Blue Jays Reportedly Expressing Openness To Moving Rental

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After another tough lo s in San Francisco last night, the Blue Jays enter play this evening at 41-50. Theyve dropped nine games behind the Red Sox for the American Leagues final postseason spot. Only the Angels, As and White Sox have a worse record in the AL. With le s than three weeks until the deadline, time is running out for the Jays to avoid selling. On June 27, GM Ro s Atkins called the next few weeks in determining the teams direction. The Jays have gone 5-7 since then. Unsurprisingly, that looks like itll leave the front office to contemplate dealing short-term pieces. wrote last night that the Jays have indicated to other teams that theyre willing to move impending free agents. Feinsand suggested that Toronto is still disinterested in dealing players who are under team control beyond this season. Feinsand left open the po sibility of Toronto holding onto players if they author a dramatic turnaround in the next couple weeks, but he noted that the Jays are prepared to sell if they dont reverse course quickly. Including tonight, they have 16 games until the deadline. A reluctance to trade controllable players aligns with Atkins prior public comments. The GM said in that moving or each of whom are slated for free agency at the end of next season just doesnt make any sense for us. While Atkins didnt categorically shoot down the idea of moving any other players, a reluctance to deal Guerrero and Bichette indicates the team expects to rebound in 2025. Even if the Jays focus trade discu sions on rentals, the roster could look very different in a few weeks. Toronto has six impending free agents, each of whom has a realistic chance to go. That group is headlined by , who slots alongside as the top rental starting pitchers who should be available. Kikuchi is coming off one of the best outings of his career. The lefty set a personal high with 13 strikeouts over 7 1/3 innings of two-run ball in San Francisco yesterday. He has allowed an even four earned runs per nine through 101 1/3 innings. Kikuchi has fanned an above-average 26.1% of opponents while cutting his walks to a career-low 5.4% clip. Home runs have always been an i sue for the veteran southpaw, particularly against right-handed hitters. Yet Kikuchi is working on a second straight season with an ERA around 4.00 with plus strikeout and walk numbers. This is the final season of his three-year, $36MM free agent deal. The contract was frontloaded, so Kikuchi is making just $10MM this year. Around $3.28MM would remain at the deadline. That should be affordable for most contenders. Kikuchi would be a realistic qualifying offer candidate if the Jays dont trade him. If Toronto exceeds the luxury tax threshold, theyd only receive a compensation pick Seth Beer Jersey after the fourth round in the 2025 draft if a qualified free agent signs elsewhere. Thats also a potential factor for , who is the top impending free agent catcher. Jansens free agent and trade appeal looked a lot stronger as recently as a month ago. The righty-hitting backstop carried a .287/.371/.535 batting line into June. He has hit an ill-timed power outage in the past six weeks. Jansen has gone without a homer while running a .122/.241/.162 slash since the end of May. His season line (.217/.315/.377 over 203 plate appearances) is exactly league average, as measured by wRC+. Despite the slump, the Jays should still get calls on Jansen. There arent likely to be many starting caliber catchers available this summer. Jansen has shown that kind of talent throughout his career, though his value has generally been undercut by a lengthy injury history. Even if hes not currently in top form, Jansen has excellent strike zone discipline with double-digit home run power. Hes a quality receiving catcher but doesnt have a great arm. The 29-year-old is making $5.2MM in his final arbitration season. and are both playing on one-year free agent deals, respectively valued at $10.5MM and $13MM. Theyre established veterans who could generate some interest for a bench role on a contender. The Jays would likely need to pay down most of the money to facilitate a trade of either player, though. Kiermaier remains an excellent defensive center fielder but has a career-worst .187/.232/.295 batting line over 181 plate appearances. The 39-year-old Turner is hitting .240/.347/.360 with five homers over 294 trips to the plate. He is working mostly as a designated hitter with sporadic reps at the corner infield spots. Relievers and are the final two impending free agents. Garca, who is playing on a $6MM salary, got out to an excellent start to the year. He fired 28 innings of 2.57 ERA ball with a huge 34.6% strikeout rate over 27 appearances. An elbow i sue sent him to the injured list in mid-June. Garca is on a rehab a signment with Triple-A Buffalo. Keegan Matheson of MLB.com that neck stiffne s has delayed him but the Jays are hopeful that Garca will be ready for reinstatement this weekend. Richards, who is making just $2.15MM in his last arbitration season, owns a 3.40 earned run average in 47 2/3 frames. The changeup specialist has fanned a quarter of opponents against a 9% walk rate. Richards doesnt have eye-popping velocity and this years 10% swinging strike rate is the lowest of his career. Hes best suited for a middle relief role but should have some appeal on the trade market as an affordable multi-inning arm. Moving the bulk or all of those players could have significant financial ramifications for the organization. estimates the organizations luxury tax commitments just north of $247MM. calculates the teams CBT mark closer to $250MM. Those outside projections put the team $10-13MM above this years $237MM base tax threshold. An organizations competitive balance tax number is calculated at the end of the season. If the Jays commit to selling, they could get close to or below the tax line. They should be able to offload the prorated portions of Kikuchis $12MM and Jansens $5.2MM respective CBT numbers. If Garca is healthy, they could probably find a taker for what remains of his contract. Depending on what portion of the Kiermaier and Turner money another team might be willing to eat, there may be a path to getting their CBT number under $237MM. That would reset the teams tax bracket and free them from the escalating penalties as a repeat payor if they decided to spend back above the tax line in 2025. Getting under the CBT marker would be much easier if the Jays were willing to go beyond the rentals. Guerrero, Bichette, , , and are all on notable arbitration or multi-year salaries. Moving anyone from that group would make a return to competitivene s in 2025 more of an uphill battle, of course. It doesnt seem thats an avenue the front office is eager to take. It remains to be seen if theyll more seriously consider that kind of roster overhaul over the coming weeks. Logan Allen Jersey