Blue Jays 3, Astros 1: Pencils Down

 

bring it in, Daulton Varsho; bring it on in

"Under the circumstances," reporter Jon Morosi suggest-reported yesterday afternoon when things were about halfway done, "the Blue Jays are having an excellent trade deadline." And I agree! I really do! Let's web-log about it for a bit! Or actually for kind of a while, probably, as there are, I think, a number of things to say—I thank you in advance for your patience (like extra).

Things started for the Blue Jays in a low-key way, you will recall, as early as Sunday afternoon, with the previously mentioned acquisition of rotation-depth-guy Jameson Taillon from the Cubs for an unspecified player and/or an amount of fiat currency yet to be determined, but really began in earnest Sunday evening, as Kevin Gausman was traded to the Cubs (with whom I have no problem) for prospects Brett Bateman (a speedy voltigeur) and Ty Southisene (a speedier-still utility infieldest) in a deal which brought into predicable relief the distance between what Kevin Gausman's rôle has meant to us both materially (producing more on-field value for the Blue Jays over his stay than any free-agent pitcher in team history aside from Roger Clemens, arguably the best pitcher in baseball history full stop, whose best two-year stretch came as a Blue Jay, arguably for reasons) and in our silly, silly hearts (we loved him, and also how much he and his nice little family loved Toronto; it was all very pleasant [beat writer Keegan Matheson wrote: "I rarely comment on departing players, but Kevin Gausman is different. A thoughtful, reliable and impressive person to cover. All of the reasons Blue Jays fans were drawn to Gausman are genuine and real. Model player, model representative of this organization. He did it right"]) on the one hand, and the present-day trade value of roughly ten starts (plus postseason) from a just-about-league-average starting pitcher on the other. It's not great! That last part, I mean! There was never going to be a return on a Kevin Gausman trade that was going to feel satisfying or sufficient, and this particular return was fine for what it was, and, crucially, at least it was over. Gausman, George Springer, and Daulton Varsho apparently had a good cry together on the flight to Houston Sunday evening, as well they should have; it can be important to do that sometimes (let it all out, boys; just let it go).

The next deal was noticeably less emotionally fraught, in that it saw Slovakian-Canadian fringe-bullpen-lefty Adam Macko sent to the Rangers in exchange for utility player Josh Smith (literally every position but catcher and pitcher!) and starter Josh Stephan, who will probably mostly figure in at Buffalo, I guess? Trades at this level, consisting of players at the edges of major-league rosters (indeed, sometimes at the edges of the forty-man roster) are in one sense the most interesting to me, in that they rarely occur for reasons that are especially legible to the layperson (that's us!), but for reasons that are no doubt entirely self-evident to, say, the poet Carson Cistulli (Assistant Director, Player Analysis). They make for good pondering, these deals do, and so offer us some measure of value in that respect (in the interior stadium, to borrow a phrase).

From there, things got a little nuts, honestly, as the Blue Jays moved Arjun Nimmala, one of our two top shortstop prospects (the other being Jojo Parker), along with minor leaguers Eddie Micheletti Jr. (corner outfield/first base) and Angel Rivero (a pitcher) to the Los Angeles Angels (of Anaheim) for, of all people, José Soriano, a front-end-of-the-rotation kind of guy who has certainly sliced us up previously, and seemed likely to continue doing so for years to come (how the tables have turned! in this regard!). Soriano will slide into things just behind Dylan Cease—he will tuckle right in there—and ahead of Yesavage for at least the next two years, even if the Blue Jays do not offer him a contract extension in the manner of, say, José Berrios, acquired at a similar point in his career (feels like a long time ago now!). I am fully, fully delighted by this move. In almost every circumstance, I will take a couple of years of a provenly viable starting pitcher over a yet-to-début prospect of strong-but-not-bananas promise. I have been known, when overtaken by one of my characteristic fits of pique, to denounce "prospects" (like as a category) as "a fake idea," which is obviously a false and indefensible notion, but is closer to how I actually feel than is at all sensible. I am quite foolish in most regards.

Jeff Hoffman was as vocal as anyone on the team about his desire to stay with the Blue Jays, and about how much his time in Toronto has meant to him and to his young family of effectively infinite children (the number is four, but that, to me, is a nearly incomprehensible amount). In recent weeks, there was chatter that Hoffman—maligned though he may have been by the worst elements of the Blue Jays' fanbase, a victim of their inability to understand (I say this with no exaggeration) literally anything about anything—was the most coveted trade target of anyone on the Blue Jays' roster, given his three swing-and-miss pitches and his reasonable contract that runs through the end of 2027, and this chatter proved to credible as all heck, given the  return that came back from the Twins yesterday: Dasan Hill is a flamethrower of a young strikeout guy (who, it is said, will need to walk fewer guys to reach his potential); John Klein has pitched (briefly) in the major this year but at the very least will add to their non-Corbin (no diss; thank you for your five innings) options; and Dameury Pena is a small and speedy middle infielder about whom, hey, you never know. I'm sad to see Hoffman go: he was essential the 2025 Blue Jays run to the AL pennant (I'm unconvinced we beat either the Yankees or the Mariners without specifically his excellent performance), and he was more upfront and open and honest about his limitations and failings than I could ever conceive of being publicly (privately, in my experience, is bad enough). "I think all organizations should strive to be like Toronto," Keegan Matheson reports Hoffman saying before stopping to sign some autographs for Blue Jays fans (we're everywhere, even Houston) from the dugout before he gathered his things and left the clubhouse; Hazel Mae reports that he got choked up one last time talking about his family's love of the city. Know this, anybody who boos Jeff Hoffman the next time the Twins come to Toronto: I am denouncing and attainting you right now ahead of time, plus I am going to do it extra on the actual day. I am fully ready to leave you doubly denounced and not even feel bad about it.    

Finally, we had Daulton Varsho, who went from crying-it-out on the flight to Houston with Gausman and Springer on Sunday night, to getting more than a little choked up at the Monday evening press availability in which he was introduced as, quite conveniently, I suppose, a new member of the Astros (in exchange for starter [I am not making this up] "Big Spaghetti" Spencer Arrighetti, a surprisingly strong return for two months of the well-liked but struggling Varsho). It wasn't all bad news, though: not long after, Varsho was on the receiving end of an eighty-grade hug from Vladdy, who we have known to be an elite hugger going as far back as the Téo and Lourdes Gurriel Jr. days (were we ever so young?). And that was that.

Quite a day! You will note that George Springer, with his "five-and-ten" full no-trade clause plus also a new baby at home, did not go anywhere; nor did Max Scherzer, with his full no-trade and various troubles; nor did Shane Bieber, whose limited and mixed results this year no doubt led to less interest than one might expect based on name alone (make no mistake: I remain a Belieber, but I get it). I must say that really liked what General Manager Ross Atkins managed generally: this was a trade deadline performance that neither threw in the towel utterly (everybody goes! to heck with guys!), nor was it one unduly burdened by sentiment (no guys get to go, as guys are too precious to me, and I cannot bear their parting! [this is my undoing in the realms of baseball simulation more often than you'd think {in the unlikely event you would choose to think on it}). I'm pleased that George Springer and Max Scherzer will finish their seasons, and perhaps even their careers, as Blue Jays; I am a little saddened, though not overwhelmingly (perhaps not even whelmingly?), that Kevin Gausman will not. I'm sorry to see Hoffman and Varsho go, but both moves make sense, for different reasons. Adding Soriano is a true boon, and a totally unexpected one. I think there is a totally reasonable case to be made that, for the rest of this season (saying nothing of the good that may happen beyond it), our rotation is actually stronger today than it was on Sunday? Not at all what I expected, but pretty great, considering! And as Max Scherzer noted, even with the Blue Jays' struggles this year, you've still got forty-thousand people showing up every night; you've got to at least try to give them something.         

With all that settled, there was still a game to play Monday night: Shane Bieber (who found out just fifteen minutes ahead of the deadline that he would indeed for sure be pitching [for Toronto]) danced around the raindrops, as they say, allowing just one of his eleven (eleven!) baserunners to score in his five-and-two-thirds; Braydon Fisher (who along with Spencer Miles will no doubt see a lot of what would otherwise have been Hoffman's innings) was not at his best, but managed a scoreless inning; the resting-sad-faced Brendon Little struck out four of the five batters he faced (stunt on your foes, Brendon Little; stunt on every last one of them); and Trevor Rogers handled the ninth after Louis Varland threw more pitches than you'd altogether to see on Sunday. Alejandro Kirk homered, Sanchez and Clement each knocked in a run, and there you go, a 3-1 win over the AL West-leading Houston Astros to gain a little ground in the Wild Card race, and sit four games out with . . . (quick math) . . . yikes, only forty-nine to play. Nevertheless, though! A tidy win! After an interesting day! I thank you, as always, for your attention to it.  

KS