Optimistic Blue Jays in 'strong position' to buy at trade deadline

TORONTO — A year ago, as the New York Yankees arrived at Rogers Centre for the start of a four-game series crucial to the Toronto Blue Jays’ hopes of rescuing their season, general manager Ross Atkins met with media to outline a necessarily grim approach to the trade deadline. The club wanted to add, rather than subtract, but “we really need to … get things turned around to be in a position to buy,” he said. “The coming days are exceptionally important to us,” he added and “if we get to a point where we need to adjust, we'll be prepared to do so.”

Indeed they were, as the Blue Jays split that series with the Yankees, spun their wheels in July and ended up making eight trades in a bleak five-day sell-off. Manager John Schneider summed up that time period succinctly when he said, “last year sucked.”

Adding at the deadline “is always the plan here,” Schneider added. “We're still a little bit away but when you get around this time, guys get excited about it. I think that we do a really good job of trying to improve our team. You look back getting Jose (Berrios in 2021), getting Jordan Hicks (in 2023), there are some players over the years that have come in and helped. And it's cool that we're in a position right now to do that again.”

The Blue Jays indeed are, which Atkins made clear Monday ahead of another series against the visiting Yankees, which opened with a 5-4 victory over New York. Using careful, manage-expectations language, the GM described his team as being “in a strong position” with “nothing glaring for us from our perspective” in terms of needs. They’re “focused on how we can improve the 40-man roster, how we can incrementally improve the 26-man roster.”

Not exactly the most exciting phrasing you’ve ever heard, but the messaging establishes a direction far more optimistic than the one from a year ago.

The weeks ahead will determine what exactly that results in, but a logical and reasonable wish list is a starting pitcher, a reliever and another hitter that upgrades their mix-and-match-roster toolbox. Considerations for the Blue Jays include the eventual returns of Daulton Varsho (due to resume running the bases in the next day or two) and Anthony Santander (who is still throwing only but nearing the start of a hitting progression), along with the stability of Max Scherzer’s troublesome right thumb.

Scherzer allowed two runs in five strong innings in the opener against the Yankees, delivering the type of performance they envisioned when making a $15.5-million bet on him during the off-season. 

To that end, Atkins said the likeliest pathways to improve the roster as things currently stand were “probably on the run-prevention side, more just from a depth standpoint.”

“If we can score more, we'll look to do that,” he continued. “Adding a right-handed hitter to our team is something we've been trying to do internally and considered external alternatives, as well. But on the run-prevention side, it's probably going to come from pitching, as good as our defence has been.”

Identifying needs is just one part of the equation, of course, as finding sellers is likely to be a challenge even if “the market hasn't taken shape” yet, according to Atkins. “There are a lot of teams that are undecided on what they're doing and will be for some time. I think that's a little bit more significant than in years past. But that could change in 10 days.”

Circumstances are particularly fluid across the majors at this time of year and while the Blue Jays may not have a top farm system like contenders such as the Tigers, Rays, Dodgers, Mariners and Cubs, Atkins believes “we have an incredible amount of outfield depth in the major leagues and in triple-A.”

Notably, he said, “the upper-level position player group is where we've had a lot of teams reach out to us.”

The other asset the Blue Jays have is money, and Atkins said “we will continue to flex that muscle if we can.” That allows for creativity such as taking on money to lower the acquisition cost in terms of prospect capital, or to perhaps gaining access to other players that otherwise might not be available.

“If there's something that presents itself that makes a lot of sense for us short-term and long,” added Atkins, “I would expect us to have the ability to be a powerful organization.”

In possession of a wild-card spot, in range of the American League East lead, the time to exercise that power is nigh.