If he's ever traded it will be for a guy that the other team wasn't planning to trade as part of their rebuilding plan, obviously.

If that's what you pitched, that's a different conversation, but you immediately started by ruling out the pitchers in Bichette's prospect stratosphere. Why would we deal a potential inner-core player away for lesser, riskier talent?

It doesn't have to be Bichette, it can be anybody else with solid value. That means Vlad, Bichette, Jansen, Pearson, Kloffenstein, Groshans, Manoa, maybe Biggio...

See, this is where Kevin Smith's backslide this year hurts a bit - he would have been a good player to either be the redundancy or create the redundancy. Say he has a solid start to the year, he's probably looking like a mid top-100 prospect and might be able to pull something significant back. Right now, there just aren't the core-worthy redundancies in place, so the team may as well hang onto them, and spend some money for pitching. Maybe Smith bounces back, or Warmoth keeps getting himself back on track. That might change the equation again. But for the love of Jobu, Galvis is not part of the core - he's a useful starting SS and would have some value to a contender that needs a SS, but he's not A Member of the Jays Next Contender.

John, how confident are you that Gerrit Cole or similar free agent will sign here ever? That would fix the need to trade for SP.

Personally, I'm guessing the competition for Cole is going to be too hot, so I'd go for someone like Wheeler early. Added bonus if he gets dealt - no draft pick compensation. Seeing what the cost for broken-pirate-toy Archer would also be an option.

How confident are you that we will get replaceable top 3 SP or better SP for Stroman and Giles this trade deadline? That will cancel the need to trade for SP.

Stroman and Giles (assuming they can get/remain healthy, jeez!) should each be able to generate a good return. Whether that's starting pitching or a CF, or something else, remains to be seen.

How confident are you that Vlad, Bo, Biggio, Tellez, Smith, Groshans and other prospects/rookies we have pan out?

Vlad, Bo, Jansen? High confidence, and Groshans is high when you factor in the level. Biggio, medium (his at bats are pretty. Hopefully he can 2B well enough to either be the starter, or a roving DH). Tellez... ehhh. Smith? Ask again at the end of the year.

Why would management keep 3-4 bonafide infielders on their roster if they don't have the pitching?

At this point, they're not all bonafide. There are still an awful lot of these birds in the bush, even if you count Bichette in-hand.

How confident are you that we will be competing with the likes of Sanchez, Shoemaker, Borucki, Thornton, Zeuch, Paulino, Merryweather, Pannone?

None? Less-than-None?I think out of that group you should be able to get a #4 and #5. Maybe there's a #3 in there, too, depending on what Merryweather has, if Borucki's slider continues to show well, or Zeuch is a pitch-to-contact outlier due to good fastball command. They will definitely need to spend money and/or prospects for the top of the rotation... You just don't spend prospects while you're still trying to sort out your own position player core.

You don't see Richard as toast?

The opener thing is interesting to me because it makes no discernible difference to a game

David Phelps had an insightful interview with Arash Madani pregame one day last week on Sportsnet after Phelps' first time as opener after lots of experience starting and relieving.

Phelps made some points I hadn't considered such as the differences between starting/relieving and opening, such as the ability to make a pitch-by-pitch plan to attack the first 3-4 hitters and the ability to practice the sequence over-and-over beforehand in the pregame. A luxury not as easily accomplished with any other role.

They also joked about not having to face any pinchhitters as an opener vs a reliever, which is something else I hadn't considered

I remember reading Ball Four a few years after it came out. It sure seemed scandalous to a very young me.

Re-read it, and its sequels, several years ago. Still an interesting window into that era, but certainly seemed much tamer 40 odd years later.

I agree. Drury lost his rookie eligibility the same year as Osuna and Tepera. A year before Biagini. He looks to be much closer to the end of his career than the beginning. It would be one thing if he had been injured for most of the last few years (like Pompey), but he has just been terrible since he left Arizona.

And this is the guy they targeted when they had the best SP on the market last year at the trade deadline.