Blue Jays: Five players who could lose their roster spot at the deadline

The Toronto Blue Jays currently find themselves at the top of the AL Wild Card race alongside the Seattle Mariners and Tampa Bay Rays. There are quite a few teams that sit just outside the playoff picture like the Cleveland Guardians and the Chicago White Sox, so the second half of the campaign is certainly going to be a fight to the finish that hopefully doesn’t have the Blue Jays falling one game short again this season.

With the trade deadline set for next week, the rumour mills have been at an all-time high, especially with Washington Nationals superstar Juan Soto potentially available if any team can match the high price tag. The Jays would benefit from adding Soto (as would every other team in the league) but it remains to be seen if the front office is willing to pony up what is required to land the Dominican star, or rather if they want to focus their energy elsewhere like the pitching staff over the busy week ahead.

The Blue Jays do have a solid thing going for them in the batting order while reinforcements for the pitching staff, which currently ranks 16th in the league with a 3.94 ERA, could certainly be upgraded before the deadline passes. I would think Ross Atkins and co. will add some arms before the trade deadline is over, it just is yet to be seen whether they will be one-year rentals like Jose Quintana and Daniel Bard or whether they dig deep into their prospect pool and acquire a player with some contract control like Luis Castillo or Scott Barlow.

Regardless of what happens over the next week, if the Blue Jays do make some deals, they will need to clear some room both on the active and the 40-man roster unless someone present on the roster is traded to offset the newly acquired players.

Who could be axed if the Blue Jays add before the deadline?