3 players the Blue Jays should keep a close eye on and 2 to avoid as the deadline nears

3 players to keep an eye on

Max Scherzer, New York Mets

The Jays have shown in the past that they don’t shy away from big name, top dollar candidates when it comes to acquiring pitching help in the past. Among those that quickly come to mind in the recent decade include David Price and José Berríos, with the Jays having to deplete quite the prospect capital each time. With the recent poor stretch by the New York Mets, who had gone 6-17 in their past 23 games, dropping them to fourth place in the NL East and almost 9 games out of a playoff spot, it appears more and more they will be sellers come this year’s trade deadline.

Surprisingly, news have come out from New York that Max Scherzer is open to waiving his no-trade clause so that he can be traded to a contending team under the right circumstances. Although he has struggled a bit so far this year, he still sports a strong record of 7-2 with a 3.95 ERA, 1.175 WHIP, with 76 strikeouts over 70.2 innings. Added to the fact that he is a three-time Cy Young winner, along with a breadth of postseason experience, including a World Series win back in 2019 with the Washington Nationals, Scherzer would be a great addition to any contending team.

One doesn’t have to look any further than just two years ago, when Scherzer waived his no-trade clause to join the Los Angeles Dodgers, in which he was dynamite, going 7-0 with a 1.98 ERA, 0.82 WHIP, giving up only 15 earned runs, five home runs, eight walks and 89 strikeouts in 11 starts down the stretch. Perhaps he can do something similar and work wonders for the Jays if they are fortunate enough to acquire his services to round out their starting rotation for the stretch run.