MLB rumors: Cease timeline flipped with Cardinals interested, Guerrero trade, more

Gaining plenty of speculation has been the futures of Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Bo Bichette in Toronto with the Blue Jays. Since last year, both have been pointed to as possible trade pieces going to new teams ahead of the 2024 season.

In the same article linked earlier, Robert Murray gave a very low likelihood of a trade possibility for Guerrero, rating it as a 5 percent chance. It's possible the real odds are even lower:

"What the Blue Jays are likely doing is listening on any player of theirs in trade talks. It’s what all teams do to evaluate what options are available on the free-agent market. It does not mean either player will be traded. Instead, teams are checking on these players considering the lack of options on the hitting market, and the price to acquire Guerrero Jr. or Bichette will be sky-high."

The same can be said for Bichette, as Murray indicates that the Blue Jays are keyed in on putting their best pitch together for free agent Shohei Ohtani. Guerrero and Bichette are key components of that pitch, in theory. Toronto is viewed as a possible suitor for the megastar free agent in part because they have the pieces necessary to be competitive for the foreseeable future, but also because of the market they're in.

Toronto is a massive city, but more importantly, Canada is an entire country that no other team can stake a real claim to. Sure, there may be some Canadian fan spillover to Canada-adjacent teams like the Detroit Tigers and Seattle Mariners, but only one team is truly Canadian: The Jays.

For Ohtani, that means plenty of potential marketing deals and sponsorships and another tranche of global fans.

But all signs point to how competitive the team is being the most important factor for Ohtani. For that reason, don't expect any major liquidation yet. This may be something to check in on if the Jays miss out on Ohtani, though...