Shi Davidi reveals why Blue Jays’ trade deadline could be quieter than expected

It’s getting to the time in the season where the Blue Jays will need to be honest with themselves regarding their approach at the trade deadline. Although there are opportunities to gain ground ahead of them in the Wild Card race starting mid-August, the team faces a gauntlet before then.

Plus, fans are seeing the same lackluster offense we’ve watched all season. After the All-Star break, the Blue Jays are 1-3 and have been outscored 22-6 (going into Tuesday, Jul. 21), and their two best starting pitchers, Dylan Cease and Trey Yesavage, threw in two of the losses while getting a combined one run of run support.

With the red-hot Boston Red Sox, Washington Nationals, and St. Louis Cardinals up next after the Tampa Bay Rays series concludes, it’s painful to say, but it looks like the Blue Jays may be sellers at the trade deadline. However, they don’t have very appealing options on expiring contracts.

The Blue Jays may have a quiet trade deadline

Shi Davidi joined Sportsnet 590 and stated the Blue Jays, “…don’t have financial pressure, so they don’t need to move guys to save money. So unless they really like the return, then deals aren’t happening.” Unless Toronto somehow flips a switch offensively and wins a majority of the games over the next week and a half, then the front office needs to be focused on 2027, if the Collective Bargaining Agreement gets worked out and there is a season.

The players on expiring contracts are George Springer, Kevin Gausman, Shane Bieber, and Daulton Varsho. If the Blue Jays decide to trade Springer and Gausman, they can’t expect to get much back in return. Springer turns 37 in September, which means retirement at the end of the season is a strong possibility, and Gausman has already stated that retirement is a possibility when his contract expires.

They are also both having disappointing seasons, which further strengthens the possibility they hang up their cleats come October. If the Blue Jays don’t feel they are getting adequate assets in return, they may just decide to let these guys ride out the remainder of the season and retire as a Blue Jay.

Bieber and Varsho are 31 and 30, respectively, but neither of them is lighting up the stat sheet that’d have other teams running to their phones to acquire. Bieber has made five starts after missing a majority of the first half of the season with right elbow inflammation.

However over those starts, he's posted abysmal stats, including a 5.70 ERA, a 6.86 FIP, and an 11.1 percent walk rate. Although in his first start after the All-Star break, Bieber looked solid, throwing six scoreless innings, while allowing three hits and striking out six. So if his next couple outings before the trade deadline are just as good, contendihg teams may be more inclined to acquire the veteran.

Varsho looked great in spring training, posting an .820 slugging percentage and 1.246 OPS. However, he’s been a massive disappointment during the regular season. He has seven home runs over 293 at-bats, but had 20 last season in nearly 50 fewer ABs in an injury-plagued year where he only played in 71 games. Varsho left all his power back in spring training, and is now sporting an ugly .382 slugging and .687 OPS, though his wRC+ is 91.

So neither Bieber nor Varsho is going to bring a return of an MLB-ready prospect that’d make an impact next season. They’re both young enough that the Blue Jays may have plans to re-sign them in the offseason, but if not, then you take what you can get, and hopefully that prospect develops well.

An advantage to trading any of these four players is that you can give prospects ample playing time in the big leagues to see if they can handle the pressure and be assets moving forward. This isn’t the type of season the Blue Jays or their fans were expecting, but that’s the nature of baseball.

Unless you’re the Los Angeles Dodgers, who can buy championships, teams can have a great season, though the Blue Jays’ last season’s accomplishments came as a shock, and teams can follow it with a downer. It’ll be interesting to see how the offseason operates before the December 3 CBA deadline, but once a deal is agreed upon, it’s safe to say that Toronto will be aiming at another World Series run.

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