Blue Jays: Top five trade targets that should be in the sights

#5- Chatting with the Pirates

I’ll begin with one rumour that’s already been discussed in Blue Jays circles, that there’s potential interest in a pair of Pittsburgh Pirates right-handers. Between Chad Kuhl and Trevor Williams, I’d certainly prefer the latter, mostly because of a longer track record as a starter. I originally had Danny Duffy of the Royals in at number five on this list, but after he left Monday’s game with some forearm tightness, that option could be off the table.

As for Williams, he’s quietly putting together a nice bounce-back campaign after a very difficult campaign in 2019. So far he’s 1-4 with a 3.70 ERA and a 1.378 WHIP across five starts and 24.1 innings. He badly struggled last season, but he was very good in 2018 when he was 14-10 with a 3.11 across 31 starts, and the Blue Jays would obviously hope for that version of the 28-year-old.

Two other factors that add to his potential appeal would be contract control and acquisition cost. He’s making a portion of the 2.825 million he was scheduled to receive this year, and has two more seasons of arbitration eligibility. As for acquisition cost, I doubt the Pirates would be asking for the moon for him, and with Ben Cherington running the show in Pittsburgh now, he has an extensive knowledge of the Blue Jays minor league system and might value some lower-level prospects more than others.

It’s probably not the ideal upgrade for the Blue Jays, and I’ve argued that they should “go big or go home” when it comes to this year’s trade deadline. However, at #5 I think Trevor Williams works just fine.