Remember when the Blue Jays’ schedule was supposed to open up for them?After they battled through a run of 39 games in 41 days, almost all of them against either division leaders or playoff teams, they were supposed to get a breather heading into the all-star break, facing a couple of last-place teams and a couple more who were each more than 10 games under .500 with a few days off sprinkled in.While the Jays kept their heads above water during that brutal stretch, going 20-19 and losing only a game and a half in the playoff race, their chance to exhale hasn’t gone so well.After tight series wins against the league-worst Oakland Athletics and red-hot San Francisco Giants buoyed the spirits of the fan base, the Boston Red Sox came to town and swept the Jays away — the final two games being familiarly agonizing one-run losses in the late innings.The sweep not only dropped them to 0-and-7 on the season against the last-place Red Sox — a team the Jays walloped last year, winning 16 of 19 meetings — it sent their record against American League East teams to a putrid 7-20 on the season.The whispers are starting. “Should the Jays be sellers at the trade deadline?”Sure they have a chance to beat up on the also-ran Chicago White Sox and Detroit Tigers heading into the all-star break on a road trip that began with Tuesday’s 4-3 victory, but does that even matter if they can’t beat the teams in their own division?It’s a sellers’ market, after all, and the Jays do have a few potential free-agents-to-be who would be attractive to teams looking to load up ahead of the Aug. 1 trade deadline: Matt Chapman is arguably the best defensive third baseman in the game and as he showed in April, he can carry a team when he gets hot. Whit Merrifield is an all-star for the third time. A steady, league-average hitter this season with lots of speed and defensive versatility. Kevin Kiermaier has been everything the Jays hoped he would be and more, providing his trademark otherworldly defence in centre field, wreaking havoc on the bases and posting a better on-base-plus-slugging percentage than he has in seven years. Heck, Brandon Belt went into Tuesday’s game boasting a .929 OPS since May 1.If the Jays were of a mind to sell, they have the wares to offer. The thing is, though, that would be absolutely bananas.It would be a rash, emotionally based decision and run counter to everything the ownership and management group has been espousing since that 95-loss season of 2019, when we first saw building blocks Bo Bichette, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Jordan Romano. We also saw Socrates Brito and Derek Fisher, but that’s a story for another day.All it takes is a ticket to the dance to make big things happen in the post-season. The Philadelphia Phillies showed it just last year, sneaking in to the post-season with 87 wins and making it to the World Series.Other recent examples of teams that had a disappointing regular season but got hot in October are the 2021 Atlanta Braves, who won the World Series off an 88-win season that was the worst among playoff teams and the 2019 Washington Nationals, who were 44-41 going into the 4th of July and were crowned champions in October.Off the brutal Boston sweep, the Jays sat 2 1/2 games out of a playoff spot with 67 games to play. The fact that they’re so close to a wild-card entry into the post-season tournament, despite how ugly so many of those first 95 games have looked, is a positive. As satisfying as it might be to “blow it up,” that’s absolutely the wrong way to go.The Jays will be getting a significant trade deadline addition shortly in reliever Chad Green, on his way back from Tommy John surgery. Before his elbow blew, the 32-year-old was one of the best relievers in the game over an extended period. He posted a WHIP of 0.96 while striking out 426 hitters over 323 innings from 2017-2022. His return should add another dependable high-leverage reliever to the current trusted trio of Tim Mayza, Trevor Richards and Erik Swanson setting up Romano.There are two other returnees in the offing, as well. Alek Manoah looked so good with the Double-A New Hampshire Fisher Cats on Sunday night that the Jays are giving him back his spot in the major-league rotation. He starts Friday night in Detroit. Left-hander Hyun-Jin Ryu is likely still weeks away, but has been getting rave reviews on his rehab from Tommy John. Manoah and Ryu remain huge question marks, of course.A teardown would not only scuttle the Jays’ chances to overcome the minuscule deficit they currently face in the wild card standings but it would send an awful message to young players like Bichette and Guerrero as well as veterans Kevin Gausman, José Berríos and Chris Bassitt, who signed here long-term believing this team was going to push to contend for a championship for their entire tenure here.The likely course of deadline action is that the Jays will add at the margins, much like last season, believing that the core group will eventually put it together and play against their own division (42-win pace over the course of a full season) the way they have against everybody else (106-win pace going into Tuesday’s game). That’ll be more than enough to get them an entry into Serious October Baseball, and at that point whichever team gets the hottest wins the whole shebang.Waving the white flag at this point would be management throwing a temper tantrum — not exactly what we’ve come to expect from this group. It’s not going to happen. Mike Wilner is a Toronto-based baseball columnist for the Star and host of the baseball podcast “Deep Left Field.” Follow him on Twitter: @wilnerness
Remember when the Blue Jays’ schedule was supposed to open up for them?
After they battled through a run of 39 games in 41 days, almost all of them against either division leaders or playoff teams, they were supposed to get a breather heading into the all-star break, facing a couple of last-place teams and a couple more who were each more than 10 games under .500 with a few days off sprinkled in.
While the Jays kept their heads above water during that brutal stretch, going 20-19 and losing only a game and a half in the playoff race, their chance to exhale hasn’t gone so well.
After tight series wins against the league-worst Oakland Athletics and red-hot San Francisco Giants buoyed the spirits of the fan base, the Boston Red Sox came to town and swept the Jays away — the final two games being familiarly agonizing one-run losses in the late innings.
The sweep not only dropped them to 0-and-7 on the season against the last-place Red Sox — a team the Jays walloped last year, winning 16 of 19 meetings — it sent their record against American League East teams to a putrid 7-20 on the season.
The whispers are starting. “Should the Jays be sellers at the trade deadline?”
Sure they have a chance to beat up on the also-ran Chicago White Sox and Detroit Tigers heading into the all-star break on a road trip that began with Tuesday’s 4-3 victory, but does that even matter if they can’t beat the teams in their own division?
It’s a sellers’ market, after all, and the Jays do have a few potential free-agents-to-be who would be attractive to teams looking to load up ahead of the Aug. 1 trade deadline:
Matt Chapman is arguably the best defensive third baseman in the game and as he showed in April, he can carry a team when he gets hot.
Whit Merrifield is an all-star for the third time. A steady, league-average hitter this season with lots of speed and defensive versatility.
Kevin Kiermaier has been everything the Jays hoped he would be and more, providing his trademark otherworldly defence in centre field, wreaking havoc on the bases and posting a better on-base-plus-slugging percentage than he has in seven years.
Heck, Brandon Belt went into Tuesday’s game boasting a .929 OPS since May 1.
If the Jays were of a mind to sell, they have the wares to offer. The thing is, though, that would be absolutely bananas.
It would be a rash, emotionally based decision and run counter to everything the ownership and management group has been espousing since that 95-loss season of 2019, when we first saw building blocks Bo Bichette, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Jordan Romano. We also saw Socrates Brito and Derek Fisher, but that’s a story for another day.
All it takes is a ticket to the dance to make big things happen in the post-season. The Philadelphia Phillies showed it just last year, sneaking in to the post-season with 87 wins and making it to the World Series.
Other recent examples of teams that had a disappointing regular season but got hot in October are the 2021 Atlanta Braves, who won the World Series off an 88-win season that was the worst among playoff teams and the 2019 Washington Nationals, who were 44-41 going into the 4th of July and were crowned champions in October.
Off the brutal Boston sweep, the Jays sat 2 1/2 games out of a playoff spot with 67 games to play. The fact that they’re so close to a wild-card entry into the post-season tournament, despite how ugly so many of those first 95 games have looked, is a positive.
As satisfying as it might be to “blow it up,” that’s absolutely the wrong way to go.
The Jays will be getting a significant trade deadline addition shortly in reliever Chad Green, on his way back from Tommy John surgery. Before his elbow blew, the 32-year-old was one of the best relievers in the game over an extended period. He posted a WHIP of 0.96 while striking out 426 hitters over 323 innings from 2017-2022. His return should add another dependable high-leverage reliever to the current trusted trio of Tim Mayza, Trevor Richards and Erik Swanson setting up Romano.
There are two other returnees in the offing, as well. Alek Manoah looked so good with the Double-A New Hampshire Fisher Cats on Sunday night that the Jays are giving him back his spot in the major-league rotation. He starts Friday night in Detroit. Left-hander Hyun-Jin Ryu is likely still weeks away, but has been getting rave reviews on his rehab from Tommy John. Manoah and Ryu remain huge question marks, of course.
A teardown would not only scuttle the Jays’ chances to overcome the minuscule deficit they currently face in the wild card standings but it would send an awful message to young players like Bichette and Guerrero as well as veterans Kevin Gausman, José Berríos and Chris Bassitt, who signed here long-term believing this team was going to push to contend for a championship for their entire tenure here.
The likely course of deadline action is that the Jays will add at the margins, much like last season, believing that the core group will eventually put it together and play against their own division (42-win pace over the course of a full season) the way they have against everybody else (106-win pace going into Tuesday’s game).
That’ll be more than enough to get them an entry into Serious October Baseball, and at that point whichever team gets the hottest wins the whole shebang.
Waving the white flag at this point would be management throwing a temper tantrum — not exactly what we’ve come to expect from this group. It’s not going to happen.
Mike Wilner is a Toronto-based baseball columnist for the Star and host of the baseball podcast “Deep Left Field.” Follow him on Twitter: @wilnerness
Leave a Reply