Why the Blue Jays should focus on using this year's trade deadline to fix their glaring holes in 2027

The defending AL champs season is not going as planned, and it would be wise to change course while they still can. The Toronto Blue Jays entered the 2026 season coming up just short of being World Series champions, looking for redemption and to finish the job in 2026.

That has not been what has happened so far. The Blue Jays, currently sit at a record of 40-45 (Jul. 1), 10 games back of first place in the AL East, and two and a half games out of the third wild-card spot.

Multiple of the team’s top contributors in 2025, including Vladimir Guerrero Jr., George Springer and Alejandro Kirk are failing to provide the level of production that led one of baseball’s best offenses last year due to a mix of injuries and underperformance. This loss in top-end production has resulted in a hard regression in offense. The Blue Jays this season rank 25th in runs scored (345), 21st in wRC+ (95) and 23rd in OPS (.699).

While the Blue Jays pitching has been a little better in 2026, the immense loss in production on the offensive end has not been enough to keep the team in a favourable position.

Despite the disappointing season so far, the Blue Jays sit just two and a half games back of a postseason spot, but is it a wise idea to go all in on a season that has done nothing to warrant it?

The expiring contracts should be the Blue Jays' priority at the deadline

The team is weak this season, and the quicker there is acceptance of that, the quicker that smart moves can be made to maximize the roster going forward. The Blue Jays have a lot of expiring contracts. Springer, Shane Bieber, Kevin Gausman, Daulton Varsho, are all in the final years of their deals and could be moved come the deadline.

All of these players are either replaceable based on their current production, at an older age or are simply not worth bringing back.

The 2024 trade deadline should serve as a blueprint as to how this year's deadline should be handled. The Blue Jays cleaned house on all their expiring contracts, including sending out Yimi Garcia, Danny Jansen and Yusei Kikuchi. When things were all said and done, the only pending free agent they were left with was Ryan Yarbrough.

Many of the positive contributors for the Blue Jays this season, like Kazuma Okamoto, Dylan Cease, Nathan Lukes, Louis Varland and Tyler Rogers are all locked up beyond the 2027 season. Other players like Guerrero Jr., Kirk and Jeff Hoffman are also locked up for the 2027 season.

Selling off at the deadline will not net the biggest prospect return in the world, since the Blue Jays would simply be trading their rentals, but giving opportunity to other players in the latter months of the season and a small reload on prospects should prove beneficial over the next few seasons.

That does not mean that the Blue Jays cannot buy on certain players at the deadline, but those players should have an additional year of team control at the very least. A player on an expiring contract that would signal an all-in push does not make very much sense given the position the team is in.

Free agency would also be key as to what the outlook on the 2027 season would look like. Perhaps the answer for the offense is Randy Arozarena or a reunion with Bo Bichette.

As for starting rotation, the holes that would be created via the trades of Gausman and Bieber have multiple suitors to fill them. One of them could even be re-signed after the fact à la Yimi Garcia. Freddy Peralta and Robbie Ray are among potential options, as is the potential of a mega-deal with Tarik Skubal.

Barring a miraculous hot streak that puts them back near the top of the American League, the Blue Jays would be wise to sell off on rental players, as doing so would give them the best opportunity to maximize their roster over the coming years.

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