Examining the fit with the Toronto Blue Jays and Trevor Story

Recently, CBS Sports’ MLB experts took a stab at where they think former Colorado Rockies shortstop Trevor Story will sign after the lockout ends (whenever that is) and Matt Snyder believes that the Toronto Blue Jays will land the shortstop.

But the fit, at least on the the surface, between the Blue Jays and Story is not great.

The Toronto Blue Jays would have to play some musical chairs to accommodate for Trevor Story.

Part of Snyder’s reasoning for the Toronto Blue Jays signing Trevor Story is that he believes that Story’s market will plummet. In other words, he will be signing a one-year contract to re-establish his value because of the lockout.

The Blue Jays had Marcus Semien with that in 2021 as he signed a one-year deal with them last offseason and he became one of the best players in the American League.

Semien had 45 homers, 102 RBI, had a slash line of .265/.334/.538, and an OPS+ of 133. He had an rWAR of 7.3, was an All-Star, won a Silver Slugger Award, a Gold Glove, and came in 3rd in AL MVP voting.

Signing that one-year deal for $18 million with Toronto and having that season was enough for the Texas Rangers to give Semien a seven-year deal for $175 million just before the lockout.

So, for that reason, Snyder believes that Story can slide right into Semien’s old spot.

But the problem is that the Blue Jays already have more than their fair share of infielders. Story would not play shortstop since the Blue Jays have Bo Bichette there. At third base, the Blue Jays would either use Cavan Biggio or Santiago Espinal.

What would be most likely is that Biggio would play third and Espinal would be on the bench. Espinal played in 92 games with Toronto in 2021 and he hit .311/.376/.405.

Story would provide the Blue Jays with more power but would the Blue Jays be willing to relegate Espinal to the bench? And, more importantly, would Story be willing to go to Toronto?

Toronto is definitely a contender (which Story wants to be with a contender) but he said that geography is a factor. He’s from the Dallas, Texas area and still resides there. Toronto is about as far away as you can get from there.

Never say never but Story does not seem to be a great fit with the Blue Jays but if he is looking to re-establish his value with a one-year deal, the Blue Jays would have some stiff competition from 29 other MLB teams trying to get Story,