Vladimir Guerrero Jr. remains untouchable, but Bo Bichette might not be

The news of Christian Yelich’s trade to the Milwaukee Brewers was surprisingly pertinent to the Toronto Blue Jays, bringing an influx of speculation regarding Toronto’s top prospects.

Shortly after the trade was announced by the Miami Marlins and Brewers, Craig Mish of SiriusXM Radio reported that the Blue Jays were the only team that “came close” to the Brewers offer for Yelich. Toronto said no to giving up Vladimir Guerrero Jr. after the Marlins asked for him.

Guerrero, just named the third-best prospect in baseball by Baseball America, is the best third base prospect in the game according to both Baseball America and MLB Pipeline. He received a hit tool of 80 from MLB Pipeline, the first such ranking they’ve given out, compared to 70 for Mike Trout and 65 for Bryce Harper in 2012.

Along with Guerrero, Bo Bichette drew attention after a report from Jeff Blair indicated that the Blue Jays are ready to consider trading Bichette if a team takes on the Kendrys Morales contract.

Bichette was named as the eighth-best prospect in baseball by Baseball America this week, and the third-best shortstop. It was previously thought that he was untouchable, but it appears that Toronto’s mindset has changed.

(Blair’s reporting should be taken with a grain of salt — quite a large one, at that — but it’s fun to speculate. Another tweet from Mish seems to support at least the concept of the Blue Jays trying to offload the Morales deal, writing, “Blue Jays & Marlins had several variations of a deal. Some included salary going from [Miami] to Toronto.”)

It’s unclear whether the Blue Jays were still attempting to acquire Yelich even after they had completed their trade with the St. Louis Cardinals for Randal Grichuk.

Another potential Blue Jay addition, Lorenzo Cain, was also snapped up by the Brewers last night. Milwaukee signed Cain to a five-year, $80 million deal, the largest of this offseason.

If Toronto is still looking for an outfielder, the Brewers are now shopping Domingo Santana and Brett Phillips, Bob Nightengale of USA Today Sports reports. A deal with the Brewers seems unlikely, however, given that Milwaukee is looking for major league starting pitching in return.

Find Mark on Twitter @MarkColley. He can be contacted at markarcolley@gmail.com.