3 nightmare scenarios for the Blue Jays at this year’s MLB trade deadline

The Blue Jays end up keeping ANY rental players

Looking ahead to the future, if the Jays fully intend to be competitive once again after a short overhaul of their roster, it will be absolutely vital for them to get rid of all of their current players with expiring contracts. In the past couple of days, they have done a great job in moving three of such players already. Bullpen stalwart Yimi García was dealt to the Seattle Mariners, the ever-so-frustrating Nate Pearson finally found a new home with the Chicago Cubs, and long-time tenured fan favourite Danny Jansen went to the Jays’ AL East arch rivals Boston Red Sox.

But the Jays shouldn’t just stop there, as the likes of Yusei Kikuchi, Justin Turner, Kevin Kiermaier and Trevor Richards all need to be moved by the trade deadline as well. That’s because the Jays need to do all that they can to maximize the amount of valuable future assets that they can get in return for every rental player that they have. By taking advantage of them being useful trade chips while they still possess some value, it would significantly help give the Jays a huge head start in their retooling for the future.

On the other hand, if the Jays fail to get rid of all of their rental players, they will risk losing them for nothing upon the end of the season (assuming that they won’t likely be re-signing with the team). That would be the last thing the Jays would want if they want to complete a successful short-term retooling or even rebuilding process.