Blue Jays Sign Kazuma Okamoto

The Blue Jays have signed Kazuma Okamoto, according to ESPN’s Jeff Passan.  With Okamoto’s 45-day posting window set to expire tomorrow at 4pm CT, it was expected that the infielder would settle on his first Major League team today.  Okamoto is represented by the Boras Corporation.

It was a little under a month ago that Toronto was first linked to Okamoto, and the 29-year-old now projects to be the Jays’ regular third baseman.  Okamoto also has experience playing first base (making him an overqualified backup option to Vladimir Guerrero Jr.) and in the outfield, so he joins Addison Barger and Davis Schneider as Blue Jays players who can contribute in both infield and outfield roles.

For Barger in particular, it now seems like he’ll platoon with Okamoto at third base, while playing in the corner outfield when he isn’t at the hot corner.  This could bump Ernie Clement into primarily a second base role, with Andres Gimenez expected to move from second base to an everyday shortstop role.  The right-handed hitting Clement can also spell the lefty-swinging Gimenez at shortstop when a southpaw is on the mound, with Schneider (another righty bat) moving to second base in those circumstances.

All of these moving pieces don’t even factor in the possibility that Bo Bichette could still re-sign with the Blue Jays, even with Okamoto now in the fold.  If Bichette returns to an everyday role at either shortstop or (perhaps more likely) second base, Barger or Okamoto could see more time in the outfield.  On the flip side, if the Blue Jays were to land another rumored target in outfielder Kyle Tucker, that would leave the infield picture perhaps as is, but Toronto would then likely have to trade from a crowded outfield mix that would include Tucker, Daulton Varsho, George Springer and Anthony Santander splitting DH duty and one corner outfield slot, Nathan Lukes, Myles Straw, and Okamoto, Barger, and Schneider all available in a part-time outfield capacity.

More to come…