There is no happy ending for Blue Jays fans that culminates with Vladimir Guerrero Jr. finding himself in any other team’s uniform. There are however various levels of bad, all the way to doomsday and there certainly is a blueprint for the worst that could happen:
The Angels have pulled Shohei Ohtani off of the trade market and are going to make a postseason push according to Tom Verducci!pic.twitter.com/fO0olSTSt9
— Codify (@CodifyBaseball) July 27, 2023
Angels Shohei Disaster
The Angels at the time made an incredibly bad business decision. Not only did they only get the 74th overall draft pick (Ryan Johnson) as compensation for their most precious asset, they doubled down and made it even worse.
On July 26th when the Angels made their decision to keep Ohtani and push for a post season spot they were four games back of Toronto for the final playoff position.
First they traded with the White Sox for Pitchers Lucas Giolito and Reynaldo López, sending top catching prospect Edgar Quero to Chicago. Then they acquired C.J. Cron and Randal Grichek from Colorado for pitchers Mason Albright and Jake Madden.
They won four of six to reach the trade deadline at 56-51. From there they lost seven in a row and tanked further, finishing up a miserable 73-89.
Blue Jays Options
Heaven – There is always the possibility that the Jays pony up and give Vladdy what he wants. They are the only team that can make an offer until next off season or they win the world series.
Near heaven – They Keep Guerrero past the deadline and make a playoff run. The team hasn’t won a post season game since Cleveland knocked them out of the 2016 American League championship series in five games
Saving Face – Once a post season spot is out of the question and signing him seems unlikely, manage to come away with a decent haul of prospects and perhaps MLB ready players.
Doomsday – Well, you know what that is. No playoffs, no Guerrero.
Best Trade Option
The Boston Red Sox. It’s known they covet Guerrero. They will probably be a contender this season. This will give them some time to show Guerrero some love and they have the players the Jays would want.
Start with Tristan Casas who is a natural replacement for Guerrero at first base. Then there’s a trio of top prospects. All three land in most experts top ten. Outfielder Roman Anthony, second baseman Kristian Campbell and shortstop Marcelo Mayer.
Surely there are other trade options. Best of luck to Ross Atkins (General manager) and Mark Shapiro (President and CEO), it may be one of the last things you do in Toronto.
