Guardians could capitalize on Blue Jays' roster crunch with trade to help outfield

It’s no secret that the Guardians and Blue Jays have a ton of familiarity with each other. Not only is Toronto run by two Cleveland alums in Ross Atkins and Mark Shapiro, but they’re also two organizations that seem to build with the same kind of mentality in mind. 

But just because there’s some similarities between the two teams doesn’t mean that their offseasons have been similar, as the Blue Jays have been the American League’s busiest team this offseason while it seems like the Guardians forgot to set an alarm to let them know free agency had begun. 

However, there’s still time for the Guardians’ front office to save their offseason, and one of the quickest ways they could do so is by calling up the Blue Jays for yet another offseason trade. 

The Blue Jays stand out as a logical trade partner for the Guardians 

Last offseason the Guardians shocked the baseball world by trading Andrés Giménez to the Blue Jays in a deal that eventually netted them a haul of players led by starting pitcher Luis Ortiz. 

And even if a hypothetical trade between the two of them wouldn’t generate the same kind of headlines as that (much-malagined) trade, a deal between the two of them could easily help both parties considering both team’s holes 

While the Blue Jays have already added Kazuma Okamoto and Dylan Cease this offseason and came within two outs of winning the World Series last season, they still have a clear need for some infield depth — and could potentially be willing to part with an outfielder to secure that depth. 

Blue Jays beat writer Mitch Bannon got into that in his new mailbag for The Athletic (subscription required), as he laid out Toronto's infield situation. 

“But one area they may still address is middle infield depth. Currently, the Jays only have three regular shortstops or second basemen on the 40-man roster, in Andrés Giménez, Ernie Clement and Leo Jiménez. Barger and Davis Schneider could play second base, if needed, but it’s still an area for the Jays to address… But the Jays could also try to move some outfield depth for infield, as Joey Loperfido doesn’t have a clear path to playing time in Toronto next year, and he clearly deserves regular run somewhere,” he wrote. 

Outfield depth for infield depth, you say? 

While the Guardians’ middle infield situation isn’t as crammed as it was at the start of the decade, they still have a variety of young middle infield options in Gabriel Arias, Brayan Rocchio, Angel Martínez and Daniel Schneemann. 

Although Arias and Rocchio likely have the most trade value of that group, it seems like the Guardians are set to roll with them in the infield picture in 2026, which brings us to Martínez and Schneemann. 

Even though neither of them are pure infielders, they both came up through the minors on the infield dirt before becoming super utility players once they got to the bigs. They both are valuable pieces to the Guardians team that loves players with versatility. 

That said, the Guardians have a strong pipeline of middle infielders coming up through their system, so trading one of them as a part of a package would be a good way to get ahead of that problem, especially if it could help the Guardians net a talented outfielder like Loperfido. 

The Blue Jays acquired Loperfido from the Astros at the trade deadline as a part of their trade of Yusei Kikuchi, and he’s played well in short stints for the Blue Jays.

He hit .333 in 104 at-bats for the Blue Jays last year, but was always on the edge of their big league roster thanks to an outfield pecking order that included Daulton Varsho, Anthony Santander and old friend Myles Straw. 

He’d immediately become one of the Guardians’ top outfield options and would be a great established complement to some of the younger outfielders on the roster. 

His presence may make it tougher for both Chase DeLauter and George Valera to make the Guardians’ roster, but having another established option in the fold isn’t a bad thing. 

The Guardians need to make some kind of big move with their lineup to salvage this offseason, and this would be a solid way to do that.