Kyle Schwarber. Joc Pederson. The Blue Jays have to solve their DH problem somehow when the lockout ends

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This article was published 21/02/2022 (1675 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The DH spot should be the easiest one in the lineup to fill.

It’s a gimme, after all. Just find a big, hulking slugger to pop out of the clubhouse four times a game, crush the baseball and then go back in to watch video or take some more hacks in the indoor cages.

The Blue Jays didn’t really have a designated hitter last season and still wound up scoring the third-most runs in the majors, but with Marcus Semien having taken his 45 home runs to Texas they can’t afford to shoot blanks at that position this coming season — whenever it begins — if they plan on being a top offensive club once again.

The free space on the bingo card was anything but for the 2021 Jays. As a group, their DHs combined to hit just .221. Their .706 on-base plus slugging percentage was the worst of any position on the team with the exception of the black hole that was third base.

Nearly everyone had a shot at it, too. Nineteen players got at least one plate appearance, led by George Springer and his 38 starts there. There’s absolutely no reason why that should be allowed to happen again, but that’s how things shape up given the current roster.

The Jays are set to go into the season (once the lockout ends) with one of their four outfielders serving as DH, likely in a rotation. Alejandro Kirk would also probably pop in for a start here and there.

The good thing about a set-up like this is that it would get Randal Grichuk’s glove in the outfield relatively often, and he’s clearly a better defensive option than either Lourdes Gurriel Jr. or Teoscar Hernández. The negative is, unfortunately, Grichuk’s bat, which just hasn’t stood up to those of his outfield mates. The righty slugger has teased fans with stretches of terrific offence, but over four years with the Jays has put up a very pedestrian .243/.289/.461 mark.

So who should be on the shopping list to fill the DH spot, whenever baseball opens for business again?

Ideally, he bats left to go with righty bombers Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Bo Bichette, Springer and Hernández. Someone who combines big power with a solid eye at the plate and who can hit in the middle of the lineup.

The name that jumps out immediately is Kyle Schwarber.

The left-handed slugger came up as a catcher and has played outfield more recently, but his best position is absolutely “bat.” Last season, Schwarber tied a major-league record by hitting 12 home runs over a 10-game span, a streak that eventually reached 16 in 18. He hurt his hamstring three days after the streak ended and was traded from Washington to Boston while on the injured list.

At the time of the trade, Red Sox chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom called Schwarber “one of the most impactful bats” to be moved at the deadline. Schwarber, added Bloom, “has a chance to be as productive as anybody in the lineup … we think the impact of the bat is huge.”

Bloom was right. The soon-to-be-29-year-old put up a .957 OPS in 41 games for the Red Sox down the stretch, split between DH and first base, and they knocked the Jays out on the final day.

Schwarber won’t come cheap, with several teams showing interest prior to the shutdown, but he won’t break the bank, either. He would be the perfect fit in the middle of the heavily right-handed Jays lineup.

If he goes elsewhere, there are a couple of other strong free-agent options out there, though they’re more along the lines of “slightly better than Corey Dickerson” than the game-breaker Schwarber could be.

Joc Pederson helped Atlanta to its first World Series title this century in October, and helped the Dodgers to their first in more than three decades the year before. The 29-year-old has never hit for a high average, but he takes his walks and has prodigious power. He’s had a couple of down years in a row, but hitting between, say, Bichette and Hernández should get his production back to 2018-19 levels, when he combined to hit 61 home runs with an .861 OPS.

Floating under the radar is Brad Miller. He’s got some American League East experience with the Rays, belting 30 homers for them in 2016. Over the past three seasons, mostly in the National League with St. Louis and Philadelphia, the 32-year-old has served as a utility player and valuable bat off the bench. He’s put up an .812 OPS with 40 big flies in 627 at-bats, about one full season’s worth.

Any of those three would be strong options to provide much, much better production than the Jays have gotten out of their DH since Edwin Encarnación left after the 2016 season, but if you want to go pipe dream just look either way along Highway 401. Heading west, you’ll find Windsor, where Freddie Freeman’s parents, Fred and Rosemary, met. Going east will get you to Oshawa, where they got married.

Over the past six seasons, Freeman has torched major-league pitchers to the tune of .305/.399/.547, finishing in the top nine in MVP voting five times and winning the trophy in 2020.

Any way you slice it, the Jays have several options to bring in a designated hitter who would really help.

Mike Wilner is a Toronto-based baseball columnist for the Star and host of the baseball podcast “Deep Left Field.” Follow him on Twitter: @wilnerness