Blue Jays: The clock is ticking for the front office before non-waiver deadline

With less than two days before the non-waiver trade deadline, the Blue Jays’ front office has a lot of work to do, and not much time left to do it.

The Blue Jays have been expected to be among the busiest sellers at the trade deadline this year, and so far it’s been relatively quiet.

They have made a few trades already, most notably by sending J.A. Happ to the New York Yankees in exchange for Brandon Drury and Billy McKinney. Ross Atkins and Mark Shapiro also shipped Seung-hwan Oh to Colorado for prospects Forrest Wall, and Chad Spanberger, and sent Steve Pearce to the Red Sox for a minor league shortstop Santiago Espinal. Otherwise, we’re still waiting on the remaining chips to fall, and there are quite a few who could be on the way out.

There are several contracts that will expire at season’s end, and they are the most obvious ones to have on the trade block. That list of remaining names includes the likes of Curtis Granderson, Tyler Clippard, John Axford, as well as the injured Josh Donaldson and Marco Estrada. The latter is expected to make a start at the beginning of the week here, but it may not leave the Atkins enough time to move him, at least until August.

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Beyond those contracts, there have been rumours surrounding Marcus Stroman, Yangervis Solarte, and even Roberto Osuna, who is due back from suspension at the end of this week. Those three are less likely to be moved than the above group, but they could realistically be on the table for the right return, and each situation is obviously a lot different. Osuna’s return to the Blue Jays is a bit of a PR nightmare, Solarte is part of an infield logjam, and Stroman is arguably the most valuable player on the big league roster right now, especially with Lourdes Gurriel Jr. going down with an injury on Sunday.

Whatever the front office decides to do in the next couple of days, they’re starting to run thin on time to get things done, at least before the non-waiver deadline. They can still execute trades into August, but if you think they have a tough time finding leverage with their veterans now, wait  until the pool is down to one claiming team that they’re negotiating with. Making the bulk of their hopeful deals over the next 24 odd hours will be a key in maximizing whatever return they can get.

The most likely and arguably urgent to go would have to be Clippard, Granderson, and Axford, with Estrada joining them if he can prove that he’s healthy on Monday night, and ready to contribute to a postseason run elsewhere. Each of them could theoretically be moved in August, but again, it becomes a lot more difficult, especially with the lower leverage players. It’ll be a different story if they try to trade Donaldson, Osuna, and others in August, but the market is still limited after Tuesday at 4pm EST for them as well.

Hopefully we’re in for a busy couple of days as far as roster movement goes, and the front office can maximize their chips going forward. As sad as it’ll be to see likeable characters like Granderson, Axford, and others in another jersey, this is a business and there is a lot of work to be done in order to get this team back into contention.

And we’ve said it before, if Francisco Liriano can bring back Teoscar Hernandez (the deal also included Nori Aoki coming to Toronto), Atkins and Shapiro can’t leave any stones unturned.