This story was taken from Keegan Matheson’s Blue Jays Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to receive it regularly in your inbox.
Welcome to Trade Deadline frenzy.
It’s the time when winning teams go all out, losing teams charge up for next season and blue marks matter.
The Blue Jays are buyers, plain and simple. Beyond the obvious 2022 opportunity, the Blue Jays have a multi-year window thanks to an overlap between their young core and their recent big-name additions. There is a rarity in this opportunity, so this is a time for the Blue Jays to make a bold move.
Pitching remains the Blue Jays’ biggest need, starting with back-to-back bullpen arms and potentially a depth starter to shore up the back end of the rotation. There’s also room to diversify the position player pool, which could come in the form of bench depth, but a club with financial flexibility, a strong enough farm system and motivation to move could go either way.
Here are five questions facing the Blue Jays before the deadline on Tuesday, Aug. 2:
When will the magic happen? Last season, the Blue Jays dealt with their bullpen woes by dealing for Adam Cimber and Trevor Richards a month early. Clearly, this summer is not the case.
CEO Ross Atkins says: “Every year, it seems like with a week to go the prices feel very high. Things tend to work towards the deadline. There seems to be a better understanding on both sides of ‘where are those thresholds, where people are going to make a decision. Right now, to move quickly, you’re probably going to pay a premium.”
Is there a way to improve the alignment? Entering play Thursday, the Blue Jays ranked third in the MLB in runs scored (479) and OPS (.772). A starter is unlikely to be added, but there is room to give John Schneider more bench options.
Atkins says, “Our offense has really been running well for most of the year. We got off to a slow start, but now we’re in a good position. When you look at the running aspect and how we can improve it, there are ways to do, but it’s getting harder and harder. Making incremental improvements even to our roster of position players is not the easiest thing to do.”
Where does the rotation rank among the Blue Jays’ priorities? It’s up there, but with Alek Manoah and Kevin Gausman rolling, plus the club’s belief in Jose Berríos returning to his old form, there’s no sense of panic.
Says Atkins, “We always have to think about ways to provide depth. Could it be at the Major League level or Triple-A? Obviously, we’re always thinking about how we can do that internally as well. I feel like we’re in a good place to start in that sense, but that does not mean that we are not open to acquiring a holder.”
What will the Blue Jays target in their bullpen? The Blue Jays have long seemed to lack the 100-mph arms you see popping up in other bullpens, but Atkins is quick to point out that hitters have adjusted to speed.
Atkins says, “It’s not just about power. Swing and miss is definitely effective. I think that would be the one area where, if we could add more swing and miss, that would be a positive. Right-handed or left-handed is really going to depend on other things we do.”
How do these plans affect internal bullpen candidates? Yosver Zulueta, Nate Pearson, Julian Merryweather, Adrian Hernandez and others could be part of the solution, sure, but the Blue Jays can’t wait and hope one of them is the savior. .
Atkins says, “There are other guys in our system that we’re thinking about as potential options. I’d rather not name them and put more pressure on certain people, but we feel pretty good about some depth options that we have in our system. We think about how can we support them, how can we put them in the best possible position to give us depth”.