Should the Jays Trade Bautista?

[Legal Non-Conforming]

Brett Lawrie will eventually emerge as the franchise leader. But trading away yet another star so that he can go and win a championship elsewhere would be devastating for the Blue Jays. AA's honeymoon is indeed over.

[Skin Blues]

Our young players are not 2-3 years away. Sure, some of them are. But some of them will ALWAYS be 2-3 years away because there is a Rule 4 draft every friggin season. Right now we have Romero, Rasmus, Escobar, Lawrie, Arencibia, Alvarez ready to compete. You could arguably add Thames to the list. d'Arnaud will probably be ready at some point this year but that's obviously not a sure thing. Not to mention Morrow, KJ, Santos, Bautista, etc. If we wait until a couple prospects emerge as major league regulars, then we'll be missing some key components that are ready right now because we traded them away for more prospects since we're not competing.

[Legal Non-Conforming]

Our young players are not 2-3 years away. Sure, some of them are. But some of them will ALWAYS be 2-3 years away because there is a Rule 4 draft every friggin season. Right now we have Romero, Rasmus, Escobar, Lawrie, Arencibia, Alvarez ready to compete. You could arguably add Thames to the list. d'Arnaud will probably be ready at some point this year but that's obviously not a sure thing. Not to mention Morrow, KJ, Santos, Bautista, etc. If we wait until a couple prospects emerge as major league regulars, then we'll be missing some key components that are ready right now because we traded them away for more prospects since we're not competing.

I think I agree with you. The missing pieces can't be developed internally in time--the Blue Jays can't depend on finding a top of the rotation guy and a big bat from the minor league system. Those guys, insofar as they exist, are 2-3 years away.

[Secueritae]

Well on talent view I think the Jays should for great prospects as Bautista's not getting any younger and we're not going to be competing anytime soon with the amount of holes our team has.

One thing to consider definitely is the Fan Base. Yes Lawrie has potential of being that "kid" that people will come to watch, but right now people are mostly going to games to watch Bautista hit a homer or two. Jays don't have many die hard fans from the World Series days, and most are casual 'Tista fans. Trading him might reduce attendance to around the SARS days if not worse, especially with no star like Halladay or Bautista to lure them in.

[frankbooth77]

moves the jays should make in my opinion

jose bautista,brett cecil and matt dean for bryce harper and anthony rendon

travis snider for justin smoak

yunel escobar and aaron sanchez,chad jenkins for randall delgado and arodys vizcaino

ricky romero and jp arencibia and E.E for mike stanton

noah syndergaard, justin nicolino,daniel noriss,eric thames, aj jiminez, anthony gose adam lind for jameson tailon and gerrit cole

brandon morrow for jesus montero