The Blue Jays are staring at the same deadline dilemma they faced a year ago, and the memory of their last sell-off should make them cautious.
Kevin Gausman, Daulton Varsho and George Springer are the names that could draw the biggest returns if Toronto decides to move pieces, with Gausman standing out as the most valuable chip. That’s why so many fans have drifted into the sell camp after the rough finish to the first half. But the Blue Jays’ own recent history offers a pretty blunt warning: deadline deals don’t always pay off the way people imagine they will.
Back in 2024, Toronto was sitting at 45-52 on July 15, almost the same place it is now at 45-51. The playoff picture was even bleaker then, with Fangraphs giving the club just a 2% chance to reach October. The logic at the time was simple - move anyone not nailed down, especially impending free agents.
What came back has not exactly changed the franchise’s fortunes. The 14 players acquired at the 2024 deadline, or later in moves tied to those players, have combined for only .5 bWAR with the Major League club this season.
Five players from that deadline have appeared for the 2026 Blue Jays, and only Brandon Valenzuela has produced a clearly positive mark, at 1.0 WAR. He came to Toronto at the 2025 deadline as part of the return for Will Wagner, who was one of the pieces from the 2024 sell-off.
Some of the other names have simply not held up. Yohendrick Pińango and Jesus Sanchez have been hurt by poor defense, enough to wipe out the offense they’ve shown. Pińango is now in Buffalo.
The headliner of that 2024 return was Jake Bloss, the prospect Toronto got in the Yusei Kikuchi deal. At the time, he had an ERA under 2 with Houston’s Double-A club in Corpus Christi and had already made three starts for the Astros.
Since joining the Blue Jays organization, though, his path has gone sideways. Tommy John surgery and ineffectiveness have defined his time so far, and he has gone 0-9 as a Blue Jay minor leaguer with an ERA well over 6.
Bloss is still the top-ranked prospect in the group, sitting eighth on MLB Pipeline’s Blue Jays Top 30. RJ Schreck is ninth, Cutter Coffey is 23rd and McAdoo is 24th.
Jay Harry has arguably had the strongest season of the bunch, even though he isn’t on the Top 30 lists. After a rough 2025, he has put together a .937 OPS with 13 home runs across Double-A and Triple-A, though his 61:15 strikeout-to-walk ratio leaves plenty of doubt.
There was also one unforgettable oddity tied to that deadline. Danny Jansen became the first player ever to appear for both teams in the same game after a suspended game resumed with him having gone from Blue Jay to Red Sox. He caught for Boston in an at-bat that started while he was still with Toronto, and he even batted for both teams in the same inning.
Toronto still has time for the picture to change. The organization has prospects who could still develop into something useful, and the story of the 2024 deadline is not finished yet.
Development doesn’t move in a straight line. But with a 20% shot at the playoffs and an American League that still doesn’t have a dominant team, the Blue Jays have a strong case to wait.
Two more weeks of patience would make a lot more sense than rushing into another sale.
In Other News...
Blue Jays May Have Just Caught A Huge Deadline Break
Milwaukees decision to land Lance McCullers Jr. and Colton Gordon from Houston for prospect Jadyn Fielder added another wrinkle to an already fluid deadline market, and its the kind of move that can ripple well beyond the two teams involved. McCullers has battled inconsistency and injuries this season, but his postseason track record still carries weight, which is exactly why a deal like this can reset how front offices think about pitching depth and what they are willing to pay for it.
For Toronto, the bigger question is whether a sellers market is starting to tilt in its favor if the club decides to move pieces before the deadline. A trade built around a pitcher with McCullers name value, despite the uneven year, can only help the Blue Jays case if they choose to listen on veterans, because it suggests clubs are still willing to chase proven upside even when the current numbers are messy. [Read more 🡒]
Blue Jays Finally Get A Crucial Injury Picture Before Second Half
The Blue Jays head into the second half still buried in the American League East, but the injury picture around the club is starting to come into focus in a way that could matter just as much for the stretch run. Toronto has spent much of the first half juggling absences from Yimi Garca, Max Scherzer, Joe Mantiply, Addison Barger, Jess Snchez, Lenyn Sosa and Anthony Santander, while the organization has also already had to absorb season-ending surgeries for Cody Ponce, Bowden Francis and Jos Berros.
For a team still hanging around the wild-card race, the difference between surviving and fading may come down to which of those names can actually rejoin the mix in time to help. Garca is moving back toward a bullpen role, Barger and Snchez are working through their own paths back, and Santanders shoulder situation remains one of the more important questions on the roster as Toronto tries to piece together enough healthy innings and at-bats to stay relevant into August. [Read more 🡒]
Blue Jays Just Got Surprising Draft Praise Despite Their Disadvantage
For a team working with limited draft capital in 2026, the Blue Jays still managed to come out of the MLB draft with some real intrigue. Keith Law singled out Toronto for landing two top-50 prospects in Cole Carlon and Will Brick, a notable haul for a club that did not have the kind of draft flexibility many rivals enjoyed. The added context matters here: Toronto was able to turn a constrained board into a class that drew praise from one of the sports more respected evaluators.
Carlon, the Arizona State left-hander, was viewed as a potential mid-rotation starter thanks to two bat-missing pitches and some room to keep growing through his changeup. Brick, a high school catcher, gives the Blue Jays another high-upside name to track as the organization continues to build depth behind the plate and on the mound. Toronto also added several undrafted free agent pitchers after the draft, which suggests the front office kept working to squeeze value out of the process even after the headline picks were in. [Read more 🡒]