Toronto Blue Jays underwhelming trade deadline puts more pressure on management

After trading Sanchez and Stroman at the MLB Trade Deadline, Toronto Blue Jays management aren’t the most popular with the fanbase.

If Toronto Blue Jays fans weren’t already at their breaking point, it appears management might have pushed them over the edge after seeing the news that Aaron Sanchez was traded to the Houston Astros.

After Marcus Stroman was moved to the New York Mets for two pitching prospects, the fanbase wasn’t all too pleased that a beloved player didn’t fetch a bigger return. Then all the attention moved on to Ken Giles and the rest of the team’s pending trade assets which were gaining some interest.

Daniel Hudson was traded to the Washington Nationals for Kyle Johnston and while that might not seem like a massive return, you have to remember that the Blue Jays grabbed the reliever after he was cut by the Los Angeles Angels. Jonhston is a high-A ball pitcher who has three pitches; a mid-range fastball, a slider and a changeup.

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The trade that had everyone a buzz was Sanchez, Joe Biagini and prospect Cal Stevenson to Houston for Derek Fisher, an outfielder playing in triple-A. This isn’t the type of deal to really get excited about unless you’re Ross Atkins who appears to value Fisher really highly.  Unfortunately, the fanbase doesn’t seem to be too keen on taking management’s word for how well they think they did.

Going into the season, Toronto was supposed to take advantage of a volatile trade market with contending teams needing pitching and they had that. Ken Giles lost most of his value because of elbow inflammation plus Hudson, Eric Sogard and David Phelps didn’t land anything too spectacular.

What really hurts is seeing a pitcher like Sanchez go from being a front-of-the-line starter to being a player moved right at the end of the deadline for a prospect that doesn’t draw a lot of intrigue.

Could the Blue Jays not have allowed Sanchez to rebuild his value and move him in the off-season? That seems to be the biggest question but the front office probably felt that the longer they held on, the less they were going to get.

The real problem was that management lost most of the leverage when it came to Stroman and Sanchez. Teams probably knew the Blue Jays weren’t going to be able to sign them, especially after Stroman’s tweeted saying there were no offers presented to him and the fact that they didn’t have the track record of success that Trevor Bauer and Zack Greinke have.

Blue Jays have every right to be upset considering the stars of the rotation that were hyped up as a big part of the team’s rebuild are now gone and Atkins is trying to sell optimism that isn’t easy to buy into right now.

No offence to Atkins, but to say the organization has an abundance of pitching considering the lack of options the team has to bring up at the moment. Sure they probably have a handful that project to be major league pitchers but he wasn’t exactly forthcoming on when he expects them to come up.

Sure the team is probably looking to have more prospects in the cupboard so that they can try to make the same moves a team like the Astros did at the deadline but they also need a base to work with.

Nate Pearson, Alek Manoah, Adam Kloffenstein, T.J. Zeuch and Patrick Murphy are examples of prospects that bring excitement but there’s no telling of what they can do now. Luckily, the core they have in Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Bo Bichette, Cavan Biggio and Lourdes Gurriel Jr. have time to develop but at some point, the Blue Jays have to take the next step forward.

Atkins and Mark Shapiro shouldn’t receive too much grief right now because it is too early to say how the deals will turn out but the pressure is on them and they won’t exactly receive the benefit of the doubt with the fanbase if it doesn’t work out.

What did you think about the Blue Jays trade deadline? Should they have gotten more or do you think the front office had their hands tied? Let us know in the comments below.