The Toronto Blue Jays Should Sign Former MVP For 2024 Season

Andrew McCutchen returning to Pittsburgh and hitting his 300th career homer will happen in 2024, and it will be awesome.

Shohei Ohtani playing his first game at Dodger Stadium will be awesome.

There are already incredible scripts being written for the 2024 baseball season that lie ahead, but there's one script that hasn't been written yet - that I'd love to see: Joey Votto signing with the Toronto Blue Jays.

After having his $20 million option declined by the Cincinnati Reds, Votto is now a free agent. While a Reds reunion would have major appeal, it doesn't appear in the cards as Cincy continues to go with a youth movement on the position player side.

That leaves Toronto as the next-best storyline. Given that Votto is an Ontario, Canada native, this would give him a chance to play in front of his home community in his home country.

But it's more than just a good story: The Blue Jays can badly use a left-handed bat in the lineup. Toronto skews very right-handed with Bo Bichette, Vlad Guerrero Jr. and George Springer. They've lost Kevin Kiermaier and Brandon Belt off last year's roster and Votto could help re-balance the lineup.

A lifetime .294 hitter, Votto is one of the more accomplished players of the last 20 years. He's got a .409 on-base percentage lifetime and has hit 356 career home runs. The slugger also owns a pristine resume with six All-Star appearances, a Gold Glove and an MVP award.

He's led the league in on-base percentage in seven separate seasons. He spent 17 years with the Reds.

He hit .202 last season as he battled injury. Unfortunately, this led him to accumulate just 208 at-bats.

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