By Eric Treuden,Just Baseball

Copyright yardbarker

Picture this: the Blue Jays miss out on re-signing Bichette, who gladly accepts a larger contract elsewhere instead of electing to ride things out with close friend Vladimir Guerrero Jr. in Toronto.

In our hypothetical scenario, Kim also chooses to remain with the Atlanta Braves, leaving exactly zero players available on the open market. This forces the Blue Jays to turn their attention inwards and patch the upcoming season together at shortstop.

Fortunately, they’ve got Andres Gimenez, who’s just wrapping up his first season on the Blue Jays, available to slide right in. The good news with Gimenez is that he’s one of the game’s best defensive shortstops and has a career OAA (Outs Above Average) of 9 and DRS (Defensive Runs Saved) of 7 at the position in over 700 innings. For reference, Bichette is at -13 OAA and -12 DRS this year alone, and -31 OAA/-19 DRS in his career.

fortunately, there are times where it seems like Gimenez couldn’t hit the ball if it was thrown underhand or put on a tee for him. In 94 games this season, he’s hit seven home runs with 30 RBI, a .205 average, 65 wRC+, and .581 OPS. His OPS has him above only Nick Allen, Trey Sweeney, Iglesias, Jordan Walker, and Santiago Espinal amongst hitters with 300 PA this year.

Gimenez has never been much of a hitter outside of a random offensive breakout in 2022 where he posted a 141 wRC+, but things have not been pretty for him offensively this year.

The 27-year-old is under team control through the end of the 2029 campaign. He was acquired via trade from the Cleveland Guardians this past offseason, and it’s likely that the Blue Jays traded for him in the first place thinking he could eventually replace Bichette at shortstop. Otherwise, the club could re-sign Bichette and have Gimenez be one of the best defensive second basemen we’ve ever laid eyes on.

Either way, Gimenez represents a glove-over-bat type of player the Blue Jays have been screwed over for rostering in the past. Too many at-bats have been given to players like Steward Berroa, Kevin Kiermaier (the 2024 version), Jonatan Clase, Espinal, Cam Eden, Mason McCoy, and a handful of others over the past few years.

Putting the emphasis on defense over offense resulted in a two-game sweep in the AL Wild Card Series in 2023 and a ghastly 74-88 performance in last year’s regular season. Daulton Varsho has turned himself into a legitimate two-way threat, but the Blue Jays need all the thump they can get, not only slick fielders at this point.

Other Internal Choices Don’t Instill Confidence

Five players have made at least one defensive appearance at shortstop for the Blue Jays this year: Bichette, Gimenez, Ernie Clement, Leo Jimenez, and Michael Stefanic (who is out of the organization).

Clement has become a well-liked figure in Toronto and has turned in a respectable season at the dish and on defense. However, he’s much more of a second or third baseman moving forward than he is a shortstop. He does fine when he periodically fills in (2 DRS, 1 OAA), but he’s not a player you have line up at shortstop on a daily basis.

Jimenez impressed in a 63-game showing in the majors last year, but he hasn’t really earned another shot at extended playing time this year. In 18 big league games, he hit .069 with a -20 wRC+ across 32 plate appearances. The 24-year-old only just returned to Triple-A action after spending over a month on the injured list, and has hit .296 with a 121 wRC+ in 26 minor league games this year.

Jimenez is still young and also plays a solid defensive shortstop. It’s easy to look at how he performed in the big leagues this season and feel uninspired, but he’s a strong spring training showing away from earning another crack at playing time. He’s firmly in the “we’ll see” category for now.

Josh Kasevich and Josh Rivera are both in Triple-A for the Blue Jays as well, but neither occupy a spot on the club’s 40-man roster. The former looked like a budding can’t-miss prospect as recently as last season, but he took a significant step back this year. The latter earned the most playing time of his professional career this year but struck out nearly 32% of the time and hit just .221 in 118 games.

Closing Thoughts

With Bo Bichette representing the only halfway decent shortstop on the open market this winter, the Blue Jays need to go big or home. In the past, they’ve routinely missed out on some of the best-available talent, but this time they can’t afford to do the same.

Even though Bichette is something of a liability on defense, his bat remains top-tier, and he’s become a beloved figure in Toronto over the years. Since the Blue Jays are firmly in their latest contention window, it’d make no sense for them to miss out on him and have to deal with the offensive black hole that’ll be left in their nightly lineup card.

Instead, bringing Bichette back on a long-term deal with the intent to move him to second base down the line would work out for all involved. Bichette prefers to stay at shortstop, but it might be in the Blue Jays’ best interest to shift him over to second and let Gimenez get the consistent reps at shortstop.

Regardless of how the defensive alignment looks, Bichette needs to remain in Toronto. There’s simply no fallback if the Blue Jays lose out on him, and they’re going to need all the help they can get to continue to lead the AL East for years to come.