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.

Jeremy Beasley

Acquired early last season from the Arizona Diamondbacks, right-hander Jeremy Beasley is one pitcher who has seen his fair share of time split between AAA and the MLB.

He has continuously been optioned back and forth and was even outrighted from the roster midway through the 2021 campaign. He returned to the Jays on June 2nd this season and so far this year, Beasley has struggled to find a rhythm on the mound, authoring a 6.30 ERA through 10.0 innings. Three of those outings have seen two earned runs on the board but his appearance two weekends ago helped the Jays out of a tough spot, going 2.0 innings while allowing just one hit and no runs.

The biggest issue is consistency, as the June 24th game against the Milwaukee Brewers was another two-earned-run affair, which is a tough vote of confidence moving forward. With Casey Lawerence and Thomas Hatch also on the 40-man and able to go multiple innings (albeit both struggled this past weekend), this makes Beasley expendable should the Jays need roster space if the team makes any trades.

I personally think Beasley is not at the top of this list because he has MiLB options available but is a player that snuck through the waiver wire last season and might be able to do so again if the Jays choose to risk it.

Anthony Banda

The most recent acquisition to the Blue Jays squad is left-hander Anthony Banda, who was acquired from the Pittsburgh Pirates in exchange for cash considerations after being designated for assignment back on June 27th. You may recognize the name as he did spend a few years with the Tampa Bay Rays from 2018 to 2020.

Banda has struggled with the Pirates this season, owning a 6.41 ERA through 19.2 innings of work. The left-hander is similar to Beasley in that some days he can give you two solid innings with limited damage but then put up a three-spot against the Tampa Bay Rays where he fails to record an out. He has allowed 35 hits on the season so far and opponents own a collective .372 batting average on the year, with the Texas product offering a changeup/fastball combo with some offspeed breaking pitches mixed in between.

The former Pirates reliever pitched a solid inning for the Jays two nights ago in Oakland, allowing just one hit and no earned runs on the evening. I would imagine that the left-hander’s spot in the bullpen is safe unless the Jays add some veteran bullpen depth at the trade deadline or until he starts to struggle, as fellow southpaw Matt Gage awaits his return to the big league club.

Vinny Capra

A 20th-round selection of the Blue Jays back in 2018, Vinny Capra has worked his way through almost every step of the Minor League ladder and finally got his break earlier this season and was called up to the Blue Jays on April 29th. The move was to add some depth to the bench with Cavan Biggio struggling and also being placed on the COVID-19 IL.

Capra did not see a lot of playing time with the Jays, registering just five at-bats while being used multiple times as a pinch-runner or defensive replacement. He did collect his first big league hit, a single to left-field against Rays reliever Brooks Raley on May 13th. He would be optioned down roughly a month later and is now on the 7-day IL with the Buffalo Bisons.

The righty-batter does make himself useful as a utility-type player but considering the club has Biggio playing well as of late and a plethora of infield talent in the Minor Leagues, Capra may become a victim of the numbers game if the Jays add some veteran talent before the trade deadline passes.

Acquired as part of the Marcus Stroman package with the New York Mets back in 2019, southpaw Anthony Kay has flirted with the active roster these past few seasons but has yet to cement himself as a full-time big league pitcher.

Since 2019, Kay has made 28 appearances in the MLB (seven starts) and owns a 5.48 ERA through 70.2 innings with 77 strikeouts and opponents owning a .274 batting average. The New York product has made just one relief appearance this year for the Jays and allowed an earned run through two innings of work.

Kay has spent a good chunk of time on the IL earlier this season and is currently rehabbing in the Minor Leagues to get back into game shape. He had some strong outings in the Florida Complex League and in Single-A, throwing five innings combined with two hits and seven strikeouts. He made his way back to AAA last week and through two appearances has pitched 3.2 innings while allowing four hits, three earned runs, and has walked three batters compared to one strikeout as a member of the bullpen.

I don’t think Anthony Kay is one of the first players you would consider DFA’ing on the list but the unfortunate side is that he has fallen down the leaderboards regarding internal promotions. He is a great depth option considering he can give you multiple innings, has multiple MiLB options remaining, and throws from the left side but if the Jays make a few deals over the next month, I wouldn’t be surprised if Kay falls victim to the numbers game.

Trevor Richards

One name I did not expect to find myself writing about is reliever Trevor Richards, especially with how well he pitched for the Jays last season.

The right-hander was acquired one year ago today from the Milwaukee Brewers and he finished out the 2021 campaign with a 3.31 ERA through 32 outings, mostly being used in high-leverage situations out of the Jays bullpen.

That success did not transfer over to this season, as the former Brewers reliever has struggled to a 6.10 ERA through 31.0 innings this year and has definitely fallen out of the “circle of trust” in the Jays bullpen. He just recently returned from the IL after battling a neck injury but the Illinois product has not had a great year, allowing 21 earned runs and a 5.5 BB/9 so far this season. He does keep striking out batters at a 10.2 K/9 clip but if he continues to struggle on the mound, the Jays may not have any other choice but to DFA him, as he is out of MiLB options.

One would hope that the neck injury is the reason for his command issues and poor outings in June but if the trend keeps continuing the way it is, a tough decision may need to be made.

Bradley Zimmer

When the Blue Jays made a trade with the Cleveland Guardians earlier this season, many were hoping the club was able to swing a deal for infielder Jose Ramirez (although he had already signed a contract extension a couple of days prior). Instead, the Jays were acquiring former top prospect Bradley Zimmer in exchange for reliever Anthony Castro, adding another member to the outfield core bringing the total to five.

Looking at his batting stats alone, one may wonder how the hell Zimmer is still on the active roster at this point in the season.

Through 69 at-bats, the lefty-batter owns a .116/.208/.261 slash line with eight hits, two home runs, and a .469 OPS while being used off the bench the entire season. Where he excels is his defensive ability, as the plus runner and defender are able to come in late and take over in centre field, which either gives George Springer a break or moves him to right field and gets Teoscar Hernandez out of the game. Zimmer does have a highlight reel catch already on the season and did recently hit a home run this past weekend, so maybe this is a sign of good things to come.

The main reason Zimmer makes this list is due to whether the Jays go out and acquire a left-handed batter before the trade deadline, as a majority of the options available like Ian Happ and Andrew Benintendi play in the outfield and the former Guardians outfielder is the lowest on the active roster leaderboards compared to the other outfielders.