MLB insider suggests Blue Jays have already put multiple pieces on the trade block

For those Toronto Blue Jays season-ticket holders who’ve been asked to make a down payment on 2025 tickets by July 22nd, you may want to read this:

USA Today’s Major League Baseball columnist Bob Nightengale believes that the Blue Jays plan to sell by the July 30 trade deadline by the end of this month.

He writes, “The Blue Jays, whose season is already on the brink, plan to place starter Yusei Kikuchi, catcher Danny Jansen, reliever Yimi García, DH Justin Turner and outfielder Kevin Kiermaier on the trade block. Yet, they still want to make one last run [in 2025] with Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Bo Bichette. They should be staying until at least this winter, if not next summer.”

We’ve also heard from MLB Network’s Jon Morosi that the Seattle Mariners are already exploring possible trades, and are currently prioritizing the addition of one everyday batter (Turner? Jansen?), as well as bullpen depth (García?).

Those players mentioned above would be their current pending free agents, and we can assume that would include reliever Trevor Richards, who is also on an expiring deal. Absent contract extensions, all of them can leave after this season.

We’ve suggested that the front office should be trying to extend both starter Yusei Kikuchi and catcher Danny Jansen if they truly are trying to reload again for a final run in 2025 with their core of Guerrero, Bichette and Chris Bassitt, who will all be pending free agents after next season.

With the Jays only able to pull off a series split with the AL East leading Yankees at home this past weekend, they went a disappointing 6-12 in a key 18-game stretch in June against >.500 opponents, taking their season record against teams with a winning record to 25-36. That’s dropped them 14.5 games back in the East, with a widening 7.5 game gap in the Wild Card standings.

Top hitting prospect Orelvis Martinez was suspended 80-games for PED use, closer Jordan Romano appears to have a wonky elbow, Tim Mayza was DFA’d, Erik Swanson has a 15.09 ERA in 15 games at Triple-A Buffalo, and Yankees Aaron Judge, Juan Soto and Giancarlo Stanton have combined for 69 home runs compared to the entire Blue Jays offence’s total of 75. Baltimore has seven players with 10+ home runs in 2024; Toronto has only three.

Now the surging Houston Astros are in town for a four game series, after a 9-1 stretch that has vaulted them to a 42-41 record and second place in the AL West, only 3.5 games back of the final Wild Card. Things don't get easier after that until the All-Star Game break, with a west coast swing against the AL West leading Mariners, and series against two teams thick in the hunt for a Wild Card in the San Francisco Giants and Arizona Diamondbacks.

Happy Canada Day Blue Jays fans!

Ignoring the pleas of fans to promote former Houston Astros general manager (and current Jays vice president, baseball strategy) James Click to be the new GM in Toronto, it appears ownership is still willing to allow Mark Shapiro and Ross Atkins to make baseball-related decisions in the front office.

How they conduct this expected retooling over the next 30 days will determine whether or not the Jays are competitive in 2025 and beyond, so let's hope they don’t mess up like they did this past offseason — which is exactly how the team got into this predicament in the first place.