5 best trade deadline moves the Blue Jays have made in the past decade

2020 – Blue Jays acquire Robbie Ray from the Diamondbacks for Travis Bergen

During the 2020 COVID-shortened season, the young overachieving Jays team was looking to shore up their starting rotation, as they were hungry to make the playoffs once again. As a result, Robbie Ray was one of the key, yet seemingly minor at the time, additions made by the Jays at the trade deadline that year. Having struggled mightily with his control and command in the prior seasons before joining the team, Ray came cheap as Toronto has to just give up Travis Bergen, who wasn’t even among the Jays’ top 30 prospects list.

As a result, it has become one of the most lopsided trades that the Jays have made in recent years. Not only did Bergen end up rejoining the Jays the following year, Ray would go on to produce his best ever season of his career in 2021 with Toronto. In 32 starts, Ray compiled a stellar 13-7 record, while leading the AL in ERA (2.84), WHIP (1.05), innings pitched (193.1) and strikeouts (248) en route to capturing his first ever Cy Young award. Pretty awesome return for something that the Jays essentially got for free.

2021 – Blue Jays acquire José Berríos from the Twins for Austin Martin and Simeon Woods-Richardson 

With the Jays looking for pitching help once again in 2021, they managed to pry away the ace from the Minnesota Twins’ pitching staff in José Berríos at the trade deadline. In doing so, the Jays had to part with perhaps the best pure hitter in his draft class in Austin Martin, as well as a promising young arm in Simeon Woods-Richardson. Woods-Richardson has grown in his game and has become an integral part in the Twins’ rotation despite some warts that still needs polishing, Whereas Martin has yet to become the prolific hitter he was expected to be now into his fourth professional season.

On the other hand, Berríos has become a solid mainstay in the Jays’ front-end of the rotation for the past four seasons. He may have had a slight blip on the radar during his underwhelming 2022 year, but he had been his usual dominant self in his other three seasons to date. Overall, Berríos had posted a solid 37-31 record with a 4.19 ERA, 1.25 WHIP, 149 walks and 508 strikeouts in 562.2 innings pitched over 98 starts in a Jays’ uniform. He remains very much in the team’s plans going forward and will be vital for their success for now and the future.