The Toronto Blue Jays were shelled once again by the Tampa Bay Rays on Tuesday, with their 12-2 loss marking the team’s sixth in its past seven games.
With the MLB trade deadline approaching on Aug. 3 and the Blue Jays sitting six games out of the final wild-card slot in the American League, Toronto may be hurtling towards seller status.
ESPN’s Buster Olney joined First Up on TSN1050 on Wednesday to discuss the Blue Jays’ struggles, which players might fetch value on the trade market and possible trade partners in the near future.
“It’s to the point now with the Blue Jays where you really look back at [the 2026 season] and you’re shocked,” Olney said. “It just feels nuts to look and they’re dead last in the league in runs scored. Who would’ve ever thought that after we watched the team and their offence last year?”
The Blue Jays finished fourth in the majors in runs scored in 2025 with 4.92 per game, compared to a league-worst 3.96 this year. The Blue Jays offence was a juggernaut in the postseason last year, scoring five or more runs in 11 of 18 games before the team fell to the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 7 of the World Series.
“We talked about [the Blue Jays] as the model of other teams who put a lineup together of a bunch of guys who put the ball in play. Who would’ve guessed that the offence would be as bleak as it is [this season]?” Olney said.
The Jays have averaged 3.67 runs per game in July, scoring one or zero runs in six of 15 games in the month with a record of 6-9. This while other teams in the American League have surged ahead of them in the standings - the Boston Red Sox are riding a historic 14-game winning streak, while the Baltimore Orioles and Cleveland Guardians have each won seven of their past 10.
“With everything going on now with the Blue Jays, [the front office] can, conscience free, go into the trade market here in the next two weeks and take advantage of what is going to be a seller’s market,” Olney said.
Multiple options moving forward with Kevin Gausman
Veteran pitcher Kevin Gausman, playing in his 14th season and the final year of a five-year deal with the Blue Jays, is a name floating around the rumour mill. Gausman allowed five runs - four earned - over 3.1 innings in the blowout loss on Tuesday, and holds a 4.51 earned-run average with a 4-9 record over 21 starts for Toronto this year.
“I think the market is still [forming] in terms of who specifically could be interested in those guys, but let’s face it, Gausman, with his experience, [teams] would certainly be looking at him,” Olney said.
Gausman made six appearances in the World Series run last season with a 2.93 ERA, and has pitched 56.1 postseason innings in his career.
“Here in Chicago, the Cubs are looking for help in their rotation, he wouldn’t be that expensive because he hasn’t performed well this year,” Olney said. “There’s money involved in taking on his contract, very few teams would be in a position to take on all of his money. I think actually with Gausman, this might lead to an opportunity for the Blue Jays to have a conversation with him because Kevin’s told me how much he’s loved his Blue Jays experience, you can actually use this as a way to kick off conversations about an extension, giving a pitcher who’s going to be 36 this off-season another year or two which is exactly what happened last year with Seth Lugo and the Kansas City Royals.”
George Springer could fetch a nice haul
Fellow veteran George Springer is also in the final year of a six-year deal signed with the Blue Jays in 2021. His struggles at the plate this year - a .228/.310/.390 slash line compared to last year’s brilliant .309/.399/.560 mark - have been a big reason for Toronto’s struggles on offence, but Olney thinks that he could be worth a lot in a trade.
“Springer’s an interesting guy to me - the market for right-handed hitters right now is so thin, and overall George has not had a good season, he’s banged up, but in the last month he’s started to hit,” Olney said. “In the month of July he’s hitting .286 with a slugging percentage of .536, you know that if George is willing to do it, there would be a team that would be interested in taking him on. I’m sure the Blue Jays would [ask him], ‘What do you want to do?’ I’m looking at a team like the Philadelphia Phillies, or the Atlanta Braves, who have a DH spot open ... you could get some value back in return.”
Bullpen - especially Louis Varland - provides Blue Jays many opportunities
The Blue Jays’ bullpen has been inconsistent at times this season, but there are two pitchers who have been very strong - righties Louis Varland and Tyler Rogers.
Both pitchers are under club control for multiple years moving forward, and both are sporting ERAs under 2.00. Varland was named an All-Star and has a 1.08 ERA and 20 saves, while Rogers, 35, has an ERA of 1.61 in 46 games.
Additionally, Jeff Hoffman has extensive experience as a closer and after a brutal start to his campaign that saw him demoted from the closer’s role, the righty has allowed just three earned runs over 16.2 innings in his past 17 outings since the beginning of June.
“Think about Varland and the perception of him at last year’s trade deadline, versus the perception of him now. That speaks to the volatility of relief performance,” Olney said. “The idea that you can’t give him up... of course you can!
“Here’s the one thing working against the Blue Jays in that situation - the two teams that might be most aggressive in adding that expensive reliever would be the Seattle Mariners and the New York Yankees. I really doubt that the Blue Jays would put Varland on a platter for the Yankees. That’s one thing that could potentially mitigate some of the value for Varland, [I just don’t see those teams working out a deal]. But he’s done so many jobs that I bet you would get play from the Phillies, the Braves maybe.”
The Blue Jays haven’t sold at the trade deadline very often recently, having made the playoffs in four of the past six seasons - and missing by a game with a 91-71 record in 2021. But the 2024 trade deadline provided many opportunities to fill the farm system with encouraging prospects, including current majors leaguers Jonatan Clase (from the Seattle Mariners for righty Yimi Garcia) and Yohendrick Pinango (from the Chicago Cubs for Nate Pearson).
“Tyler Rogers, because of how good he is, the different style he has when he pitches, he’s got two years left at $24 million the next two years, I bet you’d get something decent for him too,” Olney said. “I think with the labour situation coming up and the uncertainty of what the economic system is going to be, if you’re the Blue Jays maybe you entertain that more readily because shedding payroll is not going to be a bad thing.”
The Blue Jays have not officially signalled their intent to the rest of the league sell at the deadline, according to Olney. Other GMs around the league have told Olney that outside of the Colorado Rockies, New York Mets or San Francisco Giants, there are few sellers identified in league circles yet.
But that doesn’t mean the Blue Jays path isn’t clearly laid out at this time.
“I can’t tell you that I’ve heard from a GM that the Blue Jays have absolutely put up the for sale sign,” Olney said. “But the numbers are the numbers and the performance is the performance. Being last in the majors in runs scored, struggling the way they have out of the All-Star break, drifting backwards in the standings, the writing’s on the wall.”
