1B And LF All In One? Call Up The White Sox

Already trade time for the struggling Blue Jays? Let's hope so.

The Blue Jays have started this season very slow, and it is starting to get alarming. After finishing their series against the LA Angels, they are only 6-14, while coming into the series at 4-13. Not only have several players been playing below expectations, but injuries have been killing the team as well. So... is it finally time to shake up the roster?

After a strong rebuilding offseason, the Chicago White Sox are in a great position for the future. However, they are likely still willing to part with some of their top players for some more promising prospects. When it comes for some players that could earn them some bang for their buck, it comes down to Jose Abreu, Jose Quintana, Todd Frazier, and Avisail Garcia. Garcia might come as a surprise to many reading this list, but due to a strong start to the season, he has made the cut. For the Jays, the prime targets should be Garcia, and Abreu. No need for more pitching, and do they really need another "hit for power only" type player who is quickly aging in Todd Frazier? Now time to focus on the prime targets in Garcia and Abreu.

Former rookie of the year first baseman Jose Abreu should be a target for Toronto. The 30 year old slugger has proven himself several times throughout the past, sporting a .297 BA, while averaging approximately 30 home runs a year. Although he has started this season on a rough patch, only hitting .233 with 0 home runs over 73 at-bats, it is very fair to think that he is capable of turning that around. In fact, it is even better for Toronto right now, because they could probably get hime for cheaper. He will likely finish the year with a batting average in the mid .280's, and home runs in the 20's, which are still very solid numbers.

Assuming that Toronto were to trade for Abreu, what would this mean for the team? With another 1B coming on to the team, this will force quite a bit of shifting. Abreu would become our new first basemen, with Morales sticking to DH, and Pearce heading to left. With the new addition, and lots of depth at the 1B position, the Blue Jays no longer have to worry about Justin Smoak. They can either send him down, or possibly send him to the White Sox in a deal or Abreu, which would help the team financially. With Abreu only making slightly more than $10 million a year, adding Smoak to a deal would lighten the load to only $6 million, which would be a huge help to Toronto.

Since we are on the topic of Abreu's contract, let's break things down for how it would benefit Toronto. With only one year left on Abreu's contract, he is set to earn $10,825,000 before expiration. After this contract year, Abreu will hit arbitration for two straight years, which will put him under team control during his last prime years, through the ages of 31 and 32. This would give the Jays a good offensive force for another few years, at a price that isn't overly expensive. With the contract information looking good, Abreu's fit with the team looking good, and his skills and potential looking good, Abreu seems like a great trade target. Come on Toronto.

Now on to Avisail Garcia.

White Sox offensive sided OF Avisail Garcia would be another key piece, which might not be worth doing the deal without. Garcia has started the season out red hot, and I mean HOT! The 26 year old outfielder about to hit his prime, is currently leading the league in batting average, with a .380 BA throughout 71 at-bats. Yes, you read that right. He is the league leader in batting average. Isn't that what the Blue Jays need right about now? To add to that standout resume, he also has hit 4 home runs, 3 doubles, and 1 triple. Better than you thought, huh?

Garcia coming to Toronto would be a major boost. Putting him in left field over every day bench players such as Carrera would be a huge upgrade. Also, having guys like Carrera, who can steal and hit for contact, and having guys like Coghlan, who dive over catchers to avoid the tag, would be great off the bench (rather then starting)!

Now for the contract. Garcia is making $3 million this year in his last year before he hits free agency. Now, being that both he, and Abreu have expiring deals (even though Abreu does go to arbitration), this can be useful, as it is always cheaper for "rentals." However, they might not take that for Abreu with that fact that he will continue with arbitration.

Now, for a potential deal for this pair of sox (see what I did there?). When it comes to trading with the White Sox, obviously, they are going to want prospects, as they are in a rebuild. Toronto must look to trade several of their top prospects if they want to get a deal as large and great as this one done, since they have such as weak farm system. Some people are probably disagreeing right now to trade away the little that there is left in the farm system, but with the team getting older and older, with fewer opportunities to really run for the title, doesn't it make sense to go all out right now? With key guys like Bautista, Donaldson, Martin, Tulo, and more all starting to age, they clearly don't have many superstar years left, so shouldn't the Jays build on this and do everything they can in this window of time?

Anyway, now is where the deal really starts. Now, the negotiations begin.

All that the White Sox would be giving Toronto in this deal, is really just Abreu and Garcia, unless they were feeling generous, and decided to throw in a weak, but much needed reliever, such as LHP Dan Jennings.

For Toronto, there would be a lot of work to be done. Considering that the White Sox already have good pitching in the works (Quintana is locked up, and Kopech and Giolito leading the pack while already pretty far along the developmental line), they likely won't really want to get their hands on pitching prospects RHP Sean Reid-Foley, and RHP Connor Greene, which is probably some good news for Toronto. However, considering that they just traded away Adam Eaton, and now Garcia, also with Melky Cabrera getting older, they will need some outfield help. This deal will likely have to include Blue Jays #3 overall prospect (according to MLB.com), OF Anthony Alford. Also considering that outfield is still a major concern, the Jays would also have to tack on another OF, such as J.B Woodman, the Blue Jays #13 overall prospect. Another position that the White Sox could lack talent in throughout the future, is catcher. Another possible prospect who could be added, would either have to be Reese McGuire (11th overall), or Max Pentecost (12th overall). For this deal, we will select Max Pentecost. Just wait a few years. You will see why, even though they are rated about the same right now.

Now the deal is almost done, however, the damage is not. This is Jose Abreu and Avisail Garcia that we are trying to trade for. We can't just include one or two top prospects! So, lets work some more. It gets much more difficult here, because of White Sox #1 overall prospect, Yoan Moncada. Moncada is a shortstop, just like Jays top prospects Richard Urena (4th overall prospect), and Bo Bichette (9th overall prospect). Although, Bichette also plays second base, which would be critical, we are going to go with Urena, assuming that he could easily learn second. This is because of the hot start that Bichette has been off to. Anyways, Urena could presumably become their second baseman of the future, alongside Moncada, rather than fighting for a spot against him. So, we now throw another top prospect into this deal.

Now, the second last piece. One more somewhat high prospect. Due to who the Jays have, and their unwillingness to part with Vlady Guerrero Jr., it appears that we may be having to part with a pitching prospect... Or will we? Rather than giving up one top prospect, such as Rowdy Tellez, we could try a higher quantity of weaker ones as baseball isn't really the easiest sport to know who will and won't turn out. For this, it is time to throw in former first round pick, D.J Davis (28th overall prospect), and maybe a low tier prospect (not in top 30). If you still don't consider this enough, than add some MLB ready guys, which will likely be needed to make this deal work. Add in SP Casey Lawrence, and maybe UTL infielder Gregorio Petit. They might even want to add another player or prospect, but that probably won't be the case, as the deal is already very large with lots of value headed both ways.

To summarize, our deal looks like this:

Blue Jays receive: 1B Jose Abreu / OF Avisail Garcia / LHP Dan Jennings

White Sox receive: OF Anthony Alford / OF J.B Woodman / C Max Pentecost / 2B Richard Urena / OF D.J Davis / PTBNL / SP Casey Lawrence OR UTL INF Gregorio Petit

To conclude, this may seem like a large offer, but it is just as valuable for both sides. It is easy to forget that the Blue Jays farm system isn't very good. Also, the Jays do need to contend now, and proven star Jose Abreu, and BA league leader Avisail Garcia are very important pieces for a team who needs to contend now. Even though the Blue Jays would largely empty out their system, they would have a team who became very scary, and they would still have some of their top prospects such as SS Bichette, SP Reid-Foley, 3B Guerrero Jr, and Rowdy Tellez to build off, which does seem pretty strong. Now, before I finish, I just want you to remember, the bigger the risk, the bigger the reward.