The Blue Jays were intending to buy but may need to face reality at 36-43 with a minus 56-run differential.
It would take guts to sell big considering fans in that major market were hoping to see Shohei Ohtani (or Juan Soto) in a Jays uniform. But it may be advisable now. (The Jays understand time is short, but they aren’t ready to make the sell call yet.)
They should be better than this, but offensively they have issues. They lost Marcus Semien and Teoscar Hernandez, and also came up well short in an under-the-radar effort to sign Corey Seager before he went to Texas.
They aren’t going to want to trade Bo Bichette and Vlad Guerrero Jr. with both having another year to go before free agency. But word is, past long-term negotiations with both stars never came close to agreement. And folks who know the pair believe the Jays have little to no chance to lock up Bichette, and maybe only a slightly better chance with Guerrero.
Bichette has more value now to the Dodgers; Guerrero to the Mariners, Astros, Pirates and others.
Free agent to be Yusei Kikuchi is probably a more likely trade candidate, along with Yimi Garcia. And rival teams would love to see Chris Bassitt out there, too.
If they pay deals down, Isiah Kiner-Falefa, Kevin Kiermaier and Justin Turner are tradeable, too.
Starters who could hit the market include Tyler Anderson, Garrett Crochet, Erick Fedde, Frankie Montas and Zach Eflin.
The Tigers could sell. Jack Flaherty would be the big piece, but Mark Canha, Gio Urshela and Andrew Chafin all could have value.
Could Urshela be of interest to the Yankees, who have infield issues?
Rivals see the Cubs as a possible seller, but they don’t have a lot of veteran trade candidates. Cody Bellinger would be interesting.
The Mets were once thinking sell. But now they should only be a buyer, especially of relievers.
The Yankees likely will need infield help as well as bullpen pieces.
The Red Sox are thinking status quo, for now anyway. So Tyler O’Neill, Nick Pivetta and Kenley Jansen may stay.
The Pirates are telling teams they will trade pitching prospects for big-league bats.
Sad as it is to say, with the great Willie Mays gone, the greatest living player is probably Barry Bonds. In the clean division, Mike Schmidt, Greg Maddux, Ken Griffey Jr., Rickey Henderson and Sandy Koufax are all nice candidates.
