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

As we enter July to begin the second half of the MLB season, the Toronto Blue Jays have done quite well to stay afloat in the playoff chase, even though they have been quite inconsistent with both their offence and pitching throughout the 2023 season so far. Despite sitting in fourth place with a 44-37 record in the highly competitive AL East, the Jays still find themselves right in the thick of things, sitting in the third wild card spot in the American League behind the Yankees in the second wild card spot just by percentage points.

As the trade deadline approaches in just a few weeks on August 1st, the Jays should definitely be looking to upgrade their team as they battle it out for their playoff lives down the stretch. However, with many question marks that still remain with respect to their struggling offence, along with their adequate yet inconsistent pitching, who should the Jays keep their tabs on for any potential trade options?

Looking at their positional players, they appeared to be all set with their starters at each position, so unless some huge blockbuster move involving one of their core starters is initiated, the Jays will be looking mainly to add potentially just a power bat off the bench or a backup outfielder/utilityman, but probably nothing of much significance that would rapidly improve their offensive output.

However, with their starting rotation being down a man, along with a revolving door of bullpen arms as a result of injuries, pitching appears to be the main area of focus that should be undertaken to help improve the team. In particular, Jays’ GM Ross Atkins had recently stated that they are definitely looking for starting pitching help as they look to deal, while keeping in mind the progress and uncertainty of both Alek Manoah and Hyun Jin Ryu as potential in-house solutions down the road at the same time.

With that in mind, here we take a look at potential pitching help the Jays should keep a close eye on in the coming weeks.