First pitch: 3 best Alek Manoah trade destinations and the risk that comes with him

Acquiring a starting pitcher who was an All-Star in 2022 and is 28-18 lifetime with an ERA of 3.22 sounds good on the surface, doesn't it? Well, if it were only that easy when it comes to Alek Manoah and the Toronto Blue Jays.

Had Manoah's massive collapse on the mound and moments of butting heads with the Blue Jays not surfaced last season, there would be no talk about what the future of the right-hander would be north of the border. However, these are the moments where everything has to be taken into consideration to paint the entire picture.

Any team that is able to execute a trade with the Blue Jays and acquire Manoah will get a pitcher who has proven he can be a difference-maker, but will that team be able to tap back into that pitcher versus the one we saw in 2023? That's the biggest question about Manoah leaving Toronto in a "change-of-scenery" deal with another team.

But will Toronto really pull the trigger on a deal? Blue Jays GM Ross Atkins has certainly had good things to say about Manoah in recent days, including this, "And I feel so good about him returning back to the 2021-22 version of himself that I think that's a really good starting point for him.”

Words to simply drive up the price of a deal or sincere words from a GM who believes in his pitcher? Who knows, but there is seemingly a lot of patching of relationships that needs to be done between Manoah and Toronto. With that in mind, which teams might be the ones who could swing a deal with the Blue Jays for Manoah? Let's take a look at three of the candidates as the MLB rumor mill really begins to crank up.