If the Blue Jays don’t sell, Ross Atkins could buy in a huge way

For most of the year, the belief around the league has been that the Toronto Blue Jays would end up selling at the deadline. Not just selling, but completely blowing up their roster in an attempt to rebuild the correct way in order to compete with the Yankees and Orioles down the line. This included trading their top two players, Bo Bichette and Vladimir Guerrero Jr.

But, why the rush to destroy the roster? They're only three games out of a wild card spot in the American League and they have the pitching and defense to compete in the playoffs. All they need to do is get aggressive in the offensive market at the trade deadline and they could be really, really good down the stretch.

MLB analyst Jim Bowden of The Athletic ($) agrees, connecting them with one of the biggest stars on the market right now.

MLB analyst connects Blue Jays as potential suitor for Luis Robert Jr.

The Blue Jays really only have two options: sell big or buy big. Anything in the middle will leave them in the middle of the league, unable to compete but not setting themselves up for the future.

Bowden suggests they could buy big, listing them as a potential landing place for the superstar outfielder, Luis Robert Jr.

Robert, 26, is under team control for the next few seasons and he's coming off a year in which he hit 38 homers and 36 doubles. He's truly a game changing outfielder if he's healthy. The "if" in that sentence is crucial because that's been his biggest flaw to this point in his career.

But Toronto could take that risk. It would create a core three of Robert, Guerrero and Bichette that could be the core unit of a World Series team if the pieces fall into place.

It's almost impossible to compete when only three of your starters have an OPS+ above 100, which is true in Toronto. There's no bigger fish to catch on the market, especially in a position of need, than Robert for the Blue Jays.

Either way, Toronto can't get stuck in the middle. They need to go big, either way they go. If they opt to buy big, Luis Robert is the player they need to land. He would move the needle in the AL East.