Blue Jays Morning Brew: Podcast Ep. 83 and trade deadline talk

The Toronto Blue Jays close out their two-game set against Arizona at 3:40 p.m. ET this afternoon. Let The Jays Nest Podcast get you there, won’t you?

As the Toronto Blue Jays zero in on the August 1st MLB trade deadline, The Jays Nest Podcast will be with you every stumbling step of the way.

Episode 83 of the podcast, featuring Shaun Doyle of Jays From the Couch and I, breaks down all of the latest news and rumours. You can listen to the show using the player below or subscribe and have the podcast delivered to your device each Wednesday morning.

The Jays’ Nest Podcast- Talking Toronto Blue Jays – Jays Nest #83- Blue Jays’ Smoak and Deadline Fire!

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Before the deadline talk, however, we circle back to look at the surprising extension between the Blue Jays and first baseman Justin Smoak. The new deal will pay Smoak $8.25 million over two years, but with the impending free agency of Edwin Encarnacion, this relatively small deal is being given a greater weight that it might deserve.

As I wrote on Sunday, the most realistic takeaway from an organizational and management side is that the Blue Jays value certainty and known commodities on their roster. Shaun and I go back-and-forth on the logic behind the deal and the numbers involved.

We then tackle the rumours of the week, most notably the reports that the Blue Jays had held “internal discussions” on New York Yankees outfielder Carlos Beltran and that they’d been linked to San Diego Padres outfielder Melvin Upton Jr.

This discussion leads us to “team control”, something you’ll be hearing a lot about in the days ahead. Given the expiring contracts that Toronto has in all areas of their roster, it may interest the club to get out ahead of those expiring deals by solidifying some roster spots now (much like they’ve done with Smoak).

Next: A creative deadline approach to improving Jays pitching

Of course it wouldn’t be a podcast without our stat of the week, the weekly Hot Takes and some great questions from our listers (with some especially good ones this week). Tweet in your questions for upcoming episodes to myself at @KeeganMatheson or the website at @JaysJournal.