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

We hope the Blue Jays continue to take advantage of sellable pitchers

Now that relief pitcher Yimi García is the first domino to fall, after being dealt to the Seattle Mariners on Friday, we hope that the Blue Jays continue moving out veteran arms on expiring contracts. Atkins and company need to take advantage of the pieces that they can move, including starting pitcher Yusei Kikuchi and perhaps even reliever Trevor Richards.

The 33-year-old Kikuchi is at the end of his tumultuous three-year deal and is all but gone. He has been mentioned as a popular trade chip among starting pitchers on the market. Despite his 4.75 ERA, his 10.12 K/9 and career-best 2.33 BB/9 should be enough to make contenders want to add him to the back end of their rotations.

MLB.com's Keegan Matheson provided a blueprint for possible returns in a Kikuchi trade. He puts the ceiling at a couple of top-20 Triple-A prospects and a Single-A pitcher like the St. Louis Cardinals got from the Baltimore Orioles for Jack Flaherty at last year's deadline.

The floor for Kikuchi, he says, looks more like the Los Angeles Dodgers' acquisition of Ryan Yarbrough from the Kansas City Royals. They gave up their No. 29 prospect and a Rookie-ball infielder in that one.

As for Richards, despite his recent problems in July — in which he has a 16.20 ERA in nine appearances — he will still have some value after his performance over the first three months of the season. In 42 innings through the end of June, the 31-year-old right-hander posted a 2.57 ERA and 0.86 WHIP, which were comparable to García's season numbers with Toronto.

Based on what the Royals gave up in their recent trade for Washington Nationals reliever Hunter Harvey — their No. 2 prospect and the 39th overall pick in the recent MLB Draft — the Blue Jays would be foolish not to find a suitor for their 33-year-old right-hander. Even with Richards not having the extra year of control that Havery has, he was having a much better season until recently, and Toronto should continue to capitalize on the lucrative reliever market.