KANSAS CITY – Justin Smoak delivered a game-tying RBI single in the sixth inning. Freddy Galvis opened up the seventh with his 16th home run of the season. Jacob Waguespack threw six innings of three-hit, one-run ball. Bo Bichette hit his first big-league home run. Daniel Hudson was pulled out of the bullpen in the third inning and was sent to the Washington Nationals.
Things were more than eventful for the Toronto Blue Jays even before they completed a 4-1 win over the Kansas City Royals. Then, they returned to the clubhouse to await the final 20 minutes before Wednesday’s 4 p.m. ET trade deadline, where Aaron Sanchez and Joe Biagini learned they were headed to the Houston Astros, along with prospect Cal Stevenson, for outfielder Derek Fisher, while Smoak, Galvis and Ken Giles found out they were staying put.
The grand tally was six players traded off the roster since Sunday, and near misses for three others who weren’t.
“The whole game, no doubt,” Smoak replied when asked how often he thought of the deadline while on the field.
“Huddy got pulled out of the bullpen in the third inning and it’s like, ‘Alright, who’s next?’ Not that I was expecting it to happen, but I was waiting for it to happen at some point and it just never did. The good thing is it’s over. I don’t have to think about it anymore.”
Smoak started at first base, an early indication of how the market for him had shifted, as Cleveland (Franmil Reyes and Yasiel Puig), Tampa Bay (Jesus Aguilar) and Philadelphia (Corey Dickerson) each acquired other bats after showing some interest in the veteran first baseman.
Similarly, a market didn’t emerge for Galvis, as no one was really looking for a shortstop. The Blue Jays could have potentially dumped salaries, but preferred to keep them for their veteran presences in the locker room.
The departures of Sanchez, Biagini and Marcus Stroman left Smoak as the last member of the 2015-16 playoffs teams on the active roster (Devon Travis is stuck on the 60-day IL), a fact that really struck him as Sanchez walked out of the room as an Astro.
“Definitely weird,” said Smoak.
“It’s kind of where we’re at as an organization. It’s something I knew coming into the season could happen to me, a chance it could happen to every veteran guy on this team, guys that have been here in the past. We have a lot of young players and maybe I’m here to help out for the next few months. I have no clue. It’s just weird – pretty much everyone is gone. It’s like starting over. But in starting over we have a good group of young guys, we have guys here who should be here and should be here for a long time.”
One of those players is Bichette, who extended the impressive opening to his big-league career with three hits, including his first homer and double. He also combined with Smoak to turn a pretty 3-6-3 double play on a Ryan O’Hearn grounder in the fourth.
The poise he’s shown, particularly from a 21-year-old, has been as, if not more impressive than his play on the field so far.
“All the advice I’ve always gotten about this being the same game, I just remembered that and I don’t think there was any point where I said it’s slowed down for me, or I got more comfortable,” Bichette said of his comfort on the field.
“I just tried to keep that mentality that it’s the same game all the time and it helped a lot.”
The roster churn of recent days provided an eye-opening look into baseball’s brutal business side for the club’s younger players, although they’re all aware enough to understand how the week was going to play out.
“It’s sad to see the guys go, but we all saw this coming,” said Bichette. “This is the day to start the next wave. It will be really cool. We’re going to go out there and try to get better every day, try to compete and win games. I’m excited to see what we can do.”
Giles, for now, will be a part of that, as potential deals with the Yankees and Cleveland died just as the deadline came and went. Concerns a bout of elbow inflammation, which led to a cortisone shot Tuesday, complicated things for the Blue Jays, who are gambling that they can do better for him in the winter.
The closer, who wants to remain with the Blue Jays longer term but is eligible for free agency after next season, described the past few days as, “pretty nerve-wracking, honestly.”
“I didn’t know what was going to happen, especially with what I’ve been dealing with right now,” Giles continued. “Now, the nerve-wrack is all gone, I can just focus on getting back on that mound and enjoying playing baseball again.”
He’s slated to resume throwing Thursday, testing an elbow that is “giving me a bad attitude.” Giles said the cause of his inflammation is unknown but he’s digging into his mechanics in search of an answer.
At the opposite end of the emotional spectrum was Sanchez, who was genuinely torn between his disappointment about leaving and his excitement about joining the Astros. He thanked former GM Alex Anthopoulos and assistant GM Tony LaCava as well as scouts Bob Fontaine and Blake Crosby for bringing him into the organization, and the fans across Canada for supporting him.
He said the wait for the deadline was tense.
“I mean you’re down to the end of the wire, you don’t really know what’s going on, things are kind of being talked about more and more as the day goes on,” he said.
“But what an opportunity that I get to go down to Houston and get to learn from guys like Justin Verlander, like Gerritt Cole, who’s had an unbelievable year, Zack Greinke, he’s won a couple of Cy Youngs himself, the opportunity to play playoff baseball, the chance to win a ring. This is why you play the game and to be able to have that opportunity again, I’m thrilled.”
Hudson was the first to go Wednesday, sent to the Nationals for advanced-A right-hander Kyle Johnston. He was the second reliever the Blue Jays turned into a minor-league arm, having traded David Phelps for double-A righty Thomas Hatch on Tuesday.
“That was definitely a new one for me,” Hudson said of being traded mid-game.
“Go down to the bullpen, I think it was the third inning they called down and said, ‘We need you to come in.’ It was a little weird having to go through the field because there’s no back way to the bullpen here. Definitely weird to do it in the middle of a game, for sure.”
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The aim for the Blue Jays is that Johnston and Hatch can offer the type of value being provided to them by Waguespack, who was acquired a year ago from the Philadelphia Phillies for lefty Aaron Loup.
Waguespack, making his fourth start in the majors, finished six innings for the first time, working through a Royals club with much further to go in their rebuild than the Blue Jays do. The only run against him came on a Cam Gallagher homer in the third.
His spot in the Blue Jays rotation looks safe for now, as with Ryan Borucki hitting the injured list for the second time with elbow inflammation, their rotation right now is Trent Thornton on Thursday, TBA on Friday, Thomas Pannone on Saturday and Sean Reid-Foley on Sunday.
They’re also down a body in the bullpen, as well.
Smoak wasn’t sure that he’d be around to worry about what comes next. But now he’s around as a bridge from one group to the next.
“It’s not as different for me now as it was last year because a lot of those guys were here and the next thing you know they’re gone,” said Smoak.
“This year, coming into the season, I knew what to expect, I knew we had a lot of young guys, I knew at some point guys were getting traded, so it’s easier dealing with it now than it was last year. At the same time, we had some really good teams. …
Now, our 20- and 21-year-olds are pretty darn good. If we can get the 25- to 34-year-olds to do what they’re doing, we’ll be alright.”
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