It’s been a heck of a week for Toronto Blue Jays fans. Between trading one of the biggest stars in recent memory, holding back one of the biggest stars of the future, and seeing emotional big-league debuts, nobody could be blamed for feeling as though they’d been run through the wringer a few times.

So, let’s take a breath and consider a few thoughts about baseball, with almost nothing to do with the business.

Next Year’s Rotation

Coming into 2018, you could have realistically wished that Aaron Sanchez would replicate something close to his 2016 season, and Marcus Stroman could have done the same with his 2017 campaign.

Stitch those two notions together and the Blue Jays would have had a very solid top of the rotation.

Unfortunately, both players have had the worst seasons of their brief big-league careers so far, both battling injuries and ineffectiveness since the spring. As a result, the roster management calculus entering the off-season must look very differently at these two pitchers, and how they slot into the team’s future plans.

Neither player is a good candidate for a trade at this point, given that each is probably at the nadir of their transactional value. At the same time, as the Blue Jays are looking to slot them into the 2019 roster, they likely shouldn’t be relied upon as anything more than No. 3 or 4 starters at this point. As such, a top-of-the-rotation arm should be a priority as the Blue Jays look ahead.

There are a few aces and No. 2 starters on the free-agent market this off-season, although the cream of the crop, Clayton Kershaw, seems likely to return to the Los Angeles Dodgers. Several other top-flight pitchers – Chris Sale, Cole Hamels, Madison Bumgarner, Carlos Carrasco – also should be expected to return to their current clubs on option years.

Arizona lefty Patrick Corbin would seem to be an ideal candidate for the top of any team’s rotation, given his relatively young age (29) and the trajectory of his performance. Rather than waiting until the team is ready to be “extremely competitive,” locking down a top-end starter sooner would ensure the Jays aren’t scrambling for one when they need them to help them contend.

Corbin, unfortunately, seems to have Yankee pinstripes in his bloodstream, and one could certainly imagine that there will a significant push from the Bronx on that open door.

Other options could include Cy Young laureate Dallas Keuchel or a revitalized Hyun-Jin Ryu, although the market for them will be competitive. Matt Harvey has had an intriguing bounce back in Cincinnati, and there’s always old friend J.A. Happ, who seemed to enjoy his time in Toronto and has performed well with the Yankees thus far.

Stepping on Superman’s Cape

It’s happened a few times in recent weeks that Blue Jays centre fielder Kevin Pillar dives for a ball and comes up empty.

In a lousy season with many disappointments, these plays feel like that much more of a gut punch.

Pillar was a strong role player on the Jays’ recent playoff teams, and his defence was critical to their success. Over the past three seasons, he posted 22, 21 and 15 defensive runs saved, fourth-best among all big-league outfielders over that span.

But this season, Pillar’s DRS mark has slipped in the negative side of the ledger (-5), while at the same time he’s posted the worst walk and strikeout rates and his lowest wRC+ since becoming a regular.

Pillar has generally relied on his physical tools of speed and hand-eye coordination to make up for some of the lack of refinement in his game, but as he turns 30 this January, some of that ability to physically will himself into a better performance is almost certain to erode.

With a strong initial showing from Billy McKinney, Randal Grichuk’s solid work in centre field and a need to find a place for Teoscar Hernández’s bat, not to mention Dwight Smith Jr., Anthony Alford, Jonathan Davis and possibly Cavan Biggio pushing for playing time in 2019, it’s hard to imagine Pillar being a significant factor in the Jays’ fortunes going forward.

At the Letters Ben Nicholson-Smith is Sportsnet’s baseball editor. Arden Zwelling is a senior writer. Together, they bring you the most in-depth Blue Jays podcast in the league, covering off all the latest news with opinion and analysis, as well as interviews with other insiders and team members.

Being Competitive vs. Staying Competitive

It wasn’t a great week for the Jays’ front office when it came to conveying nuance in media interviews, and Ross Atkins certainly muddied the waters in discussing when they thought the Jays may be “competitive” again.

At bare minimum, it seemed clear there aren’t strong ambitions towards the 2019 AL East pennant.

But given the class of players that have either graduated or will make it to Toronto at some point next season, the Blue Jays shouldn’t look to dismiss wins and losses in the short term.

It’s ill-remembered in the haze of the past few years, but the 2014 Blue Jays were just slightly less of a disaster than you may recall. In the year before the post-season drought ended, the Jays posted an 83-win season, and integrated young players like Stroman, Sanchez and Pillar into the fold.

On Sept. 10, after a three-game sweep of the Chicago Cubs, the Jays were 3.5 games out of the second wild card.

In our memories now, all was dark and dreary until David Price (and, uh, Troy Tulowitzki) arrived at the 2015 trade deadline, but the Jays set the stage for their playoff years with a winning team.

If there’s any aspiration of being in the mix in 2020 or 2021, the Blue Jays should be building at least an 83-win team for next year to provide a platform on which to build. Before they build the Next Great Team, they’ll need to at least pull together the Next Good Team.