{"id":819113,"date":"2026-07-23T17:19:11","date_gmt":"2026-07-23T17:19:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/819113\/"},"modified":"2026-07-23T17:19:11","modified_gmt":"2026-07-23T17:19:11","slug":"kevin-gausmans-no-trade-clause-mlb-trade-rumors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/819113\/","title":{"rendered":"Kevin Gausman’s No-Trade Clause – MLB Trade Rumors"},"content":{"rendered":"

As the Blue Jays continue to trend toward selling, there\u2019ll be an increased focus on some of their short-term veterans \u2014 rentals in particular. Right-hander Kevin Gausman<\/a> stands as one of the most prominent names who could be shipped out if Toronto does sell, recent struggles notwithstanding. Gausman\u2019s five-year $110MM contract, which expires at season\u2019s end, allows him to block trades to up to eight clubs. Those teams, according to Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic<\/a>, include the White Sox, Pirates, Brewers, Tigers, Mariners, Mets, A\u2019s and Reds.<\/p>\n

Many of the clubs on that list aren\u2019t going to be in the market for a veteran rental anyhow. The Mets, A\u2019s and Reds are clear sellers. The Mariners\u2019 rotation already runs quite deep. The Tigers are on the buy-versus-sell bubble, but even if they opt to add, Gausman\u2019s salary would probably be cumbersome given their luxury tax status<\/a>. The Pirates\u2019 rotation already got a nice boost with Jared Jones<\/a>\u2018 return. A rental starter probably isn\u2019t high on their list of items to add right now, and he\u2019d be a pricey addition for a typically low-payroll club with other needs to address<\/a>.<\/p>\n

[Related \u2014 Trade Deadline Outlook: Toronto Blue Jays<\/a>]<\/p>\n

The White Sox and Brewers stand as two notable teams to which Gausman could block a deal. Both might have some interest, though his $23MM salary could be a hindrance to interest from the Brewers\u2019 end. As of this writing, Gausman is still owed just under $8.04MM. That number will be down to $6.92MM on deadline day. The Jays could always bridge that gap by including cash, but that\u2019d mean a steeper asking price in terms of prospects for Brewers president of baseball operations Matt Arnold. They\u2019d also still have to convince Gausman to waive his no-trade protection, of course.<\/p>\n

The ChiSox stand as the most obvious suitor for Gausman on this list, and their payroll is so low right now ($89.4MM as of yesterday, per MLBTR\u2019s new payroll tracker<\/a>) that money shouldn\u2019t be a big issue on any acquisition. It\u2019s possible that Gausman simply put the Sox on there since they weren\u2019t a competitive team at the time he made the call in the offseason and that he\u2019d now welcome the opportunity, but that\u2019s speculation. There\u2019s no real way of knowing his exact preferences, but he\u2019s expressed conflicting emotions on the possibility of a trade.<\/p>\n

Mitch Bannon of The Athletic writes<\/a> that Gausman was choked up ahead of yesterday\u2019s game when discussing the matter with reporters. Said Gausman: \u201cI told my wife yesterday, \u2018How lucky have we been to be here?\u2019 To be in a place long enough that we\u2019re sad to leave.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gausman called signing in Toronto the best decision of his career. He went on to explain that he hopes to show his young daughters all over Canada and bring them to Jays games following retirement. At the same time, he also acknowledged that he would \u201clove to have another opportunity\u201d at chasing a championship. (Readers are encouraged to check out Bannon\u2019s article in full, as it\u2019s rife with poignant comments from Gausman that serve as a reminder of the human component of the transactions we gobble up this time of year.)<\/p>\n

Through his first dozen starts this season, the 35-year-old Gausman looked well on his way to another season meriting at least some down-ballot Cy Young votes. Gausman has thrice garnered Cy Young consideration in his career \u2014 twice during his current run with the Jays. He finished as high as third in AL Cy Young voting back in 2023. From Opening Day through May 27, Gausman logged a sharp 3.13 ERA with a slightly above-average 23.6% strikeout rate and an elite 4.3% walk rate. He allowed just 0.78 homers per nine frames. That didn\u2019t make him a Cy Young front-runner, but he was certainly on the periphery.<\/p>\n

Instead, the opposite has played out. Gausman has mixed a couple of one-run gems in over his past nine trips to the mound, but there\u2019s been far more bad than good. Despite holding the Yankees and Mets to one run apiece over a combined 13 innings in a pair of June starts, Gausman is lugging around an ugly 6.56 ERA over his past nine trips to the hill. His strikeout rate is right in line with its prior levels (24.2%), but his walk rate has more than doubled (10.4%) and he\u2019s surrendered an average of 1.74 homers per nine innings.<\/p>\n

Clearly, Gausman\u2019s command hasn\u2019t been anywhere near as sharp as usual over the past seven weeks or so. There\u2019s been no indication he\u2019s dealing with anything physical. His velocity is unchanged, and the Jays haven\u2019t said anything about a potential injury. Perhaps he\u2019s been tipping pitches, struggling with some mechanical difficulties or both. Whatever the reason behind the slump, he\u2019s inflated his ERA up to 4.51. Metrics like SIERA (3.88) and FIP (3.68) paint a more favorable picture, but any team acquiring him would be making a bet on rehabbing the right-hander\u2019s typically excellent command.<\/p>\n

Of course, the Jays have 21 other teams with which they can freely discuss Gausman. He\u2019d have no say over a potential trade to clubs like the Phillies, Cubs, Braves, Rays, Padres and D-backs \u2014 all of whom are on the hunt for rotation arms. Gausman isn\u2019t going to command an elite prospect package, given his contract status and recent downturn in results, but he has an outstanding track record and has been an obvious playoff-caliber starter for more than a half decade now \u2026 with the exception of the past few weeks.<\/p>\n

The Blue Jays lost again last night, falling 4-2 to the division-rival Rays. They\u2019re squarely in the AL East cellar and sit 6.5 games back of a Wild Card berth in an American League playoff chase that has been punctuated by mediocrity. The road ahead doesn\u2019t get easier. Shane Bieber<\/a> \u2014 another impending free agent who could be on the move \u2014 takes the ball against Tampa Bay for a series finale today. After that, the Jays head to Boston for three against baseball\u2019s hottest team, followed by three games in D.C. against one of the sport\u2019s most surprisingly competitive clubs. They\u2019ll host another unexpected contender, the Cardinals, for three games leading into the Aug. 3 deadline.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As the Blue Jays continue to trend toward selling, there\u2019ll be an increased focus on some of their…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":819114,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[558],"tags":[64,63,16066,591,85],"class_list":["post-819113","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-kevin-gausman","tag-mlb","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/819113","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=819113"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/819113\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/819114"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=819113"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=819113"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=819113"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}