2 Blue Jays rumors we hope are true, 1 we hope doesn't happen

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We have finally arrived at the 2023 MLB trade deadline! After what feels like an eternity of rumors, rumors and more rumors, the deadline is tonight at 6:00 pm ET.

The Toronto Blue Jays are sitting in a fairly nice position at the deadline. While there was a small amount of buzz early on in the season about the club potentially selling some assets at the deadline, the team's consistent winning ways and current 59-48 record now has them leaning way more towards being buyers.

This has already been seen in the days leading up to the deadline as well. In two separate moves, the Blue Jays acquired LHP Génesis Cabrera and RHP Jordan Hicks from the St. Louis Cardinals for a total package of catcher Sammy Hernandez and right-handers Sem Robberse and Adam Kloffenstein. Losing this trio definitely stings a bit, but the risk seems to be worth the reward in this instance.

With Bo Bichette's injury in Monday night's game, the Blue Jays may have a sudden need at shortstop. Santiago Espinal is the only player on the big league roster capable of playing short and he has proven time and time again this year that he cannot be trusted in an everyday role. Otto Lopez, Leo Jimenez, Addison Barger, Ernie Clement and even Orelvis Martinez are other 40-man options down in the minors, but all of them feel like tradeable assets at the deadline, so nothing is guaranteed there either.

The biggest need for the Blue Jays has already been addressed by Ross Atkins as "a right-handed bat whose position doesn't really matter" because of the club's defensive flexibility already on-hand. With Bichette's potential trip to the injured list, this should not change much. Even before he went down, the need for a right-handed power bat was evident, so this should still be the plan moving forward.

Let's check out the rumor mill and go over 2 Blue Jays rumors we hope are true, 1 we hope doesn't happen.

We hope the Blue Jays are pursuing a Teoscar Hernández reunion at the deadline.

While moving Teoscar Hernández in a trade for Erik Swanson this past offseason felt like a stunner at the time, the move has largely worked out in the Blue Jays' favor. Swanson has emerged as a legitimate back-end of the bullpen piece who has been a bit overworked but has remained reliable.

Hernández on the other hand, seems to have lost some of his Toronto swagger now that he calls Seattle home. In a league-leading 106 games so far this year, the big right-hander has 16 home runs, 59 RBI and a 94 OPS+ while also leading the majors in strikeouts with 143. Obviously nothing here jumps off the page, but it's worth wondering if returning to the Blue Jays where he was definitely comfortable would help bring his offensive numbers back up to where they need to be.

With Kevin Kiermaier and Daulton Varsho both left-handed swinging outfielders, there's suddenly a need for a right-handed thumper. Jordan Luplow and George Springer are the other two outfielders on the active roster but neither have done much at the plate, with Luplow hitting .214 and Springer mired in an 0-for-30 slump at the dish.

Since Hernández is an upcoming free agent, one would think that the Mariners would not demand a significant return in a potential trade for him. His past success in Toronto (122 OPS+ in six years on the club) suggests that a return to form could be a possibility, so why not?

We hope the Blue Jays are pursuing a bat (or two!) from the St. Louis Cardinals.

One club that has consistently come up in trade rumors surrounding the Blue Jays is none other than the St. Louis Cardinals. As mentioned, the two clubs have already engaged in two separate trades pre-deadline and now they could go for a third surrounding bats this time.

The Cardinals have a seemingly endless list of players the Blue Jays could be interested in; including Brendan Donovan, Tyler O'Neill, Paul DeJong, Dylan Carlson and the currently-injured Tommy Edman.

Donovan is a left-handed swinging utilityman but he has some pop in his bat and is quick on the bases. Most importantly, he, along with DeJong and Edman, can play shortstop and could possibly replace Bo Bichette if his injury proves to be a long-term one. DeJong is an upcoming free agent who has struggled with the bat in the past few years while Edman is recovering from a minor injury, so perhaps Donovan would be the best of the bunch in this specific instance.

O'Neill, a native of Canada, has been a popular fit amongst Blue Jays fans all season long. In early 2023, he had a spat with manager Oli Marmol that led to trade rumors aplenty, but the team has recently said that they're going to stick with him through the rest of the season. All we can say to that is that Max Scherzer to the Rangers was seen as an impossibility a few months ago. As we all know, anything can happen in baseball.

Carlson, 24, would need the biggest trade package in return since he's a young, switch-hitting outfielder who plays slick defense and is under team control through the end of the 2026 campaign. He's a long shot for the Blue Jays, but he'd fill a need this year and next.

We hope the Blue Jays are not pursuing Tommy Pham of the New York Mets.

It can be a slippery slope to maneuver, but Tommy Pham's off-the-field issues may be something the Blue Jays need to avoid at this year's deadline.

On the surface, he fits the bill pretty nicely of right-handed power bat. In just 79 games this year, the 35-year-old has 10 home runs with 36 driven in, an .820 OPS and 126 OPS+. He is not much of a defender in either of the outfield corners, but he's got some pop in his bat, which is something the Jays are looking for.

However, this is the same guy who fought a fan back outside of a strip club in a 2020 incident that resulted in Pham being stabbed in the back. He needed surgery and over 200 stitches after this.

Then there's the incident from last season where he approached Joc Pederson of the Giants during batting practice and slapped him across the face over a dispute in fantasy football. Yes, this really happened.

But wait, there's more! Earlier this year, a fan light-heartedly posted on Twitter that he had earned a follow from Pham himself on the platform. The outfielder took it upon himself to respond to the post by insulting the fan. Still to this day have no clue why he felt this was the appropriate response to make towards the person.

Obviously off-the-field issues only extend so far when it comes to professional athletes, but with all of this in mind, why would the Blue Jays want to bring aboard someone who has done so many questionable things in the not-so-distant past?

We'll pass on this one.

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