Toronto Blue Jays: Elite players to target in free agency

3. Trevor Bauer

The third player on this list may not be as realistic as the first two, but he instantly solidifies any starting rotation he joins as a true ace.

Trevor Bauer was absolutely lights out in 2020 for the Cincinnati Reds, and has a very good chance at winning the NL Cy Young Award. He posted a 1.73 ERA, 0.80 WHIP, and 12.3 K/9 through 73 IP this season.

Teams are going to be lined up to try and convince Bauer to sign with them, so it’s not going to be easy for the Jays to compete with some of the larger market teams. Still, they need to at least try. A pitcher of his calibre doesn’t become available too often.

Bauer made it public in the past that he was only interested in one year deals. However, he recently changed his stance on that. It’s not hard to believe that Toronto would make him a reasonable contract offer after signing Hyun-Jin Ryu to a four year, $80 million deal last off-season.

It would almost surely take more than $20 million per season to bring Bauer to Toronto, but it would be a great opportunity to show the fans that the team is capable of bringing in the biggest free agents available.

Who would you like to see the Jays sign this off-season? Are there any players you’d put on this list instead? What other areas of the roster need to be addressed? Let us know in the comments below.