Blue Jays: Aaron Sanchez and Marcus Stroman garnered trade interest at deadline

Though neither were actually dealt, Ross Atkins says that both attracted significant trade interest, making the deadline crunch even more stressful for members of the Blue Jays front office…

Through the hectic ridiculousness of the non-waiver trade deadline, many players changed uniforms, some more surprising than others. Several Blue Jays also changed uniforms on the most exciting day of the baseball year – Marcus Stroman and Aaron Sanchez were not among them, though it wasn’t due to lack of interest.

According to Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet, who spoke with Blue Jays general manager Ross Atkins after the 4:00 PM EST trade deadline, the Jays received significant interest in the duo of young pitchers before the clock struck four.

Nicholson-Smith also notes that Atkins said the Blue Jays were close to trading some players but opted to keep them in order to secure a better return. While not confirmed, it’s likely that soon to be free agents Tyler Clippard and Curtis Granderson were among those that were close to being dealt.

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It’s not shocking that Sanchez and Stroman attracted the eye of some other teams close to the deadline. With (possible) bright futures ahead of them, the Jays could have easily moved either one of them and netted a wealth of young talent. Instead, they chose to hold their assets and stick with them through at least another few months.

Atkins also told reporters that teams contacted him asking him if he’d consider flipping some new additions to the team. Atkins, who said that the team wasn’t interested in flipping those players, likely was referring to Ken Giles and Brandon Drury.

Overall, none of the above pieces of news is overly startling, but it does give us a glimpse into just how much interest other teams have in some of the Blue Jays’ most puzzling current assets.

As the trade deadline frenzy winds down, Blue Jays fans should keep an eye out for August deals, as some of the aforementioned short-term assets could be dealt in the next week or two. Though August trades generally aren’t as exciting as deadline deals, they can still be impactful in their own ways.