5 Blue Jays players that should've been traded at the deadline

Depending on what you watched, read or listened to, the Blue Jays' trade deadline was either decent or average. For example, Yahoo Sports effectively gave them a B grade, while CBS Sports decided to award them a C.

However, what about players who should have been traded, but who are still with the ballclub? Here are five Blue Jays who conceivably should no longer be in Toronto:

NB - All statistics up to and including August 5.

Santiago Espinal

Santiago Espinal was part of a trade deadline package Fox Sports proposed, to offer in exchange for Shohei Ohtani. The proposal was one of the weakest of the 12 team proposals created, although it ultimately didn't matter, because the Angels announced they weren't going to move Ohtani anyway.

However, it's still telling Espinal was included, with him being the only player in the package with significant Major League experience. It also alluded to him being perceived as having some value, which would interest other teams.

At the same time, the Blue Jays would have likely been fine with the 28-year-old leaving, because the reality is he's been disappointing this season. He's looked little like the player who earned his first ever All-Star selection last year.

Espinal is having a miserable year on offence. He's on course to set a number of single-season career lows, including batting average, OBP, slugging percentage, OPS and OPS+.

The question is, does this season represent an outlier for the Dominican Republic native with his bat? Or is it indicative of what to expect moving forward, which would obviously be of no benefit to the Blue Jays.

The situation has been just as exasperating for Espinal on defence, with him not seeing enough playing time at second base. While a platoon system at the position and injuries haven't helped, he also just hasn't played well enough consistently when called upon.

In fact if anything, the 2016 10th round draft pick has been a bigger let-down defensively, making more than his fair share of errors. He has the worst fielding percentage among all Blue Jays position players and his seven fielding errors are one off the team-lead of eight by Matt Chapman and Bo Bichette, despite playing essentially half as many games as them.

You expect better of someone with Espinal's combination of decent speed, soft hands, good range and overall athleticism. In this respect, you would arguably have more confidence in him bouncing back on defence before offence.

Nate Pearson

Having Nate Pearson on this list may or may not surprise people, but there's a different rationale for including him. It's because the Blue jays could had got more value from him at this point, with the gamble being that he will carry on improving or come crashing back down to earth.

In a lot of ways, this has been Pearson's best season yet in the Majors. It truly seemed he was finally starting to show what he was capable of, albeit as a reliever rather than a starter and potential staff ace.

This has been reflected to a certain extent by a 1.205 WHIP which -- while not fantastic, but still above average -- is projected to be the best of his three seasons in the Majors. In addition, the 26-year-old had nearly halved his walk-rate, down to 9.1 percent.

Also important was Pearson showing better durability, after previously contending with different injury issues. This year has seen new single-season highs for appearances and combined innings.

Unfortunately for everyone concerned, the 2017 first round draft pick has not been pitching as consistently well of late and now has a 5.31 ERA on the season. For context, consider that in his first 17 appearances he only once gave up two runs, resulting in an overall ERA of 1.96.

Since then however, Peterson started to show signs of struggling, culminating in allowing four earned runs in 0.1 innings, blowing a save opportunity and losing a game in Seattle. As a result he was optioned to Triple-A Buffalo to work on some adjustments, although Sportsnet's Jeff Blair did speculate he could be moved ahead of the trade deadline.

Instead, the righty was recalled towards the end of July and looked like he had figured things out, pitching two innings of no hits or earned runs. With the beauty of hindsight, this might have been the time to move him.

The reason being, because Pearson had another nightmare in his next outing versus the Orioles, giving up four earned runs in one inning and earning a ticket back to Buffalo. Obviously Blue Jays fans hope he can fix things and look more like he did earlier this year, otherwise the ballclub may regret not cashing in when they theoretically had the opportunity.

Brandon Belt

This one might be a polarizing choice, and we can certainly understand if you don't see why Brandon Belt should be on this list. However, at least hear (read) this out, even if we're just playing a bit of devil's advocate.

The truth is, while not terrible by any means, Belt is having one of his less effective seasons at the plate. And where this has been particularly evident -- and worrying -- is when the Blue Jays have runners in scoring position (RISP).

We appreciate this is a team-wide issue for the Blue Jays, but the 2016 All-Star is third-worst among all regular with RISP, batting just .180. It doesn't bode well for the team when someone who is meant to be one of your best hitters, is struggling in potential scoring situations.

Not helping the cause, Belt is also on course for a career single-season high 35.1 percent strikeout rate. Plus, he's coming off a month where he had a lowly .190 batting average in 18 games.

Another couple of reasons it might have been good to move the 35-year-old, are his age and contract situation. With him set to became a UFA after this season, the Blue Jays risk losing him for nothing.

Yes, we appreciate Belt is a left-handed bat who is the Blue Jays' main DH. Yes, he's traditionally been an offensive threat throughout his 13-year Major League career.

However, it's those reasons why the Blue Jays should have tried to move him ahead of the trade deadline. Don't forget there were a lot of teams looking to add a quality bat, and the two-time World Series champion might have appeared as an enticing option, worthy of a decent return haul.

As with Pearson, it would have been a gamble because of what Belt is still capable of. However, if anything, he would have been a more worthwhile risk that his younger teamate.

Mitch White

In truth, Mitch White comes under the sub-category of player who the Blue Jays should have traded, but didn't really have a hope in hell of moving. Fair or not, he's been quite simply horrendous this year in Toronto.

Previously a starter in the Majors, White was moved exclusively to the bullpen once he returned to from injury in June. It didn't go well and as of right now, his 7.11 ERA and 1.737 WHIP both project to single-season career worsts.

It got to the point where you could almost hear a collective groan from the Blue Jays fanbase, whenever the 28-year-old entered a game. Everything he touched seemed to turn to the opposite of gold.

It wasn't much (any) better during last season, when White arrived in a much-anticipated trade from the Dodgers. He subsequently went 0-5 in nine appearances -- including eight starts -- and recorded a 7.74 ERA and 1.744 WHIP.

If you wanted to try and be objective ... okay ... optimistic ... you could make a case for a team believing a change of scenary would help the San Jose, California native. After all, he showed some promise while in Los Angeles and performed decent enough.

In addition, you could point to White actually looking not too bad to begin with, when he returned this season from his elbow and shoulder issues. He had a 3.38 ERA in six appearances during June, which included allowing no runs in four consecutive games to finish the month.

Ultimately though, the 2016 second round draft pick probably didn't receive much -- if any -- interest ahead of the trade deadline. It was telling that after he was (finally) designated for assignment, he went unclaimed on waivers and was outrighted to Triple-A.

White will now likely remain with Buffalo and then qualify for Minor League free agency at the end of this season. That is unless the Blue Jays decide to call up him again, but you have/want to believe they are done with the righty.