The Blue Jays are first in the American League East and clear buyers ahead of Thursday’s deadline. Mitch Bannon of The Athletic reports that they are willing to trade from their position player depth, including guys who are currently on the big league roster or in Triple-A.
The Jays came into this year with a cluster of players on the roster who hadn’t yet taken hold as big league regulars. That group includes Addison Barger, Nathan Lukes, Davis Schneider, Joey Loperfido, Will Wagner, Leo Jiménez, Jonatan Clase, Alan Roden and Orelvis Martínez.
Every player in that group apart from Martínez has seen some big league time this year, some more than others. Barger has separated himself from the rest of the pack and established himself as a middle-of-the-order bat in Toronto’s lineup. He has 14 home runs, a .264/.316/.500 slash and 122 wRC+ this year. He hits from the left side while most of the club’s other everyday players are righties. He provides defensive versatility by moving between third base and right field. Presumably, the Jays wouldn’t let go of him without getting something massive in return.
The other players in that group have played smaller roles. Lukes has 257 plate appearances on the year but almost exclusively against righties, with just 28 of those coming against southpaws. He’s been good as a strong-side platoon guy, which has been great for the Jays with Daulton Varsho missing so much time this year. Schneider is also having a good year, though doing most of his damage against lefties.
Loperfido has a huge .341/.396/.500 slash line this year but in just 16 games, as he was only just recalled from the minors a few weeks ago. Wagner has a .236/.331/.302 line in 37 games, having also spent some time in the minors. Jiménez was playing well in the minors but has a .071/.133/.179 line in the big leagues.
Those guys are all currently on the big league roster. As noted by Bannon, both Varsho and Andrés Giménez are expected to return from the injured list soon, which will push a couple of those guys back down to Triple-A, where they would join Roden, Clase and Martínez. Roden has a massive .331/.423/.496 line for Buffalo but just a .204/.283/.306 slash for Toronto. Clase also has some decent Triple-A numbers but a big league line of just .210/.288/.300. Martínez is not having a good year but is not too far removed from being a top 100 prospect.
The Jays won’t be able to give playing time to all of these guys down the stretch, so it’s logical for the club to think about using some of that depth to add to the pitching staff. They are known to be looking for both rotation and bullpen upgrades. Many selling clubs, meanwhile, will be looking for upper level players who could be plugged right onto a big league roster. A team doing a long-term rebuild might prefer younger prospects but some clubs are looking to do a quick sell at the deadline before attempting to return to contention in 2026. It’s also possible a team looking to do a buy/sell hybrid, such as the Padres, might look to acquire some of these cheaper players in a win-now move.
Since these guys are controllable, the Jays would be subtracting from their long-term position player depth. But if they can work out a trade involving guys in this cluster, it could allow them to hang onto more highly-touted prospects who are further away from the big leagues, such as Arjun Nimmala or Trey Yesavage. They also don’t face huge roster turnover this coming offseason, as Bo Bichette is the only position player slated for free agency after this season.
Jiménez, Clase and Martínez are all slated to be out of options next year and haven’t fully established themselves as big league regulars, so the Jays might be especially motivated to move on from that group. Though of course, those players will have less trade value than some of the other guys who are putting up more impressive numbers or who still have more option years after this one.
The Jays are presumably evaluating various possibilities ahead of Thursday’s deadline. Bannon reported yesterday that the front office is “turning over every stone” in pursuit of bullpen additions. The Jays have also been connected to starting pitchers such as Dylan Cease, Zac Gallen and Mitch Keller.
Photo courtesy of Brian Fluharty, Imagn Images
Not even the Blue Jays believe in the Blue Jays….
That makes zero sense. They have the best record in baseball while playing in the toughest division
Why they selling off valuable ML pieces then?
Trading off surplus to address needs.
Well the article implied that it could be Bichette. Might hurt their WS aspirations.
Are you reading the same article as everyone else?
No it didn’t.
It said Bo Bichette was their only position player slated for Free Agency. Which is entirely different from being willing to trade him
Are you drinking ?
I’m afraid to ask which team that Toronto beat is your fave!
Every MLB team, including the Dodgers, Yankees, Padres, Giants, Astros and more have all had a weak week… The jays happen to have played many of those teams and have held their own… Time to sober-up before you have to drive…💯
Their record would suggest strongly that you are dead wrong.
Barger is the only one who interests me. I wonder who all would be interested. But perhaps a trade will not be in the Jay’s best interest. It’ll be interesting to see.
Interesting.
A shot every time you used the word interest
Ooof. Not interested!
What team is yours?
I’ve been a jays fan since 1977. Never quivered!!
What do we do next? Sign a 3B bat like Suarez. We need a few more long balls to pump our offense . Then a reliable starter, then two more BP arms to replace Garcia, and Sandlin. Maybe Pete Fairbanks, and Bednar or Jurran (sp) from the Twins. Id not touch our top minor leaguers unless it’s for Cease, Helsley, the Marlins Cabrerra, or Reynolds from Pittsburg …
@Floridacoach 2
I don’t even know where to start with that wish list.
Never quivered? Your warm jacket game must be strong. 🙂
Who was barger before last year. Jays have done a good job of developing position players eg lukes clement etc. Loperifdo seen some positives etc. Development is weird. What counts is mlb performance? Not age or minor league stats
I don’t see them trading Barger. And to get a decent, but not star pitcher they’d probably have to package two of the other players listed.
Twins have a surplus of AAAA talent offensively that are doomed and some quality relief pitching they’d be open to trade.
While I’d like to keep Ryan and Duran, I’m far more open on Coulombe, Brock Stewart and Griffin Jax if it means bringing in some major league hitters
Stewart and Coulombe feel like the right value for some of the guys listed here. But don’t you already have a bunch of platoon profiled guys like this? What is the strong need profile wise if the Twins were to target 40 man type players that would have a paths to jumping into a major league role?
There you go get Will Wagner for Quintana and Cortes.
I’d like Brewers depth pitching for Jays depth position players. I’d prefer Patrick or Myers though so they could be optioned.
I think they are all interesting playets but none are outstanding. They play great as a team, so why you messing with it especially when you have prospects and you have both Varsho and Santander likely to return.
That don’t make any sense to trade anyone from the MLB roster, even Gimenez should stick. The Jays have a good team.
The Keller trade makes sense.
Santander is NOT coming back any time soon , and likely wouldn’t even make it back with enough time to get close to ready to play effectively .
Varsho and Gimenez will give the jays consistent defense. Clement needs to be benched with his defensive miscues lately. Two games in a row where he failed to cover his bag when the play was coming there. He’s also cold offensively, he’s gone back to swinging at everything outside the zone and absolutely nothing in the strike zone…
Barger shouldn’t be traded.
Barger could easily be a one-year wonder. That should be the assumption until he does it twice.
But the one year is pretty valuable. Subtracting one of your best hitters at the desdline when you aren’t a juggernaut offense to begin with seems like a good way to pull the rug out from under the team.
I’m willing to part with Schneider for a bag of balls and you can keep the balls. Any takers? Please.
Anderson and Jansen, perhaps a little cash for some of those guys, please.
Scratch that, these guys would require Soriano or Detmers.
But Perry should be on the phone here. The potential to add near MLB ready talent for guys with limited control is enticing.
Detmers and Soriano are just entering their arb years and serving fairly important roles aren’t they? I like both from Toronto’s perspective for any of the guys mentioned (not including Barger).
Yes they are. Which means they will be free agents and:or extended for big money when Neto and the other young guys are hitting arbitration.
That’s good though isn’t it? The Angels don’t feel like a market that needs all players to time up at the same time. A well balanced roster should have guys hit free agency every year at the same time as players entering their arbitration years and graduating prospects to the majors. If you have that balance, plus an ability to spend in free agency, that’s a pretty sustainable looking club.
Yes and no. If the Angels could acquire Lukes and another player or two with longer club control it could give a young core several years to grow together.
The issue here is we have no prospects on the horizon for some time, particularly on the position player side. Maybe Moore, longshot of Rada
But with the Rendon albatross off the books after 2026 there should be money for extensions.
None of them seem to habe much value other than Barger. Who’s having a breakout season, but low obp, hits better at home and struggles vs lefties
Other than Barger that’s a whole lot of nothing to be interested in parting with…
I get the feeling shapiro and his lackie will screw this up somehow. They’ve been lucky this year so far….
They finally got a hitting coach who knows what he is doing. Also getting Donny loses at Baseball out of the hitting coordinator role has helped.
Yes!
The Jays have run into teams that have made huge defensive errors.
If those teams tighten up the defences…it could be a tough rest of year for the Jays….
Started counting the times Darragh used “guys” in this article.
Ran out of energy doing so and now have to take a nap.
Let me know of any big trades, you guys ….
Surprised Ernesto Clement didn’take this list.
Their biggest of all priorities is dealing with Bichette. I hated that they doled out so much money for Guerrero when Bichette was also the guy you build around.
Now he will walk for nothing this winter. If they can’t hammer out an extension of some sort this week they need to trade him.
Yes it sounds strange at the deadline when they are all but playoff bound but they could get close to a kings ransom for him.
Spit balling but something like a Bichette, Barger, Springer, Green and prospect(s) for Suarez, Marte, Gallen and prospect(s)
Or maybe Bichette and Springer for (Pitt)
Keller, Cruz and McCutcheon
Just thoughts but I hate the idea of no Bichette on the Jays which most likely will happen anyways come winter
Major League should be in quotes there. Few of those players are proven major leaguers
“Sadaharu O…”
You’re only posting negative comments about the jays…I’d wait until midnight Thursday before sticking both feet in your mouth. Grabbing Domínguez from Baltimore is a good start. Now DFA Green, which should have happened in June . Next sign Keller or Santana from the Bucs which allows us to drop some of our BP scruff
Only Canadians can be Nasty…. Are you being wishful?
And Canada is always capitalized….but I commend you on your grammar.
When I look at the Blue Jays depth chart I am like “how in the fork are these guys in 1st place”? They have like 4 good players.
From May 8th to July 25th only 14.7% of the Jays plate appearances have been by someone with an ops+ below 100. League average is 47.5% during that time.
They only have 4 really good hitters, but they also have very few really bad players.
It’s been crazy to watch the production all through the lineup. Not having bad players is a lot of fun to watch as a fan.
Getting production out of 1 thru 9 kinda helps. Not many teams can say that this year
Moron
They’re record would suggest different.
On a note about Bo Bichette.. They need to lock him up long term.. leading the show in hits a position where he is always around.
Yes should have been done long ago! And leading in hits for the 3rd time in the past 5 or 6 years.
“Meanwhile” must START the sentence. It cannot come in the middle, between commas.