The San Diego Padres may have unofficially won Major League Baseball‘s trade deadline on Monday with the acquisition of pitcher Mike Clevinger from the Cleveland Indians, but the Toronto Blue Jays showed that they are squarely focused on making the playoffs this year.
For those that didn’t see this coming — me included — it kinda fits the wackiness that has been 2020.
Thought to be at least a year or two away from seriously contending for a division title or a wild card playoff spot, Monday’s trade spree by Jays general manager Ross Atkins showed us that Toronto is ahead of schedule.
Thirty-three games into this year’s 60-game season, the Jays are 18-15 and in the thick of the American League wild card hunt along with teams like the New York Yankees, Houston Astros and Minnesota Twins — three teams that many pundits thought would finish in first place in their respective divisions.
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With that in mind, and the fact that Toronto has won 11 of their last 15 outings, Atkins decided to put his chips into the pot and go for a playoff spot.
But the key to Toronto’s flurry of trades is that Atkins didn’t have to part with any of the team’s core players, and in the process, has added some much-needed starting pitching and more big league veterans to a young team.
The Jays added starters Ross Stripling from the L.A. Dodgers and Robbie Ray from the Arizona Diamonbacks, as well as Miami Marlins infielder Jonathan Villar while giving up left-handed pitcher Travis Bergen, cash considerations and three players to be named later.
Stripling and Ray will bolster a starting rotation that had been decimated with injuries after Nate Pearson, Matt Shoemaker and Trent Thornton all landed on the injured list within a few days of each other.
Villar is a speedy utility man who is coming off a season in which he set career highs with 24 home runs and 73 RBIs while hitting .274 and stealing 40 bases.
It was a nice haul for Atkins, three deadline day moves that should give the club a big psychological boost heading into a month in which they will face the Yankees 10 times over an 18 day stretch.
September will be a key month for the Blue Jays’ playoff hopes, and if they make it, the moves made on Aug. 31 will be a big reason why
Rick Zamperin is the assistant program, news and senior sports director at Global News Radio 900 CHML.
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