{"id":52200,"date":"2025-08-01T09:29:12","date_gmt":"2025-08-01T09:29:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/52200\/"},"modified":"2025-08-01T09:29:12","modified_gmt":"2025-08-01T09:29:12","slug":"what-to-watch-for-from-blue-jays-on-pivotal-deadline-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/52200\/","title":{"rendered":"What to watch for from Blue Jays on pivotal deadline day"},"content":{"rendered":"

TORONTO \u2014 After 6 p.m. ET Thursday, trades will no longer be permitted, putting pressure on contending front offices to do everything they can to improve their World Series chances now.<\/p>\n

As recently as Wednesday afternoon, some executives on buying teams were frustrated that sellers weren\u2019t moving off their high asking prices, but by the evening, the market started moving with a trio of prominent relievers traded for significant returns and another big swing by the Mariners. Then on Thursday morning, the Blue Jays struck again<\/a>, acquiring rehabbing Cy Young winner Shane Bieber from the Guardians for prospect Khal Stephen.<\/p>\n

But the starting pitching market still hasn’t moved much \u2014 many more relievers remain on the board \u2014 and that\u2019s before we even get to the position player side. A year ago, deadline day featured 32 trades, and while that number may be tough to match, it\u2019s still reasonable to expect 20-plus trades Thursday as teams have reached that threshold each of the last four deadlines.<\/p>\n

Back in Toronto after a 4-4 road trip, the Blue Jays have raised their ceiling meaningfully with Bieber and Seranthony Dominguez, but there\u2019s more work ahead for GM Ross Atkins, who will lead the push for the first playoff bye in franchise history. Of course, their AL East rivals will likely be busy, too. As the day\u2019s action gets underway, let\u2019s take a look at what\u2019s ahead for the Blue Jays on deadline day:<\/p>\n

What\u2019s next in the relief market?<\/p>\n

The addition of Dominguez represents a good start for the Blue Jays, who won Wednesday thanks in part to the right-hander\u2019s clean eighth inning against his former team, the Orioles. Yet the Blue Jays continue pursuing relievers actively.<\/p>\n

\"Sportsnet'sSportsnet’s MLB Trade Deadline Tracker<\/p>\n

Thursday’s MLB trade deadline is fast approaching. With contending teams ready to bolster their rosters for the post-season push, you can stay up to date with every trade made before the deadline with Sportsnet’s trade tracker.<\/p>\n

Trade Tracker <\/a><\/p>\n

As Blue Jays manager John Schneider said: \u201cIf there’s ways to continue to add to (the team\u2019s bullpen), I know we’re still talking about that, too.\u201d<\/p>\n

But while prospect Juaron Watts-Brown was a significant price to pay for Dominguez, the cost of some of the relievers traded Wednesday was even higher:<\/p>\n

\u2022 The Mets acquired Tyler Rogers from the Giants for right-hander Jos\u00e9 Butto and prospects Drew Gilbert and Blade Tidwell.<\/p>\n

\u2022 The Mets acquired Ryan Helsley from the Cardinals for prospects Jesus Baez, Nate Dohm and Frank Elissalt.<\/p>\n

\u2022 The Phillies acquired Jhoan Duran from the Twins for prospects Mick Abel and Eduardo Tait, two of the game\u2019s top 100 prospects, according to MLB Pipeline.<\/p>\n

With that in mind, the prices on controllable relievers such as Mason Miller and David Bednar will likely be extremely high, too. But at least for rental relievers, the leverage will soon shift back toward buyers because this is the last chance for sellers to land prospects for their arms.<\/p>\n

As for the Blue Jays, they remain motivated here. They were linked to Helsley extensively on Wednesday, and they did have interest, but others proved to be equally motivated as the Cardinals chose the Mets\u2019 offer, described by rival executives as a strong one.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s still a long list of relievers available, and\u00a0the team\u2019s history under Atkins<\/a> suggests at least one more bullpen move is coming \u2014 even after the Bieber trade. The Blue Jays have acquired multiple relievers at the deadline every time they\u2019ve been buyers under Atkins, except for 2020, when they loaded up with three starting pitchers instead (Taijuan Walker, Robbie Ray and Ross Stripling).<\/p>\n

Offensive help is another possibility for the Blue Jays, especially at a time when George Springer, Alejandro Kirk and Joey Loperfido are dealing with physical issues and Anthony Santander, Andres Gimenez and Daulton Varsho are on the injured list. While Varsho is likely to be activated Friday and Gimenez could start a rehab assignment before long, it’s unclear whether Santander will return this season.<\/p>\n

Using history as a guideline, a bench player seems like a real possibility here because Atkins has acquired one bench bat every year he’s been a buyer: Melvin Upton in 2016, Jonathan Villar in 2020, Corey Dickerson in 2021, Whit Merrifield in 2022 and Paul DeJong in 2023. In an ideal world, the Blue Jays find a way to add here again and if they do, a right-handed hitter or switch-hitter would likely be the cleanest fit.<\/p>\n

What will the Blue Jays\u2019 division rivals do?<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been a busy summer of trades in the AL East, dating back to last month when Rafael Devers left the division and continuing through this week, when every team in the division has already made a deadline week deal. On Thursday, all five teams should be active \u2014 albeit in different ways. For a Blue Jays team with a 4.5-game lead over the Yankees and a 5.0-game lead over the Red Sox, every move will be watched closely.<\/p>\n

As of late Wednesday, industry sources suggested the Orioles would be busy selling players but perhaps not Ramon Laureano, the 31-year-old outfielder whose contract includes a $6.5 million option for 2026 \u2014 a steal for a player who has hit 23 home runs with 3.4 WAR over the last calendar year. Meanwhile, the Rays\u2019 recent trades of Danny Jansen and Zack Littell show they\u2019re open to selling established players.<\/p>\n

The Yankees are expected to continue adding after acquiring Ryan McMahon and Austin Slater, while the Red Sox\u00a0may not be done adding pitching even after the Matz trade.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TORONTO \u2014 After 6 p.m. ET Thursday, trades will no longer be permitted, putting pressure on contending front…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":52201,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[363,99],"class_list":["post-52200","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-mlb","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52200","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=52200"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52200\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/52201"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52200"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52200"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52200"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}