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News and Notes: Blue Jays are seen as a “viable obstacle” to sign Juan Soto according to Jon Heyman
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Photo credit: Brad Penner-Imagn Images
Ryley Delaney
Nov 12, 2024, 09:00 ESTUpdated: Nov 12, 2024, 06:47 EST
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The big question this off-season is what happens regarding Juan Soto?
As per usual, the Toronto Blue Jays have been linked to the superstar outfielder by various sources. Most recently, New York Post’s Jon Heyman reported in a recent article that the Blue Jays could play spoiler for the two New York-based teams.
It’s well known that the Blue Jays pursued Shohei Ohtani heavily last off-season as they were seemingly finalists before he signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers. Heyman believes that the Blue Jays could also pursue Soto, noting that “[The Blue Jays] are highly motivated and sources suggest they plan to be in big.”
Later in the article, he also notes that the Blue Jays are heading to California later this week to meet with Soto and his agent, Scott Boras. Interestingly, USA Today’s Bob Nightengale boldly predicted that the Blue Jays would sign the 26-year-old in an article written a few days ago. Moreover, Héctor Gómez reported on Monday evening that the Jays “are willing to do anything to sign Soto”.
Where there’s smoke, there’s fire, right? Well, Sportsnet’s Shi Davidi appeared on Monday’s The FAN Pregame and noted that the team has a $20 to $25 million budget after arbitration and whatnot. However, they also have a secondary budget “if the Jays can accomplish something significant”.
Realistically, the Blue Jays are a big market and should be spending a ton, but I digress. Let’s hope something big happens this off-season.

Pete Alonso could be a fit for the Blue Jays

In a recent article for MLB.com, Mark Feinsand wrote about seven teams that are a fit for first baseman Pete Alonso, listing the Blue Jays as one of those fits.
While Vladimir Guerrero Jr. is arguably the best first baseman in all of baseball, Alonso would significantly help the team offensively, as he slashed .240/.329/.459 with 34 home runs in 695 plate appearances last season. For his career, he’s slashing .249/.339/.514 with 226 home runs in 3,607 plate appearances for a 131 wRC+ and a 17.3 fWAR.
But what about Guerrero Jr.? Well, Feinsand noted that the two of them could split time at first base (a terrible idea), swap between designated hitters (a less-terrible idea, but still not great), or Guerrero Jr. could play third base (it’s an option I guess?).
Last week, Jon Heyman of the New York Post also reported that the Jays are open to moving Guerrero Jr. to third base, “which could potentially open up a spot for Pete Alonso”.

Gosuke Katoh joins the Blue Jays front office

On Saturday, Gosuke Katoh announced he’s joining the Blue Jays front office. A few days later, Sportsnet’s Shi Davidi reported that Katoh will “focus on research and development, big-league players and coaches, and pro scouting working together”.
After playing the majority of his career in the minor leagues after being drafted in the second round of the 20213 draft, Katoh made his big league debut in 2022. Despite only playing eight games for the Blue Jays two seasons ago, Katoh has become somewhat of a fan-favourite for Blue Jays fans. Overall, he slashed .143/.400/.286 with no home runs in his big league career, all 11 of those plate appearances came with the Blue Jays.
Katoh was designated by the Blue Jays in early May and was claimed by the New York Mets. He slashed .223/.310/.383 with nine home runs in 324 plate appearances with their Triple-A team, before heading to Japan to play for the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters for the final two seasons of his career.
As always, you can follow me on Bluesky @RyleyDelaney.bsky.social.

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