Blue Jays will be betting big on third base by-committee approach

The Toronto Blue Jays, for all intents and purposes, haven’t really made a whole lot of transactions this offseason.

Sure, they were deep in negotiations with Shohei Ohtani before he ultimately went off and signed a record-setting deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers.

And yes, they’ve brought back Kevin Kiermaier, signed a few minor-league deals, and landed former New York Yankees and Texas Rangers utility man Isiah Kiner-Falefa.

But ahead of spring training opening next month, seeing if Toronto will land a big name either via trade or free agency still awaits.

Meeting with the Toronto media on Wednesday to discuss the team’s offseason, one particular point of note came when general manager Ross Atkins was asked about the team’s third base spot.

“We feel really good about the team that we have,” Atkins told the media yesterday. “So, between Santiago Espinal, Cavan Biggio, and Isiah Kiner-Falefa, we have opportunities to deploy different lineups, and different players playing third base potentially.”

Matt Chapman played 137 games last season for the Jays at third base, spending two years with the team after coming over via the Oakland A’s. Chapman remains unsigned in free agency, though reports throughout the offseason suggested a return could still be possible.

From a pure Wins Above Replacement standpoint, Chapman totalled 4.4 WAR in 2023, compared to 1.4 from Biggio, Espinal, and Kiner-Falefa combined. Of course, Chapman isn’t without his warts too — after hitting a torrid .384 in March and April of last year, his percentages fell off a cliff, levelling out at .240 to end the season.

A few other third base options remain still available on the open market — three-time Gold Glove winner Evan Longoria and former Jay Gio Urshela are also unsigned — but Chapman remains the player with the highest expected value, per Spotrac. If there was a real obvious fit for another player to target, well, it might’ve been former Chicago Cubs third baseman Jeimer Candelario, who went to the Cincinnati Reds on a three-year contract.

If Toronto doesn’t sign Chapman — or trade for a replacement — their third base position will be one of relative inexperience if they go with the by-committee approach suggested by Atkins.

Of players currently signed to the Blue Jays, Kiner-Falefa leads the team with 154 career games played at third base — 46 of which came in the shortened 2020 season where he won the Gold Glove at the position. That’s slightly ahead of 120 career games at third base for Espinal, and more than double the 76 played at third base by Biggio.

And if we’re to take Atkins at face value, Toronto is hoping to trust a trio of players in a historically hard position to play with limited experience at it. Only time will tell if the move pays off.

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