Columnist image

TSN Baseball Insider

Archive

The Toronto Blue Jays are 42-37 and in third place in the AL East. They are currently in the second wild-card position. Obviously, nothing is certain right now about playing in October, as there are 12 teams within 4.5 games of a playoff spot in the American League. We are just about at the halfway point of the season (79 games), so it’s time to start thinking about the trade deadline for contenders.

One of the challenges this year is that there are so many teams with a chance that there will be a lot of demand for a small supply of trade candidates. Of course, the races will be further defined as we get closer to July 31. There will likely be teams with similar records making different decisions about their postseason chances. It all depends upon where they are in their franchise history and how many controllable players they have versus free agents at the end of the season. 

The Blue Jays will likely be buyers at the deadline and they will clearly have to address some needs to beat out the other teams in the playoff hunt.

The Jays will need to add a starting pitcher or two. The fourth and fifth starter spots in the rotation have been dicey to say the least. Bowden Francis has struggled and can’t keep the ball in the ballpark. Max Scherzer came back Wednesday night after a long stint on the injured list, but the jury is still out on what he will be moving forward.

Scherzer’s start on Wednesday in Cleveland was a split-decision. His fastball velocity was mostly 93-94mph, although his velocity dropped a bit in the fifth inning. His slider/cutter was about 86 mph. His curveball was 75-76 mph, and his changeup was 84-86 mph. There was more than enough velocity in his performance. He was a bit inconsistent with his command, although it was to be expected since he hadn’t thrown in a major-league game in a while.

He threw five innings and gave up three runs on six hits with three walks while striking out four batters. The fact that he threw 83 pitches is great, but his recovery between starts is critical. His sore thumb is likely to continue be an issue that needs to be managed. The Jays front office will be holding their breath between starts, hoping he will be able to take the ball every fifth game.


Ideal acquisitions

In an ideal world, the Jays would add a pitcher with impact, like Sandy Alcantara or Eduard Cabrera (both of the Marlins). If the Diamondbacks fall out of the playoff race, Zac Gallen will be available. They would be the types of starters that could make a difference.

Toronto will need to add bullpen help as well.  One or two relievers will be needed. They could add a closer, moving Jeff Hoffman to a high-leverage seventh- and eighth-inning pitcher.

Washington Nationals closer Kyle Finnegan would be an upgrade. Aroldis Chapman is closing for the Red Sox and still throws over 100 mph. He would significantly upgrade the Jays bullpen. Chris Martin and Luke Jackson of the Texas Rangers would add to the depth of the Jays’ pen. The bullpen is usually the easiest position to improve at the deadline. There will be ample upgrades and depth to be had. 


Bo bounces back

Since the Jays will likely be buyers, I expect Bo Bichette will remain with the team until at least the end of the season.

Bichette is starting to look like his old self. He is once again an aggressive, slugging shortstop. I don’t anticipate any opportunity to trade him and replace him in some other deal which leads to an upgrade of the roster.

But the Blue Jays also won’t likely be able to sign Bichette to an extension before he becomes a free agent. The Jays will want to re-sign him and keep him, but because he is playing so well, he will likely want to go out on the open market to make sure he finds out what his real value is. The challenge will be finding the right number of years in the deal. A team might be willing to give him a 10-year deal, considering he will play next season at 28 years old.

It's unclear exactly what a deal will be, considering how up and down his past couple of seasons have been with health issues. I believe he has a chance to land a 10-year deal for $200 million or more. I wouldn’t give him a deal for that long, but all it takes is for one front office and owner to be willing.


Spitting Seeds

- The American League Cy Young race is going to be a great one this year. Hunter Brown of the Astros is leading in ERA, while Max Fried of the Yankees has 10 wins and is second in ERA. Red Sox starter Garrett Crochet is third in ERA and first in strikeouts. Jacob deGrom of the Texas Rangers is fourth in ERA and second in WHIP. The 2024 AL Cy Young Award winner, Tarik Skubal of the Tigers, is within striking distance again to win his second consecutive award. He is sixth in ERA, first in WHIP and second in strikeouts. Take your pick. My pick is deGrom.

- The AL MVP Race seemed like it was a one-man show as Aaron Judge had been hitting .400 with an on-base percentage near .500 and slugging percentage over .700. But Judge has cooled off a bit, down to a still amazing .361/..461/.719. That has opened the door for Seattle Mariners slugging catcher Cal Raliegh (.277/.382/.658) to enter the conversation. Raliegh has been red hot. He is the first Mariner to homer 10 times in three straight months. He set a new record for homers (32) by a catcher before the All-Star Game. He leads the league in RBI and is second to Judge in OPS.  Raliegh is also an outstanding defensive catcher, among the leaders in pitch framing and throwing out base stealers. The Mariners will likely need to challenge for a playoff spot for Raliegh to get true consideration. 

- There was a great starting pitching matchup in Milwaukee on Wednesday afternoon between the Pirates’ Paul Skenes and the Brewers rookie Jacob Misiorowski. Skenes got called up last year and has been excellent ever since. He even started the All-Star Game in 2024 for the National League. He has been equally as good this season, although Wednesday didn’t go well. He gave up four runs in four innings, but he got nickel-and-dimed with bloops and grounders mostly. On the other side, Misiorowski was making just the third start of his career. He is now 3-0 with a 1.12 ERA after throwing five scoreless innings. He has thrown 16 innings in his career and only allowed three hits and two runs with 19 strikeouts and seven walks. These two NL Central pitchers will be matching up against one another many more times in their careers and each time it will be a heavyweight battle.