Mississauga native could be a Blue Jays trade deadline target

When the Toronto Blue Jays acquired second baseman Andrés Giménez from the Cleveland Guardians in December, they reportedly almost brought in a second high profile name. Josh Naylor was garnering interest from within the Blue Jays front office, and it’s not hard to see why he would have been a fit for this team. The Mississauga, ON native was coming off a productive 2024 season, in which he hit a career high 31 home runs.

The Blue Jays traded outfielder Nick Mitchell, and infielder Spencer Horwitz to get Giménez and right now, it looks like a mistake to not have dipped their toes in a little further to get the Canadian first baseman. The Guardians flipped Naylor to the Diamondbacks for Slade Cecconi, a right-handed pitcher who has shown flashes of potential in the minor leagues, but has struggled in three stints in the majors, owning a career 5.87 ERA in 31 games. If Cecconi was the price for Naylor, the Blue Jays certainly had some arms on the farm they could have dealt. CJ Van Eyk, Chad Dallas and Trenton Wallace feel comparable, if not better than Cecconi.

Mississauga native could be a Blue Jays trade deadline target

At the time of the trade the Blue Jays also hadn’t yet signed Anthony Santander and early in the season, Naylor was making this move look like a big miss on Toronto’s part. When the Blue Jays bats were being silenced, Naylor could have provided some spark. He burst out of the gate this season with a .392 OBP and four home runs in March/April and slugged .500. His power dipped somewhat in May, with just 3 home runs and a .440 slug, but he still hit well with a .289 average and .319 OBP.

The left-handed hitting Naylor has also been dangerous with men on base all season. He owns an OPS of .918, driving in 40 runs in 120 at-bats with runners on, in all situations. When those runners move into scoring position Naylor is still effective, with a .767 OPS, driving in 32 runs in 66 at-bats.

The Diamondbacks may start moving toward being a seller at the deadline after some unfortunate news as Corbin Burnes (another Blue Jays offseason target) is slated for Tommy John surgery and will miss the rest of the season. Arizona is 32-34, 7.5 games back of the Dodgers in a very tough NL West division that also includes the Giants and Padres who are both ten games above .500 and looking to earn playoff berths themselves.

Naylor will be a free agent at the end of the season and could be a perfect pick up for Toronto at the deadline. While Naylor doesn’t grade out as a great defender, he would be a prime candidate to slot in as a full-time DH, while his experience at first can guard the Blue Jays in the event of an injury to Vladimir Guerrero Jr.

There are several variations of the lineup the Blue Jays can write out that includes both Naylor and Santander when he returns from his IL stint. Even putting Naylor in a platoon role wouldn’t be the worst idea. His numbers against righties (.315 batting average, .886 OPS) far outpace his numbers against lefties (.234 batting average, 618 OPS) this season.

While Naylor looks to be enjoying his time out west, with a 124 OPS+ and a .346 OBP, the 2024 All-Star should be heavily considered by Toronto as a target for this years deadline.