefore have a bit of roster flexibility for the remainder of 2024. He will now head out to the open market and see what opportunities are available to him.

Jays GM Ross Atkins: Trading Guerrero, Bichette “Doesn’t Make Any Sense For Us”

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The Blue Jays have won five of their last six games, but still sit below the .500 mark with a 28-30 record, putting them a few percentage points behind the Rays for last place in the AL East.  As Darragh McDonald put it in a piece for MLBTR last week, some tough decisions will await the club heading into the trade deadline, and perhaps in the bigger picture entirely if the Jays don’t start heating up in a hurry.

Trading either of Vladimir Guerrero Jr. or Bo Bichette would be the most seismic moves Toronto could make if the team did decide to sell at the deadline.  The duo have been the faces of this era of Blue Jays baseball, but since both are scheduled to become free agents after the 2025 season, it isn’t yet clear if either player will truly be in Toronto for the long term — whether due to the Jays’ overall struggles, or the team’s own hesitation about making a big financial commitment to players with inconsistent performance.

In either case, Jays GM Ross Atkins pushed back against the idea of a Guerrero/Bichette trade in an interview today on SiriusXM’s MLB Network Radio, and reiterated that the Blue Jays “believe in their futures and hope that there is a way they can play here for a long time.”  In regards to possible extensions, Atkins said “of course we have dialogue with them” about such multi-year deals, “and that is something that will continue.”

This belief would seem to preclude the idea of Guerrero or Bichette being moved at the deadline.  Atkins said he was “disappointed” in a recent report from MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand, which featured a quote from an unnamed AL executive who said Toronto wasn’t “opposed to” moving one of their two cornerstones, and have “talked to teams about it,” though “the asks were ridiculous.”

Atkins didn’t deny that some conversations had taken place with other front offices about Guerrero and Bichette, but in the sense that that the other teams were floating the idea of a trade, not the Jays themselves.  Trading Guerrero or Bichette “just doesn’t make any sense for us…There will be occasional times as you’re talking to other executives, that they’ll ask if we’ll consider, and we just say it’s not something that we have spent any time on.  Because they are so talented and such great teammates, they are attractive to other teams, so [others] will call.”

It is common practice for executives to check in on all sorts of players, simply out of due diligence just in case a rival team might be open to moving a player not known to be available, or if such a player could be available at a lower-than-expected price.  Technically, a trade that “doesn’t make any sense for” in Atkins and the Blue Jays in early June could start looking a lot more sensible if the team is still struggling in late July, and some early groundwork laid by an interested suitor could make them Atkins’ first call at the deadline if the Jays did change direction.

That said, Atkins expressed confidence that better things were ahead for his team, noting that the two players have been hitting better after posting rough numbers in April.  Guerrero in particular has been hot, hitting .366/.458/475 in 118 plate appearances and 26 games from May 1 through June 1, even if he had hit only two home runs in that span.  Bichette has also posted a .318/.356/.471 slash line in his last 90 PA.

Even with the two stars producing, however, the Blue Jays as a whole have continued to struggle to score runs.  George Springer has continued to struggle, Daulton Varsho has cooled off after a solid April, and the improvements from Guerrero and Bichette have been countered by Justin Turner’s bat suddenly going ice cold over the last month.  As a collective group, the Jays are also near the bottom of the league in hitting with runners in scoring position.

With offensive production at a premium, the Jays’ lineup today had the unexpected twist of Guerrero’s return to third base.  Guerrero made his MLB debut as a third baseman in 2019, but hasn’t played the position at all since, apart from two late-game cameos at the hot corner.

Atkins said that the decision to use Guerrero at third base was “something we’ve been working on collectively…and that’s another way for us to deploy a lineup that maybe creates a little more offense.”  Manager John Schneider said the same following today’s 5-4 win over the Pirates, telling Sportsnet’s Ben Nicholson-Smith and other reporters that Guerrero could perhaps play one of every five or six games as a third baseman.  Turner or Daniel Vogelbach could then be used at first base or DH, or one of the Jays’ two catchers (Danny Jansen or Alejandro Kirk) could get a DH day while the other backstop is also in the lineup and behind the plate.

After Matt Chapman departed in free agency, Ernie Clement and offseason signee Isiah Kiner-Falefa have more or less split the playing time at third base this season, with Turner, Cavan Biggio, Addison Barger, and now Guerrero getting a few stray appearances.  Kiner-Falefa has also seen a good chunk of action at second base, and he has performed well in this virtual everyday role.  Not only is IKF delivering his customary strong defense, but he is also hitting .268/.315/.399 in 182 PA, for what would be a career-high 105 wRC+.

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