Toronto straddled buying and selling, while Boston, San Diego and Philadelphia also reshaped the MLB futures landscape
In the end, at 6:01 p.m. EST last night, when the MLB trade deadline passed, the Toronto Blue Jays had done a bit of selling and a bit of buying, leaning more toward the selling side. Six trades in total.
On Sunday, the Jays had gotten a jump on things, acquiring starting pitcher Jameson Taillon from the Chicago Cubs for cash or a player to be named later.
They followed that by shipping starting pitcher Kevin Gausman to those same Cubs, in exchange for prospects Ty Southisene and Brett Bateman.
Then yesterday morning came the big surprise. The Blue Jays had acquired ace-calibre starting pitcher Jose Soriano from the Los Angeles Angels, with prospects Arjun Nimmala, Eddie Micheletti Jr. and Angel Rivero going the other way.
The Jays acquired versatile infielder Josh Smith as well as minor league pitcher Josh Stephan from the Texas Rangers for Adam Macko later yesterday. So maybe they were going to buy more and add to a roster that was 4.5 games out of an American League wild card spot, as the day played out.
Then came two other trades that showed they were leaning more toward selling. Relief pitcher Jeff Hoffman was sent to the Minnesota Twins for prospects Dasan Hill, John Klein, and Damuery Pena, and gold-glove centre fielder Daulton Varsho was traded to the Houston Astros for starting pitcher Spencer Arrighetti.
Varsho said when he heard the news the team had acquired Soriano, the AL pitcher of the month in April, signed for two more seasons, and sliding in with a staff now that also includes Cy Young Award candidate Dylan Cease, Trey Yesavage, Shane Bieber and Max Scherzer, he thought the Jays were going to start buying. He thought for a moment he’d be sticking around. Then he was traded.
The betting market reacted accordingly. In MLB betting at Betway this morning, the Blue Jays are now +12500 to win the World Series, and +7000 to win the American League. On July 16, the Jays were +3000 to win the World Series.
The Blue Jays went out and beat the Astros last night, 3-1, and are now four games out of a wild-card spot with 49 games to go.
The big headline-makers over the last 48 hours were, of course, the L.A. Dodgers, in full Avengers mode, acquiring multiple Cy Young Award winner Tarik Skubal, a trade that shook the futures board. The Dodgers already had one of the deepest rotations in baseball.
Another one that really shocked me was the trade of all-star catcher Adley Rutschman from the Baltimore Orioles to the Boston Red Sox. The Red Sox paid a premium – three of their top five prospects – but that was a move that boosted Boston’s AL East and World Series chances.
The San Diego Padres countered and made themselves an attractive National League pennant longshot, acquiring starting pitcher and former Cy Young Award winner Robbie Ray from the San Francisco Giants.
One of the other big moves on the day was the Philadelphia Phillies acquiring three-time batting champ Luis Arráez from the Giants in exchange for prospects.
On July 16, the L.A. Dodgers still top the World Series winner futures market, at +175. That’s followed by the New York Yankees (+500), Seattle Mariners (+900), Milwaukee Brewers (+1000), Atlanta Braves (+1100), Philadelphia Phillies (+1100), Tampa Bay Rays (+1400), Chicago Cubs (+2000), Texas Rangers (+2000), and the Toronto Blue Jays (+3000).
This morning at Betway, it’s the Dodgers +150, Yankees +600, Brewers +900, Braves +1000, Rays +1400, Red Sox +1600, Cubs +1800, Phillies +2000, Mariners +2200, then the Houston Astros +2800. If you’re putting money down on World Series futures, think about this: any team that looks to go through the Dodgers has to face Skubal, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Blake Snell, Shohei Ohtani, and Tyler Glasnow.
