MLB's top trade chips for Blue Jays opens up a larger conversation than fans expected

The Toronto Blue Jays want to be buyers at the trade deadline this year. Just like in 2025, they'll need some upgrades, and by the way this season has gone so far, thos upgrades might need to be more drastic than before in order to give themselves a real chance at fully redeeming themselves from last year's World Series loss.

With the deadline still weeks away, the projections for what team's like the Blue Jays will do are starting to heat up and so to is the speculation around what exactly Toronto would be willing to give up. MLB.com recently offered the idea that Gage Stanifer and/or Johnny King would be the Blue Jays trade chips that would help them swing a big deal.

Blue Jays beat reporter Keegan Matheson wrote, "Stanifer, the Blue Jays' No. 5 prospect, is 22 and pitching well in Double-A, making him an attractive “near term” arm for rebuilding clubs. Think back to last year, when the Blue Jays dealt righty Khal Stephen to the Guardians for Shane Bieber and lefty Kendry Rojas to the Twins in the Louis Varland deal. The Blue Jays also have some higher-upside arms, like No. 3 prospect Johnny King, and this front office has shown a clear willingness to move top prospects for legitimate MLB pieces over and over again."

But looking back to last year is exactly why the Blue Jays should be cautious about what they do this season and perhaps dealing from their pitching depth again could be a short sighted move.

Blue Jays need to weigh the gamble of losing more top arms from their system

If the Blue Jays are going to be in the conversation to make a true game changing trade, such as landing Tarik Skubal from the Detroit Tigers, then there is no question that players like Stanifer and King are going to have to be on the table in those negotiations. Even the next tier of arms such as Freddy Peralta or Sandy Alcantara might cost at least one of those guys.

That's the unfortunate scenario the Blue Jays find themselves in though by going almost a decade without developing their own home grown pitching talent. Outside of Trey Yesavage, GM Ross Atkins and this scouting staff have failed to produce a legitimate starting pitcher over the long term. The only other guys that have gotten close are Alek Manoah and Nate Pearson - though close is a relative term - and neither are in the organization anymore.

So now that the Blue Jays are seemingly building a promising pitching prospect pipeline in the system, it might be wise to steer clear and deal from other areas on the roster. RJ Schreck is a good example of a depth piece that could be attractive to other teams. The 25-year-old left handed hitting outfielder is behind several other players of that caliber on the Blue Jays depth chart only because they have an abundance of those guys.

Right now at the big league level the Blue Jays have Jesús Sánchez, Daulton Varsho, Yohendrick Piñango and Nathan Lukes that fit that mold. They've also got Addison Barger, currently on the Injured List, that is also a left-handed hitting outfielder. So if the Blue Jays are going to make any deals, they should probably look at this group of players first, before they potentially ruin what could be a good thing for their system as the years progress.

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