{"id":816025,"date":"2026-07-22T07:03:04","date_gmt":"2026-07-22T07:03:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/816025\/"},"modified":"2026-07-22T07:03:04","modified_gmt":"2026-07-22T07:03:04","slug":"gausmans-future-with-blue-jays-unclear-as-losses-pile-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/816025\/","title":{"rendered":"Gausman’s future with Blue Jays unclear as losses pile up"},"content":{"rendered":"

TORONTO \u2013 Each passing day of lost ground brings more clarity to the Toronto Blue Jays<\/a>\u2019 path as the Aug. 3 trade deadline approaches, nudging them from hopes of a season-saving surge to the uncomfortable realities of a subtraction summer.<\/p>\n

Absent financial pressure to move payroll, what they do and how far down that road they go depends on what\u2019s available in return. They don\u2019t need to make deals just for the sake of them. Still, based on this front office\u2019s past sell-offs, most recently in 2024, they\u2019re likely to try moving all expiring contracts and consider other opportunities, a tactical shift rather than a wider strategic change aimed at improving the foundation for the buildups to come.<\/p>\n

Those considerations will hang over each outing until the deadline passes, which is what made Kevin Gausman<\/a>\u2019s 3.1 innings of grind especially notable in a 12-2 thumping by the Tampa Bay Rays that felt like a new low point Tuesday night.<\/p>\n

Even in an up-and-down season for the veteran right-hander, he may well be the Blue Jays\u2019 most marketable pending free agent given his longevity and post-season pedigree. In what\u2019s trending toward a sellers\u2019 market, leverage that could change as more teams pick a lane, starters should be an especially coveted commodity.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Knowing they\u2019ll need starters for next season, exploring an extension for Gausman would make sense for the Blue Jays. But with the collective bargaining agreement expiring Dec. 1, a difficult lockout expected to follow, and owners seeking a restrictive salary cap, what does such a deal look like for the 35-year-old, especially with the game\u2019s ground rules potentially in flux?\u00a0<\/p>\n

All of which raised the possibility that Tuesday\u2019s outing, a rough nine-hit, five-run, four-earned slog against a relentless Rays team that\u2019s reminiscent of last year\u2019s Blue Jays, might be Gausman\u2019s last in Toronto. His next turn comes up Sunday at Boston, followed by Aug. 1 at home to St. Louis, and if the Blue Jays do commit to the sell path, maybe he\u2019s traded by then, or perhaps held back, just in case.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a possibility he said he didn\u2019t consider before taking the mound, although he clearly seemed attuned to the reality, saying, \u201cnot a great lasting impression.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI’m not going to think about that too much because I’m a Blue Jay right now and the focus is this team in this room and those guys,\u201d he continued. \u201cThat’s where my mind’s at right now. But, yeah, that is kind of crazy to think about.\u201d<\/p>\n

Whatever happens, Gausman will have some control over the process, as his $110-million, five-year deal includes limited no-trade protection for up to eight clubs. George Springer, who singled and doubled as his at-bats continue to improve, has full no-trade rights as a player with 10 years of service time and five straight with the same team, while Max Scherzer was also given a no-trade clause in his one-year deal this spring.<\/p>\n

That trio, along with other pending free agents like Daulton Varsho and Shane Bieber, can raise or lower their stock between now and the deadline, which adds another dimension to each outing.<\/p>\n

Given extra rest coming out of the all-star break, Gausman got worked for 12 pitches before a Yandy Diaz lineout to start the game, but went walk, double, two-run single by Jonny DeLuca, and RBI single by Chandler Simpson before escaping the inning after 38 pitches. After a couple of zeroes, he had two on with one out in the fourth when manager John Schneider came to get him, Gausman walking off head down as some in the crowd of 42,881, perhaps recognizing the possibilities, applauded him.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe all know what’s going on and unfortunately, we knew we kind of needed to come out of the gate strong and we really haven’t,\u201d said Gausman. \u201cWe just haven’t played very well lately.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since reaching .500 at 39-39 on June 22, the Blue Jays are 7-16, scoring two runs or less in 12 of those contests. Now 46-55, they are a season-worst nine games under .500, six games back of the third wild-card spot, and their playoff odds, as calculated by Fangraphs, are down to nine per cent<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe’re all frustrated,\u201d said Gausman. \u201cWe know what this team can do and what it has done. That kind of bleeds into that for sure. Listen, nobody wants to be in this situation that we’re in right now. It sucks because it is the same group of guys. It’s hard.\u201d<\/p>\n

So too is the current situation, when nothing seems to change their fortune. Things got so bleak Tuesday that when Patrick Corbin couldn\u2019t escape a ninth highlighted by a three-run homer from Diaz, Schneider brought in Myles Straw<\/a> from left field for a mid-inning pitching change, forcing Ernie Clement to left as Luis Urias came off the bench to play second.<\/p>\n

While Straw getting two outs gave fans something to celebrate, a three-way change to get a position player on the mound at the end of a rout says a lot about where the Blue Jays are right now. They\u2019re firmly on the path to the type of subtraction they\u2019re so desperately hoping to avoid.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere’s no secret, this is not going to be easy. This is going to be hard. You just want to find some small wins, for one, and two, you want to just make sure that everyone understands that this is going to be hard and you’ve got to dig your way out of this,\u201d said Schneider.<\/p>\n

\u201cLittle victories are just Myles busting his ass to first base, (Daulton) Varsho doing the same, guys grinding out at-bats even with it not resulting in a hit or getting on base, George (Springer) hitting the ball hard a couple times, those things,\u201d he continued, before shifting gears. \u201cWe need to start impacting the baseball way more than we are right now. We’ve got to play tighter on defence. It’s a fine line of these guys playing tight. They got to just go do it, you know what I mean? Easier said than done. This league is tough. This league will chew you up and spit you out. Those small things you try to build off of and you try and say, hey, this is what we stand for, this how we do it, we’ve got to continue to do it and we have to do it way better than we’re doing it right now.\u201d<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TORONTO \u2013 Each passing day of lost ground brings more clarity to the Toronto Blue Jays\u2019 path as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":816026,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[558],"tags":[64,63,591,85],"class_list":["post-816025","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-mlb","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/816025","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=816025"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/816025\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/816026"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=816025"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=816025"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=816025"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}