Blue Jays: Comparable Relievers on the Trade Market

It’s July, and the Toronto Blue Jays are primed to sell off a few of their short-term pieces. The question is – what can the Jays get for some of their veteran relievers?

Evaluating trade assets is always a tricky thing. In fact, it’s more an art than a science, an art that few are particularly good at. On one hand, rentals can fetch a hefty portion of a team’s prospect capital, just look at David Price’s trade from the Detroit Tigers to the Toronto Blue Jays. While it turns out that the prospects the Jays gave up in that deal were not as valuable as their scouting reports suggest, it was huge at the time.

On the other hand, short-term acquisitions can prove to be downright useless in their effect on the team they’re traded to. Several instances over the past half decade have shown us that we need to be extremely careful when evaluating the true importance of a rental piece.

If trade deadline value was measured on a scale, that scale would have controllable young arms at the top, and veteran position players on expiring contracts at the bottom. Relief pitchers would fall somewhere in the middle, often fluctuating in demand and asking price.

This season, the Toronto Blue Jays have a bevy of bullpen arms they can sell off at the deadline. Speculation is sure to run rampant, of that I’m sure. Still, it’s interesting to take a look at a realistic asking price for some of these bullpen pieces.

The following slides will take a look at past examples of bullpen arms getting dealt at the deadline in an attempt to predict what the Blue Jays might be able to get back in a reliever trade.

Note: All statistics for active players are taken entering play on Thursday, July 5th, 2018