After operating with a short-handed rotation for much of the season, starting pitching is a natural need for the Blue Jays as the deadline approaches. The Jays “are looking for a front-line pitcher,” USA Today’s Bob Nightengale writes, and Diamondbacks right-hander Zac Gallen is one of the hurlers on Toronto’s target list.
The D’Backs took a 46-50 record into today’s game with the Angels, and they sit 6.5 games back of the final NL wild card spot. A team with such high expectations (and a club-record payroll) might wait until closer to the deadline before finally deciding to sell, but barring a major winning streak after the All-Star break, it certainly looks like Arizona will be moving some talent at the deadline. Nightengale writes that the Diamondbacks are already open to discussing impending free agents, which could make Arizona a sought-after trade partner if such players as Gallen, Eugenio Suarez, Josh Naylor, or Merrill Kelly are available.
Gallen is perhaps the most difficult player of that group to evaluate in terms of trade value, as he is posting the worst season of his seven-year MLB career. The righty has a 5.40 ERA in 115 innings and a slate of unimpressive Statcast metrics, including some of the worst hard-contact rates of any pitcher in the league. Gallen has been prone to hard contact even in his best years, but a worsening walk rate over the last two seasons has contributed to his struggles. A 4.18 SIERA indicates that Gallen should be out-performing his actual ERA, though those are still the numbers of more a mid-rotation arm rather than a front-of-the-rotation type.
The catch is that Gallen has looked like an ace in the past, with three top-nine finishes in NL Cy Young Award voting on his resume. His best finish was a third-place result in 2023, when Gallen had a 3.47 ERA over 210 innings for an Arizona team that made a surprise run to the NL pennant. The 210 frames was a career high for Gallen, and he added another 33 2/3 innings on his arm during the Diamondbacks’ lengthy playoff run. It can’t be overlooked that Gallen hasn’t quite looked the same since that signature season, as his production took a step backwards in 2024 before his sharper downturn this year.
Arizona is surely still going to put a significant asking price on Gallen, hoping that rival teams could view him as a change-of-scenery candidate. The Diamondbacks’ trade efforts will also naturally be helped by the fact that basically every contender could use a starter, plus Gallen is relatively affordable (around $5.625MM remains on his $13.5MM salary). A pitcher with Gallen’s history will draw interest even if his most recent results haven’t been good. From the perspective of trade suitors, however, those 2025 numbers will surely loom large, as clubs will have to gauge how much they’re willing to offer for a rental pitcher who isn’t in top form.
The Blue Jays have leaned hard on Kevin Gausman, Jose Berrios, and Chris Bassitt as the top three starters in their rotation this season, as Max Scherzer’s injuries and Bowden Francis’ struggles left Toronto operating with what felt like a three-man rotation for a big chunk of the first half. Scherzer has since returned to the mound (though is still managing thumb discomfort) and minor league signing Eric Lauer has pitched really well since joining the rotation in May, plus Alek Manoah has started a rehab assignment and is expected to be back at some point late in the second half in his return from UCL surgery.
With this much uncertainty, another solid starter would go a long way towards helping the Jays’ chances of keeping their lead in the AL East, or at least making the postseason bracket. Gallen figures to be one of many names linked to the Blue Jays as GM Ross Atkins evaluates what promises to be a typically busy trade market for pitching.
Those numbers are front of the line rotation numbers?
Can anyone name a player that the Blue Jays are not interested in?
Mike Trout
@GO1962
Bob Gibson…
I can list thousands of players who aren’t interested in the Blue Jays.
Ya Duran from the red Sox
Came here to say just that😂
I think this is misspelled…let me fix it….Zack Eflin….they dig Zack Eflin
@Lefty_Orioles_Fan
Zack does check a few boxes.
He seems like he would make for solid minor league depth. A good veteran to call up if/when someone in the majors is struggling or injured.
If they plan to install him in the rotation, they’ll need to use a time machine to get a version of Gallen from a year or two back when he would be a true upgrade to what they have now.
Can he not refuse a minor league assignment? One down hear doesn’t mean you are minor league depth anyways lol
Year* lol
if he had more years on his contract I’d take a flier on him in case he rebounds next year or the following. But he doesn’t. You only get him for 2 months all the evidence suggests those two months are going to hurt you more than they help you.
It’s not like this year is a total aberration either. This is the third year in a row that he’s been worse than the previous year, not a clear signal of a guy who’s going to turn it around on a dime and be an ace for two months.
There’s no source to this, it’s two separate comments, one about the dbacks selling and the other about the jays being aggressive at the deadline.
I get this is a rumour site and there’s a lot of Canadian visitors to the site but the constant ‘blue jays are interestied in’ every player and their brother is annoying and transparent that it’s just to gain attention
Like there isn’t a lot of Yankees -Dodgers-Red Sox-Phillies are interested talk here…
Why you gotta disparage Nightengale who pulled an all-nighter to put together his runor piece?
The Blue Jays are interested in you.
The Blue Jays called me. I told them I hadn’t played in 30 years and hung up.
4.18 SIERA and a 22%.K-rate? That’s not front of the line starter material.
They sure aren’t, but if the Blue Jays wanna win the AL East this is definitely the way to go for them. Merrill Kelly is really good, hopefully the Yankees could get him, if Gallen is traded to Toronto.
Oh man I hope they can do better than this. Jays already have 3/4 middle of the starting rotation. They need a number one imo and a closer.
At this point, the Blue Jay’s are just doing their due diligence on Gallen and a host of other pitchers. Regarding their need for a SP1 and closer, who do you have in mind and who are you prepared to give up?
@Angels & NL West
Alot of people like making half a trade. The second half of who is going back is often omitted.
There’s not any number 1’s available. If you need a number 1 you probably aren’t a contender.
They don’t need a number one. Their starting pitching isn’t great but they get the ball into the hands of the bullpen with a chance to win often enough. But if they want to make a real postseason run, they might want someone who would start a postseason game over whoever they think is their number three right now. I’m not really sure how the hierarchy looks right now. It probably depends on the matchup. Gausman probably is the one guy you would think will get a start regardless of opponent. I’m not sure Gallen would get the ball over any of Scherzer, Bassitt, or Berrios. But there are some pitchers likely to be available who would. Kelly probably. Lugo. Plus there are some controllable guys out there who could be moved for the right package like Cabrera. People are dreaming on Ryan and Gore but that’s a bidding war I’m not sure the Jays could win.
They need starting depth, but Lauer is doing a great job at the back end. So what they probably should be aiming to trade for is non-roster starting depth. Hard to come by at the trade deadline. But they’ve done it before. What the Jays have an excess of is platoon or bench profiled position players. High floors but limited impact so more like useful role players but that’s useful for contenders who are missing it. If there was a contender who had a number 6 type starter with options and had a bit of a depth issue at a position, that’s the kind of trade that would make sense. I’m looking at the Dodgers or Brewers maybe. The Jays have bought starters from the Dodgers on a couple of occasions at the deadline in Ross Stripling and Mitch White. Sort of last year too by taking back Yarbrough more as salary offset to the Kiermaier deal. The Dodger seem to need their starting depth, but they might add at the deadline and they have guys expected back at some point who will need roster spots. Their 40 man could get crunchy. Would they part with Casparius or Sheehan or one of those guys who could start a game in the majors now but still has options? Civale already got pushed out of the Brewers rotation. Are they still deep enough to trade someone like Chad Patrick? Their OF depth chart looks a little thin and the Jays are swimming in OFs. A depth challenge trade of sorts perhaps?
I ain’t reading all that. I’m happy for you though. Or sorry that happened
Atkins has one playoff win. How does he keep his job?
No thanks, we don’t need another starter that gives up the long ball. Besides we seem to get fleeced by their gm.
Forget Gallen and the other “frontline” starters. The Jays need a frontline reliever. The Jays need Kenley Jansen.
Yer right ma fren.