Players that could lose their 40-man spot if/when the Blue Jays make trades

The Toronto Blue Jays currently find themselves in the thick of the American League Wild Card race, fighting with the Boston Red Sox and Tampa Bay Rays for the top position. Funny enough, both teams found themselves in Toronto recently, with the Jays ending the week with a 4-4 record. The club now finds itself on the West Coast and will face both Oakland and Seattle.

With all this in mind, the Blue Jays sit in a position where a few additional pieces could go a long way, especially a few additional arms for the bullpen, potentially another starter, and maybe a left-handed bat if the right deal is there. The Jays have a few prospects they can deal away to get these trades done but as I mentioned in one of my latest articles, there will be quite a few hurdles compared to the last year’s trade deadline with the expanded playoff format this season.

One thing to consider is that if/when the Jays are able to pull off some transactions is that if prospects are the only pieces heading the opposite way, who comes off the 40-man roster?

The club currently has a full roster, and with multiple players on the 60-day IL and only Hyun Jin Ryu out for the season, three players will have to be removed regardless of whether the Jays’ front office making any trades when Tayler Saucedo, Nate Pearson, and Julian Merryweather are healthy and ready to return.

Let’s take a deeper dive.

The Toronto Blue Jays are surely going to explore the market to upgrade the team before the trade deadline. Whose roster spots are in jeopardy?

Shaun Anderson

Picked up by the Blue Jays this past offseason on the waiver wire, right-hander Shaun Anderson began the 2022 season off the 40-man roster but was selected on June 27th to join the big league squad to give the Jays some depth when the starters were unable to go deep.

The Florida product appeared in one outing for the Jays later that night against the Red Sox and allowed two earned runs off of four hits, making the game a little bit uncomfortable late. Anderson would be optioned back down to AAA a few days later and has spent the majority of the season with the Bisons where he owns a 3.88 ERA through 15 appearances (six starts) with 42 strikeouts.

The former Padre is a candidate to be DFA’d simply because he is on the outside of the internal pitching depth picture, with other candidates like Matt Gage and Max Castillo ahead of him. He also struggled in his only big-league appearance this season and considering the Jays snuck him through the waiver wire this past offseason, it may be possible to have him go through it one more time without being claimed.