Blue Jays must capitalize to improve roster at trade deadline

The Toronto Blue Jays are riding high as the July 31st MLB trade deadline approaches. They’ve been arguably the most pleasant surprise in the league this season, building a lead in the American League East when many had them pegged as a fourth- or fifth-place club coming out of spring training.

The roster has seen a handful of unlikely contributors emerge, propelling the Blue Jays to an incredible 47-23 record since dropping to a season-worst 16-20 in early May. It’s been a magical ride for the Blue Jays and their fans for nearly three months. That being said, the trade deadline represents the last opportunity to improve the roster in a meaningful way before the postseason arrives in October. The Blue Jays shouldn’t be content to just rest on their laurels about what they’ve accomplished up until this point.

Teams that have a 97.4% chance to make the postseason and a 70.7% chance of winning the division, like the Blue Jays currently do, historically fall into the aggressive buyer category when sizing up what clubs will look to accomplish at the trade deadline.

Under the leadership of President Mark Shapiro and general manager Ross Atkins, the Blue Jays have always made multiple additions whenever they’ve been in a position to act as a buyer at the trade deadline. There’s no reason to expect anything different in 2025.

With a season as special as the one currently unfolding, Shapiro and Atkins should feel that much more urgency to find a way to capitalize on the trade market to improve the roster in a meaningful way. There shouldn’t be any half measures or additions on the outskirts of the roster. The focus should be centred around identifying players who fit the mould, and finding a way to put together a quality trade package to see if a deal can be made.

With the American League as wide open as it’s been in some time, the Blue Jays have a massive opportunity to step through it to make a deep run in October for the first time in almost a decade.

Interestingly enough, Shapiro and Atkins are in a somewhat similar situation to the one former general manager Alex Anthopoulos found himself in during the 2015 season. Anthopoulos was facing huge pressure to deliver postseason baseball to the city of Toronto for the first time since the Blue Jays won the World Series in 1993. He decided to push all the chips in, trading several high-end prospects to acquire the likes of David Price, Troy Tulowitzki, and others. The end result was a stirring run to Game 6 of the ALCS, giving Blue Jays fans of this generation a ride they’d been desperate to take for many years.