The Toronto Blue Jays entered the All-Star Break six games under .500 and outside the playoff picture. For the first time in months, they\u2019re in last in the AL East. It\u2019s obviously not where they wanted to or thought they\u2019d be.<\/p>\n
The Jays have three weeks to determine a trade deadline direction and decide whether they\u2019re going for it in the second half or whether the season is lost. There are going to be some busy days ahead in Toronto.<\/p>\n
So let\u2019s get to your mailbag questions, some of which have been edited for length and clarity.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a scary sight to see Vlad hit these days. Who is this guy? From your front-row seat, can you shed any light on what\u2019s happening? \u2014 Darren M.<\/p>\n
Vladimir Guerrero Jr.\u2019s swing looks out of whack. I\u2019m not sure what other way to put it. It\u2019s looked off for most of the year. For hitters such as Guerrero, who have complicated swings with leg movements and shoulder drops, everything lining up is essential, and it\u2019s been a while since those movements have appeared in sync. Hitting coach David Popkins recently said the timing aspects of Guerrero\u2019s swing are off, and it\u2019s been harder for him to get stacked on his back foot, land closed and turn on the ball.<\/p>\n
There are likely nonmechanical aspects to Guerrero\u2019s struggles this year, too. His chase rate is 10 percent above his 2025 mark and above league average. That could be connected to his swing, but it could also be because of frustration around his struggles and the offence\u2019s struggles at large. When Guerrero is locked in, he\u2019s spitting on pitches just off the plate and nodding his head, as if to say he knew that was a ball the entire time. We\u2019re not seeing that much these days.<\/p>\n
Guerrero didn\u2019t just magically get worse at baseball, but he needs to find his swing and compile an extended run of success. If you\u2019re looking for bright spots, the first baseman had five balls hit over 100 miles per hour and two homers in his final six games before the break.<\/p>\n
The Jays look more like sellers right now. Will they retool and go for it next year, or will they look at 2027 as a rebuilding year? \u2014 Yossi R.<\/p>\n
What are the Blue Jays\u2019 blind sides, and how can they work on filling the gaps by getting major-league-ready or younger prospects for 2027? \u2014 Veronica C.<\/p>\n
Answering these two questions together, because they\u2019re connected. With regard to the 2027 direction, expect the Blue Jays to attempt to be competitive next year regardless of what happens in the next few weeks. If they sell, it\u2019ll likely be something similar to the 2024 deadline when the Jays acquired plenty of upper-minors talent they felt could help the 2025 team rebound. The Jays have too many expensive players in their prime (Guerrero, Dylan Cease, Kazuma Okamoto and others) to enter any sort of long-term rebuild. It\u2019d take multiple years of struggle to force the Jays to blow things up.<\/p>\n
When it comes to what positions and areas the Jays need to address, there really aren\u2019t actually that many holes. They basically have to bank on bounce-backs and health from Guerrero, Alejandro Kirk and Addison Barger next year. They\u2019re not going to target replacements for those players, nor should they. The clearest area of need is a right-handed-hitting outfielder, preferably a centre fielder, though they are extremely hard to find. The Jays could also use an injection of young starting pitching near or at the MLB level. They\u2019ll have rotation holes to fill in 2027 with Kevin Gausman, Shane Bieber, Patrick Corbin and Max Scherzer all set for free agency.<\/p>\n
Are there any viable starting pitchers in Triple or Double A the Jays can turn to this summer if the current rotation struggles continue, or is it more likely they look outside the organization for help? \u2014 Michael K.<\/p>\n
If the Jays need some young starters to step up in the second half, they\u2019re likely turning to Chad Dallas, CJ Van Eyk and Jake Bloss.<\/p>\n
Dallas, in two appearances out of the bullpen, has pitched to a 1.93 ERA in MLB so far. John Schneider appears to be a fan, hyping up Dallas\u2019 composure and his breaking ball. He\u2019d probably be the first candidate to stretch out into a rotation role. Van Eyk doesn\u2019t have overpowering stuff but owns a 3.79 ERA in Triple A this season, building off a solid 2025 campaign. He was called up just ahead of the break.<\/p>\n
Bloss has the most upside of the bunch, returning from Tommy John with increased velocity across his repertoire, but hasn\u2019t yet flashed consistency. He\u2019s got an 8.69 ERA in five Triple-A starts but has allowed just one earned run over his two outings.<\/p>\n
Surging prospect Nolan Perry has already climbed two league levels and owns a 2.47 ERA on the season, but he\u2019s not going to make it to MLB this year. Coming off Tommy John, the Jays are likely going to limit his innings down the stretch.<\/p>\n
Why did the Jays not make an offer to Bo Bichette? Was it a mistake not re-signing Bo? \u2014 Beagle<\/p>\n
There is a difference between not making an offer and not showing interest. My understanding, from talking to league and team sources, is the Jays showed interest and stayed in touch with Bichette all winter. By January 2026, it became clear the sides weren\u2019t likely to line up on a deal, though some in the Jays organization were still hoping he\u2019d return. Bichette then received a seven-year, $200 million offer from the Philadelphia Phillies (as reported by The Athletic\u2019s Matt Gelb) and the three-year, $126 million contract he ultimately signed from the New York Mets. A lower offer from Toronto, once Bichette received those, would\u2019ve been more offensive than productive. There\u2019s little point in tabling an offer you know won\u2019t be competitive.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s hard to say letting Bichette walk was a mistake. It\u2019s undeniable the Jays haven\u2019t been as good without him, but it\u2019s difficult to draw a direct correlation between his departure and Toronto\u2019s 2026 roller coaster. Bichette is about to enter the All-Star break as a below-league-average hitter and near replacement-level WAR. For context, Luis Ur\u00edas has been about as valuable by bWAR (Baseball Reference). The Mets aren\u2019t doing particularly well, either. You can make an argument Toronto and Bichette are better off together, and perhaps there is some truth to that, but that\u2019s an argument based more on vibes and feelings than anything tangible.<\/p>\n
Are Jays hitters really bad at ABS challenges? \u2014 Michael P.<\/p>\n
Short story: They\u2019re basically average.<\/p>\n
Long story: Across baseball, 48 percent of batter-challenged pitches have been overturned. Toronto\u2019s hitters have a 47 percent success rate, ranking 17th in MLB. They\u2019ve gained 0.7 runs over the course of the entire season, compared with Baseball Savant\u2019s expected challenge rate and timing, so they\u2019re about average as a group.<\/p>\n
The Jays do have some individual challenging outliers, though. Andr\u00e9s Gim\u00e9nez is fifth worst among all hitters with at least 10 challenges, winning just three of his 12 (25 percent). Davis Schneider, despite spending time in Triple A, ranks fifth best, with 11 successful challenges in 14 attempts (79 percent).<\/p>\n
With Daulton Varsho and potentially Myles Straw set for free agency at the end of the year, does the front office have a plan to address centre field? \u2014 Siwoo J.<\/p>\n
For starters, as some people pointed out in the replies to this question, Straw does have a player option for 2027 at $8 million. That\u2019s a low enough number that, with Straw\u2019s value to Toronto\u2019s clubhouse and bench, he\u2019ll likely return next year, though not as an everyday centre fielder. There is also a chance Varsho will return to the Jays, as well. It might be on a short pillow contract, or he could accept a qualifying offer if presented with one after the season, though he will likely hit the open market.<\/p>\n
Toronto\u2019s other internal options consist of Nathan Lukes, who has been respectable in centre though not elite, and prospects such as RJ Schreck and scorching utilityman Jay Harry.<\/p>\n
Likely, the Jays will have to search outside the organization. The top free-agent centre fielder, aside from Varsho, is expected to be Trent Grisham. He\u2019s putting together a pretty similar season to Varsho\u2019s, though, and is even worse defensively. Luis Robert, with a player option at $20 million, could also hit free agency but has plenty of injury issues and inconsistency.<\/p>\n
The Jays might have to hit the trade market to fill this centre-field spot, which opens up a bunch of opportunities. Guys such as Jake McCarthy of the Colorado Rockies, Evan Carter of the Texas Rangers and Oneil Cruz of the Pittsburgh Pirates are the sort of players the Jays could target.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Toronto Blue Jays entered the All-Star Break six games under .500 and outside the playoff picture. For…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":799005,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[435],"tags":[49,48,462,82,507],"class_list":["post-799004","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-mlb","tag-sports","tag-toronto-blue-jays"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/799004","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=799004"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/799004\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/799005"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=799004"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=799004"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=799004"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}