Royals-Nationals trade spells good news for Blue Jays in Yimi Garcia trade talks

The Royals and Nationals pulled off a late-night trade Saturday evening, sending relief pitcher Hunter Harvey from D.C. to K.C. The 29-year-old is a first-round pick (Orioles, 2013) that hasn't panned as expected, but he's turned himself into a decent reliever over the past few years.

In 43 pre-trade appearances, Harvey had a 4.20 ERA with 10 strikeouts per nine innings in a Nationals uniform. He comes with an additional year of control beyond the current one and should help the Royals bullpen out, as they've needed a back-end arm in the worst way.

The most notable development in this move is the fact that the Nationals were able to land the Royals' number two prospect (per MLB Pipeline) in third baseman Cayden Wallace. Now, the Royals don't exactly have a top-shelf farm system (No. 28 per MLB Pipeline and Bleacher Report; No. 25 per The Athletic), but swapping your second-best prospect for a reliever is certainly something.

For the Toronto Blue Jays, this could spell good news for their own trade discussions that will be taking place over the next few weeks. Trevor Richards and Yimi Garcia, a pair of relievers on expiring contracts, are both on the block.

Garcia in particular has been rock solid this year. Sure, Harvey had an extra year of control, but Garcia has been the far superior pitcher between the two. He makes up the gap with his production and is going to be a far more valuable arm than Harvey will be. So if someone like Harvey can get a No. 2 prospect, what could Garcia get?

That will be a storyline to monitor as we near the deadline. Garcia, 33, is a certainty to be moved, even though he's missed some time on the injured list. The right-hander has 27 appearances under his belt this year for a scuffling Blue Jays squad, posting a 2.57 ERA and 159 ERA+ across 28 innings of work. He has struck out 37 batters and walked just seven in that time, too.

Garcia comes with experience as a middle reliever, set-up man and even closer (he has five saves this year and was the Marlins' primary closer back in 2021), so he can fill a variety of different roles. Teams in need of relief-pitching help will surely pony up and do what it takes to acquire someone like Garcia. It's going to be interesting to see what the Blue Jays will be able to get, especially after seeing what someone like Hunter Harvey commands in trade talks.