The Toronto Blue Jays are perhaps the most intriguing team to watch at this year's MLB trade deadline. With seven weeks separating us from the July 30 deadline, there's no clear answer as to which direction the Blue Jays will go this summer.
Toronto has a 32-34 record and is 14 games behind the New York Yankees for first place in the AL East. The odds of a miracle run to erase that deficit are slim, so the Blue Jays have to focus their playoff hopes on securing a wild card spot, one they are currently three games out of.
Although it's anticipated that Toronto will shop some of its star assets, Blue Jays general manager Ross Atkins said last week he thinks it doesn’t make sense to trade All-Stars Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Bo Bichette. Instead, he's focusing his efforts on signing both to long-term contract extensions.
Bichette and Guerrero are under team control through next season and would demand a haul in a trade given their track records. It hasn’t always been pretty for the duo in 2024, but Toronto believes Bichette and Guerrero's struggles are more of an outlier than a sign of things to come.
If the Blue Jays don’t improve their standing in June, trade rumors will only grow louder. However, one rival executive believes the only way Toronto moves Bichette or Guerrero is if they let go of Atkins as general manager, per Jim Bowden of The Athletic.
That would be a drastic change for the Blue Jays who have employed Atkins as their GM since December 2015. Would Toronto entertain the idea of firing Atkins to change course on their plan for Bichette and Guerrero? So many scenarios can play out over the next seven weeks.
Toronto's future hangs on the next few weeks
We could be having a completely different conversation about the Blue Jays in five weeks when the MLB's best gather in Texas for the MLB All-Star Game. An elongated winning stretch would launch Toronto into a playoff spot and potentially see them add at the deadline rather than subtract.
If things continue to trend the way they have this season – the Blue Jays have had a losing record since April 30 – significant changes could be on the way.
Bowden mentioned Blue Jays manager John Schneider as one of four skippers on the hot seat but there's a possibility none lose their job before the deadline. Atkins gave Schneider a vote of confidence earlier this month but it's hard to imagine Toronto not making a change if the bottom falls out in the next few weeks.
Blue Jays fans have called for those changes for the better part of two months but nothing appears imminent. It's worth noting that Toronto turned to Schneider after firing Charlie Montoyo three weeks before the trade deadline in 2022.
The Blue Jays have a .553 winning percentage under Schneider and made the playoffs in 2022 and 2023, though they failed to win a single postseason game. Toronto made four postseason appearances in Atkins' first eight seasons as general manager but hasn’t won a playoff game since 2016.
Signs point to the Blue Jays standing firm this season in hopes the current roster can find its mojo and compete for a playoff spot. It could end up costing both John Schneider and Ross Atkins their jobs, but the latter at least seems content on going down with the ship he built.
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