BALTIMORE — The lead-up to the 2021 trade deadline “felt weird” for Jose Berrios. Some nights, he recalled, “were anxious, with a lot of thoughts” about the future, especially as the rumour mill picked up. Though nothing changed in his relationships with Minnesota Twins teammates and staffers, “my agent explained the situation from May 2021, that we were going to be traded,” he explained. “We didn't know what team, but he always told me, ‘Yes, I think we're going to get traded.’”
Professional to the core, Berrios did his best to shut out the noise and carry on, business as usual. “I never felt like that,” he said, “but then, when the trade happened, it was real.”
The trade, of course, is the July 30, 2021, deal that sent him from the Twins to the Toronto Blue Jays for then-prospects Austin Martin and Simeon Woods Richardson and his experience represents a version of what dozens of players across the majors are going through in the final hours before Thursday’s 6 p.m. ET trade deadline.
Life, both on and off the field, moves fast under the circumstances, encapsulated by Seranthony Dominguez’s wild Tuesday, when he left the Baltimore Orioles for the Toronto Blue Jays in the middle of a doubleheader and then pitched against his former teammates twice in about 18 hours.
Like so many others, Dominguez was braced for change — “I know how the business is right now and I knew I was one of the (players who would) probably get traded,” he said — but there may not be much time to process it once it happens. “It's a lot of things in a short time,” is how he put it. “I just tried to not think, just tried to go out and do my best.”
In the midst of it all, there’s the actual baseball, too, which hadn’t gone well for the Blue Jays in the brutal Baltimore humidity until Wednesday’s 9-8 victory salvaged the finale of a difficult four-game set, capping a stretch of 14 contests in 13 days.
Berrios started and, as evidenced by a pitching line that read 4.1 innings, five runs allowed, two earned, fell victim to the uncharacteristic sloppy that marked the three losses, as Ernie Clement’s first of two errors opened the door to a three-run first capped by Ryan O'Hearn’s two-run homer.
The second Clement error came in the seventh, after the Blue Jays had stormed back for a 9-5 lead with five in the top half, highlighted by Nathan Lukes’ pinch-hit, three-run homer, when the Orioles rallied for three off Yariel Rodriguez.
But Braydon Fisher worked out of that jam by striking out Cedric Mullins and Ramon Laureano, Dominguez delivered a lockdown eighth and Jeff Hoffman was clean in the ninth to stop a four-game losing streak.
“I'm tired and I didn't play, let alone four games in three days,” quipped manager John Schneider, who praised his team for “finding ways to come back. … The guys are so diligent with their work and their prep and you can see where the 14 in 13 catches up to you a little bit. Guys are moving a little bit slow, we get that and mistakes are going to happen. Just glad we weathered the storm today.”
The ending offered a timely reminder of how important a dominant bullpen is for contending clubs and the Blue Jays remained focused on adding back-end relief, according to industry sources.
While one source predicted the bulk of action will come Thursday, there was significant movement over the course of the day, including all-star Ryan Helsley being dealt by the Cardinals to the Mets for three prospects, and the Phillies adding closer Jhoan Duran from the Twins for righty Mick Abel and catching prospect Eduardo Tait.
The Blue Jays, along several other clubs, were involved in the bidding, according to another industry source, and St. Louis’ return was viewed by some as strong for a dominant rental reliever.
The same goes for Minnesota’s return on Duran but while prices remain high, in sending just one prospect – double-A righty Juaron Watts-Brown – to Baltimore for Dominguez, the Blue Jays still have assets to work with.
In that way, the drama is still just beginning.
Whatever happens, the Blue Jays know they need to get back to playing the clean baseball that put them in position to buy in the first place, with Wednesday’s contest demonstrating how mistakes compound.
In the first, Gunnar Henderson hit a groundball to second that could have been an inning-ending double play, but Clement whipped his relay to Bichette into left field, leaving runners at second and third with one out. Rutschman followed by capping an eight-pitch duel with a sacrifice fly to deep centre, perhaps softening up Berrios, who then watched O’Hearn mash a fastball over the wall in right field.
By the time the inning was done, Berrios had allowed three unearned runs and thrown 16 extra pitches, both leaving the Blue Jays in a hole while also cutting into how deep into the righty could get.
Undeterred, the Blue Jays clawed back into it, with Myles Straw hitting a two-run homer in the second. Vladimir Guerrero Jr.’s RBI single in the fifth tied the game but Bichette followed with a flyball to medium depth in left, Clement tagged and was initially ruled to have beaten Jordan Westburg’s throw home, but an Orioles challenge overturned the call, keeping the game 3-3.
Failing to capitalize on that opportunity proved immediately costly as Alex Jackson opened the bottom half with a double, advanced to third on Holliday’s groundout and scored when Jordan Westburg ripped a two-run shot that ended Berrios’ day.
Straw’s RBI double in the sixth made it a one-run game and Mullins then pulled back a 403-foot smash by Ali Sanchez just as it was crossing the wall for a homer to end the inning.
An inning later, the Blue Jays weren’t to be denied, as Bichette’s two-run single put them up 6-5 before Lukes’ smash.
In the bottom half, mistakes once again compounded. Davis Schneider made a nice play to knock down a Holliday grounder headed for the 3-4 hole, but couldn’t transfer the ball for the relay. Westburg followed with a bloop single just in front of Straw in centre and Henderson ripped an RBI single.
Yariel Rodriguez seemed to have recovered when he got Rutschman to rip a groundball right to Clement at first, but instead it bounded through the usually sure-handed infielder, allowing a second run to score. Two consecutive walks made it a one-run game and ended Rodriguez’s day before Fisher ended the threat.
“We always think we need to pour more on, especially facing a team like this,” said Lukes. “They proved it in the seventh inning that they're not down for the count either. So it's always trying to find a way to push across one more.”
Dominguez came in and helped stabilize things in the eighth, and his addition was described as “a great plus for our team,” by Berrios.
“He's got a good arm. He's got experience. He knows how to throw in leverage innings,” the veteran righty added, assets every team chasing the post-season seeks to add, and sellers try to leverage at this time of the year. “I understand teams are going to do that. This is the business part. Some teams sell. Some teams buy. That's how it is in the game I play.”
The Blue Jays are glad to be back among the latter, rather than the former.
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