Blue Jays trade for former top pitching prospect

The Toronto Blue Jays are trying their luck on a reclamation project.

Toronto is trading for veteran right-hander Simeon Woods Richardson, according to a report on Wednesday by Mitch Bannon of The Athletic. They are acquiring Woods Richardson from the Minnesota Twins and will only be sending back cash considerations in return.

Woods Richardson, 25, is a former consensus top-100 prospect who was originally selected by the New York Mets in the second round of the 2018 MLB Draft (No. 48 overall). He was already a member of the Blue Jays organization from 2019-21 after being sent from New York to Toronto as part of the Marcus Stroman trade.

The Blue Jays then dealt Woods Richardson again in 2021 as part of the Jose Berrios trade with the Twins, and he had spent the last five seasons in Minnesota. Woods Richardson enjoyed his best Major League campaign in 2025, going 7-4 with 4.04 ERA and 107 strikeouts over 22 total starts for the Twins.

But the wheels had fallen off completely for Woods Richardson this season. Over 10 starts for Minnesota, Woods Richardson had posted a Major League-leading seven losses to go along with a woeful 7.74 ERA and a 1.89 WHIP.

The Twins decided earlier this week to officially designate Woods Richardson for assignment. Now the Blue Jays will be reuniting with their former top prospect in the hopes that he can find some serviceability again for their sub-.500 team that has experienced misfortune after misfortune this year.