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Blue Jays’ selling points for Juan Soto
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Photo credit: Brad Penner-Imagn Images
Ryley Delaney
Nov 26, 2024, 07:00 ESTUpdated: Nov 25, 2024, 19:26 EST
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It’s not a secret that the Toronto Blue Jays were bad in 2024.
Overall, they finished with a 74-88 record, seventh-worst in Major League Baseball in 2024, as well as finishing last in the American League East. That hasn’t stopped them from pursuing the best free agent in baseball for the second consecutive season. This off-seaosn, they have their sights on Juan Soto.
The 26-year-old is coming off a season where he slashed .288/.419/.569 with a career-high 41 home runs in 713 plate appearances, along with a higher BB% (18.1%) than K% (16.7%) for a 180 wRC+ and an 8.1 fWAR. Playing for the New York Yankees, they won the AL East division and went to the World Series.
Simply put, it’s a hard sell for the Blue Jays. What do they have to offer?

Everything went wrong for the 2024 Blue Jays

Everything that could’ve gone wrong for the Blue Jays in 2024, went wrong.
The Blue Jays front office deserves quite a lot of that blame, as they didn’t have a pivot move after losing out on Shohei Ohtani last off-season. The team lacked a big back in the lineup to give Vladimir Guerrero Jr. protection, and that’s a big reason they missed the postseason.
However, there are some things out of the control of the front office. Toronto had one of the best bullpens in baseball in 2023, but it was a completely different story in 2024. Their three best relievers in 2023, Jordan Romano, Tim Mayza, and Erik Swanson all struggled last season and it was hard to predict that all three relievers would regress the way they did.
The other major thing that went wrong for the Blue Jays was the team’s health, more specifically, Bo Bichette. In 2023, the shortstop slashed .306/.339/.475 with 20 home runs in 601 plate appearances for a 124 wRC+. While it wasn’t his best season, he was playing at an All-Star level.
Bichette’s 2024 season was a disaster though, as he slashed .225/.277/.322 with four home runs in 336 plate appearances for a 71 wRC+ and a 0.3. The second half of the season was wiped away due to a calf injury and a broken finger shortly after his return.
Assuming the Blue Jays improve their bullpen (or pitching as a whole) and Bichette returns to his usual form, that’s a pretty strong selling point for Soto.

One of the best rotations in baseball

While the Blue Jays bullpen was awful in 2024, their starting rotation is still among the best in baseball although it may not look like that at first glance.
Last season, the Blue Jays’ 3.95 ERA ranked 14th in the league while their 4.15 FIP ranked 19th in the league. Their starters pitched 861.2 innings pitched, the 11th-most in the league, while their 22.4 K% ranked 13th and their 7.6 BB% ranked tied for 16th.
While compared to the rest of the league, they sat in the middle of the pack in 2024, their numbers were relatively the same as the 2023 season. That year, they had a 3.85 ERA (third-best), 4.15 FIP (seventh-best), 894.2 innings pitched (fifth-most), 24.4 K% (third-best), and 7.8 BB% (15th-best).
When combining the two years, they rank top-10 in every category except for walk rate.
The rotation has three legitimate front-end of the rotation starters Kevin Gausman, José Berríos, and Chris Bassitt, while Bowden Francis was one of the best pitchers in the league from August until the end of the season. Moreover, Yariel Rodríguez is occupying the #5 spot, but the Blue Jays are reportedly interested in another starter, being heavily connected to Max Fried for example.
Their starting rotation is by far one of their biggest selling points.

The Dominican connection

Soto’s bat will help the Blue Jays, but the team already has a superstar in Vladimir Guerrero Jr.
Last season, the first baseman slashed .323/.396/.544 with 30 home runs in 697 plate appearances, along with a 10.3 BB% and a 13.8 K%. This gave him a 165 wRC+, slightly below his 2021 numbers while his 5.5 fWAR was the second-best of his career.
Guerrero Jr. was born in Montréal, Quebec thanks to his father playing for the Expos, but grew up in the Dominican Republic. Being around the same age as Soto, the two signed during the same international free agency class and made their big league debut in 2015. Their friendship was touched on as late as April 2019.
Of course, Guerrero Jr. is set to become the best free-agent bat available next off-season. But assuming the Blue Jays can sign Soto, you have to imagine there’ll be a plan in place to re-sign Guerrero Jr. as soon as possible.

Their farm system will improve with a top-10 pick

The Blue Jays don’t have a great farm system, even after a trade deadline where they acquired a ton of prospects.
However, if a strong farm system is what Soto desires, the Blue Jays will get some help in the next draft, as they’ll land a top-10 pick. With the seventh-worst record in the league, they have 7.48% odds of landing the first overall pick in the draft lottery during the Winter Meetings.
The 2025 draft class is strong, headlined by high school shortstop Ethan Holliday. If you recognize that name, he’s the brother of Baltimore Orioles infielder Jackson and son of Rockies’ legend Matt Holliday.
While the Jays don’t have the top 100 prospects like the Boston Red Sox do, rebuilding the farm system will likely be a big priority for the Jays in the coming seasons.
As always, you can follow me on Bluesky @ryleydelaney.bsky.social.

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