What Does George Springer's Hot Streak Mean For The Blue Jays?
George Springer has arguably been Toronto's hottest hitter over the past two weeks, but what does it mean for a struggling Blue Jays team?
There is no pleasant way to say it, the 2024 season for the Toronto Blue Jays has been extremely disappointing. Outside of perennial All-Star first baseman, Vladimir Guerrero Jr., just about everything that could have possibly gone wrong for this team, has. Kevin Gausman went from a Cy Young Award finalist last season to a below-league-average pitcher. Reigning Gold Glove center fielder Kevin Kiermaier was waived by the team on July 12th. Despite being named an All-Star last season, as well as receiving Most Valuable Player votes, Bo Bichette is a big name in trade tumors, even if his OPS is below .600 on the season.
Springer himself is no exception to this seemingly team-wide slump, triple slashing .205/.290/.328 in 73 games from Opening Day on March 28th to June 27th. Then, almost as if a switch flipped, he started hitting like his best days in Houston again, posting numbers of .316/.400/.544 from the 28th to July 14th. Even with this resurgence, the Blue Jays currently sit in last place in the American League East at the All Star break with a record of 44-52, which has them eight and a half games behind the third AL Wild Card spot. This is by no means an impossible deficit to try and make up, but with the Trade Deadline looming in the near future, Toronto may instead opt to sell their core pieces.
Despite the hot stretch, it's unlikely that teams would be willing to offer up a trade package for Springer alone. He's signed with Toronto until 2027, his age 37 season, making just over $24 million per year with no team or player option. If the front office wants to commit to trading away the bigger names of the current core, it might not be a bad idea to see what sort of deal could be fetched by including Springer in the package leaving Toronto.
Entering the 2024 season, the Blue Jays' farm system was ranked 24th in the league. Pitching has been a strong focus for the club, selecting Trey Yesavage at number 20 overall and Khal Stephen at pick 59 on Night One of this year's MLB Draft and top prospect Ricky Tiedmann is projected to debut as soon as this season. Given the current state of the team and farm system, it would make a lot of sense to seek out a package of prospect hitters. A surging George Springer, as well as a Guerrero or Bichette, would lend itself well to better setting up the Blue Jays for the future.