Blue Jays: A Dream Trade Target May Have Emerged

Jon Morosi made some waves this morning on MLB Central stating that Minnesota Twins ace “Jose Berrios is one name to watch as a trade fit for the Blue Jays” this trade deadline.

We are still over two months away from the MLB’s July 30th trade deadline, so a lot can change by then, but at this point in time, the Twins are 14-26, which is the worst record in all of baseball.  With this slow start, it is easy to see why Minnesota would want to unload some expiring contracts and try to turn them into prospect capital to help them contend in the future.

I was expecting to see veteran names like J.A Happ and Kenta Maeda on the trade block, but hearing Berrios’ name is a little surprising considering he’s just 26 years old and still has a year of control left before he hits free agency.  The Twins were a team expecting to compete for a playoff spot this season, so I was under the impression that they would want to hang on to their ace in Berrios and try to reload this offseason to make another run in 2022.

If Morosi is correct, I may have been wrong in my initial assumption about how the Twins would handle this trade deadline and Jose Berrios may indeed be on the move within the next couple of months. I would be ecstatic to see him headed to Toronto (Buffalo) and play for the Blue Jays.

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The Puerto Rico native has been very effective for the Twins over the past five seasons, going 48-33, while logging 647 innings in that time span, posting a 3.81 ERA, and punching out a batter per inning as well.  The two-time All-Star has had this success because of his elite arsenal, which consists of a fastball that sits in the mid-’90s, a wipeout curveball that gets plenty of swings and misses, and an effective changeup that has turned into a really nice third pitch for him over the past couple of seasons.

Because of his age, production, and control, Berrios won’t come cheap.  I would expect that the Twins would want a similar return to what the Jays got for Marcus Stroman just a couple of seasons ago, considering the similarities in Berrios and Stroman’s contract and production.

The Blue Jays are entering their championship window.  The offense is starting to click, and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. is having an MVP caliber season early on that I don’t want to see wasted.  This is the time for Ross Atkins to start being a little aggressive with his prospect capital and to use the massive amount of young talent that this organization has acquired over the past couple of seasons to go get a ‘win now’ player, that will also be here beyond this season.

Pairing Berrios with Hyun Jin Ryu would give the Jays an elite one-two punch at the top of their rotation.  Add in a revitalized Robby Ray, Steven Matz, and potentially Alek Manoah or Nate Pearson, and you’re talking about a rotation that could have enough firepower to make some serious noise this October.

His youth, control, and talent may make Jose Berrios the perfect addition to this Blue Jays’ roster, and one that would send a strong message to this team that the front office believes in the current group, and that the time to win is now.