The Toronto Blue Jays are suddenly one of the favorites to win a pennant. What does that mean for their trade deadline pursuits?
It took less than a year for the Blue Jays to go from trade deadline sellers to the No. 1 team in the American League. They’ve got a well-rounded roster that’s only recently started performing up to its capability, but that doesn’t make it a perfect roster.
Ideally, the Blue Jays would come away from the deadline with at least one high-leverage reliever. Their two big offseason additions, Jeff Hoffman and Yimi Garcia, have been inconsistent and injury-prone, respectively.
Just Baseball’s Ryan Finkelstein and Jay Staph see the Blue Jays fixing that problem by making a trade with the Minnesota Twins.
In a recent article, Finkelstein and Staph predicted that the Blue Jays would acquire Twins closer Jhoan Durán, sending infield prospect Josh Kasevich, right-handed pitching prospect Khal Stephen, and left-handed pitching prospect Johnny King to Minnesota.
“Jeff Hoffman has been better than his ERA (4.78) would suggest (24 of 28 in save chances), and Yariel Rodriguez has legitimately been nails (2.25 ERA in 52 innings), but this bullpen could use an alpha that knocks everyone down a peg,” wrote Finkelstein and Staph. “Enter one of the best in baseball, Jhoan Duran.
“Of course, when trading for a closer of Duran’s caliber, the return will be a little more expensive. Especially since Duran comes with two more years of control beyond this postseason run. They’ll have to forego three of their top 15 prospects, which isn’t a small amount by any means.”
Durán, 27, owns a 1.86 ERA in 48 appearances this season, striking out 52 batters in 48 1/3 innings. Not many pitchers can throw 100-mile-per-hour sinkers, and if the Blue Jays have a chance to land one without giving up a top-three organizational prospect, they’ll have to think hard about it.
Durán could give the Blue Jays the most dominant bullpen in their division, setting them up to coast into the playoffs.
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