Blue Jays Must Address This ‘Urgent’ Flaw At Trade Deadline, Says Top MLB Analyst
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The Toronto Blue Jays had a dream month of July, and it’s now incumbent on the front office to carry the momentum into October.
Owners of Major League Baseball’s best record at 63-43 entering Monday, the Blue Jays will look to fend off the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox for the next two months. And to do so, they’ll need some reinforcements by the Thursday trade deadline.
And although starting pitching looked like one of the strengths of this Blue Jays roster at the start of the season, it’s probably the No. 1 area they now must address.
TORONTO, CANADA – JULY 18: The front logo decal on the batting helmet of Jose Reyes #7 of the Toronto Blue Jays before the start of MLB game action against the Texas Rangers on July… TORONTO, CANADA – JULY 18: The front logo decal on the batting helmet of Jose Reyes #7 of the Toronto Blue Jays before the start of MLB game action against the Texas Rangers on July 18, 2014 at Rogers Centre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. (Photo by Tom Szczerbowski/Getty Images)
Tom Szczerbowski/Getty Images
Not only are the Blue Jays in the middle of the pack in most starting pitching statistics, but two key members of the current rotation (Chris Bassitt and Max Scherzer) will be free agents at the end of the season. Ideally, they’d trade for someone with multiple years of team control.
On Monday, Eno Sarris of The Athletic ranked the Blue Jays third on the “urgency index” among teams who need starting pitching, and suggested Miami Marlins right-hander Edward Cabrera as a fit.
“The Blue Jays rotation is OK. Over the last month, it has had an ERA near four with good peripherals (the fifth-best strikeout-minus-walk rate) and the 10th-best Wins Above Replacement. Going forward, FanGraphs has the group as the 16th best by WAR. There are credible veterans on this squad who know how to pitch,” Sarris wrote.
“But for a team that will lose some key players in the offseason, and has others who are definitively past their peaks, it’s worth wondering if they should seize the opportunity they have right now. This is not a rotation with outstanding stuff – could an Edward Cabrera make sense? Lightning in a bottle? A kid with a 96 mph changeup?”
Cabrera, who won’t be a free agent until after the 2028 season, has a 3.48 ERA and 92 strikeouts in 88 innings so far this season. He’s always had electric stuff, but he’s never crossed the 100-inning threshold, so that’s certainly something to monitor whether he gets traded now or comes up in trade talks again in the winter.
Meanwhile, the Blue Jays could also go the rental route, as pitchers like Zac Gallen, Merrill Kelly, and Charlie Morton are all presumably available.
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