Toronto Blue Jays: Trade deadline speculation starting to heat up

The Toronto Blue Jays have a couple of players who are expected to be dealt at the MLB Trade Deadline and it appears the rumours are starting to heat up.

With the Toronto Blue Jays playing some exciting baseball, it is going to be a tough time for players on the team with all the rumours surrounding players who are expected to be dealt at the deadline.

Last season, Toronto offloaded former AL MVP Josh Donaldson, J.A. Happ, Roberto Osuna, Seunghwan Oh, John Axford, Aaron Loup, and Curtis Granderson at the deadline.  Some of the trades didn’t exactly yield the return many were expecting and some we won’t know for another couple of years.

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The same will probably be said about this season with players like Marcus Stroman. Ken Giles, Daniel Hudson, Eric Sogard and maybe Freddy Galvis, reportedly on the market.

With the league getting rid of the waiver deadline, they will need to MLB teams looking to put their rosters over the top ahead of the playoffs need to decide how committed they really are.

Of course, the Blue Jays know this all too well when they made the massive splash in 2015. While it didn’t lead to a World Series title, it could have easily as that Toronto team had the pieces but just ran into a hot Kansas City Royals squad.

The important thing for general manager Ross Atkins this season is to try and help the Blue Jays bridge the gap for the young emerging players on the roster to get into a competitive situation sooner rather than later.

Stroman’s price has reportedly been set with the team looking for a similar return to what the Tampa Bay Rays got for Chris Archer according to David O’Brien of the Athletic.

Now the Blue Jays probably don’t expect the same return the Rays got which was Austin Meadows, right-handed pitcher Tyler Glasnow, pitching prospect Shane Baz. It is tough to gauge which teams are interested in Stroman considering scouts who were at Stroman’s last start in Detroit were probably also looking at Tigers players too.

Teams like the New York Yankees, Atlanta Braves, Los Angeles Dodgers, San Diego Padres and the Cincinnati Reds (who have already been linked to Stroman in the past) in the mix and they were among the teams who sent scouts to watch Stroman pitch as we are led to believe. 

Even though a lot of the conversation has been around Stroman and Giles considering they are the Blue Jays more popular trade chip but he isn’t their only option to move. Morosi also reported that there is an increasing amount of interest in Sogard as well as Hudson.

Those two deals would be easier to get done considering the Blue Jays should be focused on the return they get for Stroman but they have a chance to get a decent return for players who were considered low-risk signings.

One team who has been linked to one of the Blue Jays trade deadline assets are the Boston Red Sox who have been looking at Giles and Hudson which makes a lot of sense. The defending World Series champs have struggled this season in the pitching department as their bullpen ranks 18th with a 4.54 ERA and also have 18 blown saves.

After not retaining Craig Kimbrel, the Red Sox have been looking for a dependable late-inning reliever and Hudson would certainly fit the mould. Considering the Blue Jays signed the 32-year-old after he was released by the Los Angeles Angels, they should be happy with the return they get.

When it comes to Sogard, it will be interesting to see how his plays out because you know Bo Bichette will be watching it closely. Moving Sogard would open up a roster spot to bring up the prospect as well as a spot in the infield for him.

Now, that shouldn’t be the reason to move the 33-year-old because he has been a valuable contributor in the lineup hitting .305/.389/.491 with 10 home runs and 30 RBIs in 70 games this season. There might not be a huge market for the utility player but when you look at championship teams in the past, they always had this type of player to rely on.

Get ready for a week full of speculation, good or potentially bad news when it comes to the trade deadline and all Blue Jays fans can hope for is for deals that will help the progress of this rebuild.

What do you think about the latest rumours surrounding the Blue Jays? Do you expect them to be really active as we approach the deadline? Let us know in the comments below.