Building the Best Blue Jays Team for 2023

The Blue Jays are returning plenty of great players, including Matt Chapman, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and George Springer, but they need to address a few weaknesses this offseason.

Charles LeClaire/USA TODAY Sports

Earlier this week, the Blue Jays and Mariners made a fascinating trade. Toronto sent outfielder Teoscar Hernández, one of its best hitters, to Seattle for righthander Erik Swanson and minor-league lefthander Adam Macko.

Hernández is projected to earn $14.1 million in 2023 via arbitration, according to MLB Trade Rumors, before becoming a free agent after next season. Swanson, meanwhile, is under club control for three more years and will get an estimated $1.4 million in his first year of arbitration. The trade is certainly a cost-saving move for the Blue Jays, but that isn’t a bad thing in this case, so long as they use the roughly $12.7 million they are saving to improve other parts of their roster.