In rapidly moving market, where might Blue Jays look next? - Sportsnet.caYet there’s always room to improve, and no reason for the Blue Jays to stop looking for help now. They’ve been showing interest in some high-upside relievers since adding Erik Swanson in trade, so that’s an area to monitor.
Along those lines, sources said they’ve shown recent interest in Johnny Cueto, who posted a 3.35 ERA in 158.1 innings with the White Sox last year.
MORE PAYROLL
Speaking of spending, the Blue Jays’ pending deal with Bassitt makes clear what’s seemed likely all off-season. For the first time in franchise history, team payroll will exceed $200 million in 2023.
In fact, depending on where Kiermaier’s commitment lands and what else the Blue Jays do, they could end up over the $233 million competitive balance tax in what would be another first for the franchise.
FanGraphs' payroll tracker already has them at $225 million before accounting for Kiermaier or any further moves. Last week team president Mark Shapiro said the CBT was “not an obstacle” for ownership at Rogers Communications, Inc., which also owns Sportsnet.
"The support and the growth of that payroll is unprecedented in the history of the franchise and it continues to be very strong,” Shapiro said.
CATCHING MARKET MOVING
The market for catchers has moved quickly, with St. Louis (Willson Contreras), Minnesota (Christian Vazquez), Atlanta (Sean Murphy) and Cleveland (Mike Zunino) all landing backstops within the last week.
For a Blue Jays team with three young catchers, those developments are significant – in fact, they may give GM Ross Atkins & Co. some leverage in trade talks. Because with due respect to free agents Austin Hedges, Tucker Barnhart and Roberto Perez, the Blue Jays’ catching trio of Danny Jansen, Alejandro Kirk and Gabriel Moreno is more appealing.
One source with first-hand knowledge of the catching market described the Cubs, Diamondbacks, Tigers, Giants and Padres as interested teams at that position. It stands to reason the Astros would also be in that group after seeing Vazquez leave for the Twins.
All off-season, the Blue Jays have said they’re open to keeping all three catchers and figuring out playing time on the go, but under the right circumstances they’d make a deal. And at this point, it looks like the catching market runs through Toronto.
