3 potential trade targets who can help Blue Jays’ right-handed platoon lineup

Creating damage against left-handed pitching is among Ward’s strongest traits, posting a .302/.365/.529 slash line and 145 wRC+ across 329 plate appearances since 2023. This season, in particular, his .587 slugging percentage versus lefties ranks ninth among qualified right-handed batters (min. 70 plate appearances).

Adding Ward to the Blue Jays’ lineup would bring another element of thump, as evidenced by his career-high 14.5-per-cent barrel rate (88th percentile). On top of that, he’d also serve as another pesky, tough out with his 87th-percentile chase rate (21.7 per cent).

Ward’s extra year of club control may complicate matters for the Angels, who could ultimately decide to postpone serious trade talks until the off-season. However, offering a package similar to the return from last season’s Guardians-Nationals Lane Thomas trade — which sent three prospects the other way — might tip the scales in the Blue Jays’ favour.

Willi Castro

The Twins are a seller that the Blue Jays are surely keeping a close eye on from a pitching standpoint, with intriguing arms like Joe Ryan, Jhoan Duran, Griffin Jax and Danny Coulombe potentially available. But Castro is someone who could interest them on the other side of the ball, too.

Castro has been a valuable complementary role player since arriving in Minnesota three seasons ago, worth 2.5 fWAR in 2023 and a career-high 3.0 last season. This season has arguably been his best one yet, at least from an offensive perspective.

The 28-year-old switch-hitter has been effective from both sides of the plate thus far, earning a career-high 115 wRC+ over 84 games with the Twins. He’s tormented lefties more than righties, though, excelling to a .281/.340/.506 slash line and 135 wRC+ in 97 plate appearances.

Much of Castro’s production derives from his ability to pull fly balls and line drives, which he’s done more of this season than any other previous one, courtesy of his career-high 21 per cent pull air rate (any batted ball put in the air and hit to the pull side).

Another element of his craft that’d likely garner interest from the Blue Jays is his defensive versatility, as he features big-league experience at every position except for first base and catcher. He’s even made six relief appearances, including one earlier this season, logging 4.2 innings of mop-up duty.

The more you learn about Castro, the more he seems like an ideal trade target for Toronto — the home of his former hitting coach, David Popkins.

Ramón Laureano

Baltimore’s roster should look a lot different post-July 31, as they sell off pending free agents amidst a disappointing season — one of which could potentially fly to Toronto with the team following Wednesday’s series finale at Camden Yards.

Laureano is precisely the type of right-handed platoon bat the Blue Jays need — someone who gets on base and hits balls hard (47.8-per-cent hard-hit rate, career-high). He checks several boxes, and it helps that he’s currently enjoying a strong season with the O’s, slashing .279/.341/.526 with 15 home runs and 46 RBIs — both the second-most of his career — with a dazzling 139 wRC+ in 79 games, worth 2.1 fWAR.

While the 31-year-old has fared well against lefties in recent years (128 wRC+ from 2023-24), he’s actually been a reverse-splits hitter (better versus righties) this season, posting a .301/.354/.564 slash line and 154 wRC+ over 178 plate appearances.

However, as Laureano’s home run off Brendon Little on Monday proved, he can still hit for power off anyone.

A bonus to Laureano’s case is that his expiring contract includes a $6.5 million club option (buyout unknown) for the ’26 campaign. So, if he performed well down the stretch, the Blue Jays could bring him back for another season at a very affordable figure.