The System IS Working After All

How much fun has this year’s post-season been so far? Well, as a Blue Jays fan, the answer might well be “not that much. Certainly not as much as last year’s!” but overall, it’s been pretty exciting and should be teaching the league’s movers and shakers a thing of two. Let’s look at where we are as of today in the playoffs. In the NL, Milwaukee will host the Dodgers for the National League pennant. In our AL, Tampa Bay is sitting waiting to find out if Chicago or Cleveland will visit them Monday to kick off the American League Championship Series. The Yankees will be joining the Jays, as well as the Mets, Braves and Phillies watching the games as spectators chanting the mantra “wait til next year!” Anybody think they detect a pattern emerging there? Anyone? Commissioner Rob Manfred?

If not, let me cut to the chase. Of the five teams still standing, only one (the L.A. Dodgers of course) really should be active still according to “conventional wisdom”. The other four teams are small budget, and with exception of Chicago, small market teams. Consider that Milwaukee had the winningest record in all of the Majors this year, 103-59. Milwaukee is listed by the Census Bureau as the 40th largest metro area in the US, with a population of 1.58 million. And if you were wondering, they had the best record in the sport last year as well. Over in the American League, Tampa had the best record, 4.5 games better than the Yankees. Tampa’s metro population is 3.17 million, 17th biggest in the land, smaller than Boston or Toronto up in Canada’s. But they have suffered from dismal attendance for years. Metro New York City has a population in the neighborhood of 23.6 million. And let’s not forget San Diego in that southwestern corner of the map, an urban area of 3.3 million who were in there, losing to the Brew Crew in the Division Series. And to remind you, the New York Mets were in last place in their division, 20 games behind the Braves. Clearly being a team in a large city isn’t a prerequisite to making the playoffs and a run for the title.

What’s more telling though is that a similar disparity exists when we look at the teams by payroll instead of population. We’ll defer to Sportrac for the bookkeeping here; since things like bonuses, injured stints and minor league call-ups make getting an exact dollar figure for the year somewhat up in the air, but their figures seem to be considered the go-to ones for MLB. They list the Dodgers as the highest-payroll team this year, at $380M. Next, the New York Mets, $352M, then the Yankees, $299, Philadelphia at $289 then our own Blue Jays with $286M. (I’ll go on a tangent here and point out that they also tally how much of the total was on the Injured List; Toronto was second on that list at $97.4 M… second to only San Francisco. If we looked at just the salaries of non-injured, active players, Toronto dropped to 10th on the list.)

OK, ready for the Scroogiest of teams? Here’s the five lowest spending ones this season: Cleveland, $79M, Miami, $83M, Sacramento, $98M, St. Louis, $98M, and the White Sox, $102M. Tampa was 23rd at $106M and Milwaukee were a middling 19th at $147M.

Of the final eight teams in the post-season, four were in the league’s top half of high-spenders… but four were in the bottom half. Two in fact were among the bottom five. What does that tell you?

It tells me the system is working! Despite the oft-repeated sentiments that the big money, big market teams are continually buying championships, it would seem that the small spenders in smaller cities are competing pretty well. Hell, the two best teams in the regular season were teams that according to the popular argument, should have been dead in the water. Sure the Dodgers have a dynasty, and they spend gigantic amounts with seemingly total disregard or interest but … so too do the pair of New York teams. Collectively it’s been 17 years and counting since the Big Apple enjoyed a Big Parade. Toronto’s upped it’s spending and it paid off in a big way last year, but failed rather miserably this year. (And we’ll add in, yes last season was a matchup of two titans, the freest-spending one in the game vs a big city, big money team with literally an entire country cheering them on. And the TV ratings were the best MLB’s enjoyed for decades… which again, suggests things are working right.) And let’s not overlook that the Chicago White Sox were an embarassment, losing 100 or more games three years running including 2024’s historically bad campaign, and suddenly are a force to be reckoned with, still potentially in the run for the roses. Or the Commissioner’s Trophy as it were.

There are several reasons for this. Huge spending teams tend to overpay aging veterans and see their numbers decline as years on long-term contracts tick away. Some, let’s be honest, seem to take their foot off the gas some when they sign an eight or nine digit contract and fail to perform up to past levels. Whatever the cause, is anyone really suggesting that in a league with an average salary of about $5 million that Kyle Tucker was worth $60M, Bo Bichette $42M or our own Vladimir Guerrero Jr. $38M this year, which is approximately what they took in? On the other hand, Tampa’s Junior Caminero earned under $1M… and hit 42HR, drove in 101 and had an OPS of .885, all in the top 10 in the game.

That in turn might point to the fact that players being drafted these days usually are in far better shape, better trained and closer to being Big League ready than they ever have before. It used to be there were three levels of the minor leagues and young kids would take at least one year to go through each one. Now the Trey Yesavage’s of the sport are becoming more frequent, making their debut in “the game” the year after they were drafted. Not the experience of even players still active like Mike Trout. Trout spend most of three years in the minors before debuting with the Angels. And he did that in a less-than-head-turning fashion, hitting .220 with 5 HR in 40 games in 2011. Getting a good player to draft now pays dividends very quickly; so much so that one might say a good scout or two could be as important to a team as a good manager or media-friendly GM. And of course it you finish with a poor record, you get better draft picks. If you overspend, you lose picks. It’s how a team like the White Sox can go from 121 losses to possibly the World Series in just two years.

All this adds up to the fairly simple solution. The system in place is working fairly well. It doesn’t need a “Salary Cap” nor a “Salary Floor” (the part of the equation teams like Tampa and Cincinnati who favor the salary cap tend to ignore). There’s no reason to have one, the players don’t want one, the fans generally don’t want one and some owners don’t want it either. So let’s drop that idea and move along, Rob Manfred.

It’s not to say that some minor tinkering could be considered with the current “luxury tax” or the method of drafting prospects. But tinkering with a fairly well-run machine means changing spark plugs or replacing the air filter. Not taking the whole engine out for scrap and trying to build a brand new one from scratch. For the 100th time (this week probably) I say “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” White Sox vs Guardians for a berth in the Championship Series. Brewers with best record in baseball for second year in a row? Baseball’s not broken.

2026 Blue Jays Wrap-up

We might as well tie up some loose ends here, before looking forward to next season and how to make it a better one for the Blue Jays! Starting with the Team honors. As usual, I’ll pick my choices for the best of the team during the season past, but before we do that, let’s review the monthly picks for Player of the Month and Pitcher of the Month:

April – Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Louis Varland

May – Ernie Clement, Louis Varland

June – Kazuma Okamoto, Louis Varland

July – George Springer, Dylan Cease

August – Alejandro Kirk, Dylan Cease

September – Kazuma Okamoto, Spencer Miles

PLAYER OF THE YEAR –

Kazuma Okamoto – rather a no-brainer and one of the few things that went as well as hoped for in the regular lineup, Okamoto came over from Japan and delivered in spades being really the only power threat in the typical starting nine. A .232 avg isn’t great but his .762 OPS was very solid and he led team with 33 HR, 92 RBI, ranking third in baseball among rookies in those categories. A WAR of 2.5 is pretty good and even though he commit too many errors – 19 – his overall defensive numbers were positive, reflecting his range and good number of superb plays he turned at 3B. As well, was my choice for “player of the game” 19 times during season, most of any player on team.

PITCHER OF THE YEAR-

Dylan Cease – unlike the “player”, this one was really a tough call because there were two brilliant choices. We had to consider Louis Varland, who delivered perhaps the best season for a closer in team history (35 saves and 1.27 ERA over 71 games) but ultimately we had to opt for the guy who very quickly became the ace of the staff. Cease had an outstanding year and was a solid choice for Cy Young until he started wearing down in Septemember and the Yankees Cam Schlittler took off into the pitching stratosphere. Where would Toronto have been without Cease’s reliable, bullpen-saving starts that yielded an 11-6 won-lost record which greatly undersold his 29 starts over which he struck out 239 in 169 innings and posted a 2.40 ERA… second best for a starter in team history, behind only Roger Clemens 2.05 in 1997. That ERA was 84% better than the league average by the way and his WAR of 5.5 was high on the club.

ROOKIE OF THE YEAR-

Kazuma Okamoto, Spencer Miles (tie)

OK, a bit of a cop-out I admit, but there really was a need to highlight both. Okamoto is obvious and we stated his case above…. how could a “player of the year” who is a rookie not be the “rookie of the year” too? Well, he should get some very high votes for the American League ROY trophy but we do need to remember that he (and White Sox breakout star Munetaka Murakami) was an established star player in the Nippon League in Japan before coming here. He qualifies for the award per league rules but it feels like we’d be a bit remiss if we didn’t mention Miles, who was a rookie in every sense of the word, being a “rule 5” pick who had pitched less than 15 innings of pro ball in his career before arriving in Toronto… and those were in A-ball two years ago. He quickly became one of the most versatile and reliable pitchers in the bullpen, appearing in 49 games including 8 starts. Over 95 innings, he went 6-2 and had a great 2.73 ERA. During August and September, he only allowed runs in one game per month. It’s all the more astonishing since that was less than half his number when he pitched in college from 2020 through 2022. The ceiling is high for Miles in the future and should begin by having a few votes for the AL Rookie award later this year.

OFF-FIELD PERSON OF YEAR-

Pete Walker

OK, I thought, why not recognize some of the talent who made the team function besides the actual players. And if last year, the nod obviously went to Dave Popkins, who Baseball America deemed baseball’s “Coach of the Year’, this year the honor would need to be Mr. Reliable, pitching coach Pete Walker’s. One of the longest-tenured coaches in the game, he’s been at it since the 2013 season and really proved his worth this season. The team’s season was undeniably a major disappointment, but it was in no part due to Pete and his merry bunch of slingers. Toronto’s ERA was 3.89, better than the overall MLB average of 4.17 and sixth best in the AL. They were tied for fourth in the league in fewest homers allowed and second in saves, with 52. All good numbers but maybe not head-turning nor championship ones. Fair enough. Except for the fact that two of the projected rotation members (Jose Berrios and Cody Ponce) missed the entire season – well except for two innings from Ponce in March that is – and over the course of the year, the Jays used an extraordinary 40 different pitchers. 42 if you count outfielder Myles Straw and catcher Tyler Heineman, both of whom were sent to the mound more than once. Remember Austin Voth? Matt Waldron? I rest my case. Not to mention that Dylan Cease came over as a pitcher full of potential but with a worse-than-average ERA and a reputation for erratic performance and after working with Pete probably will be the runner-up in the Cy Young award.

PLAYER OF THE GAME-

I made note of Okamoto being my pick for informal “player of the game” 19 times this season. For what it’s worth, here’s the top 10 in that list for 2026-

Okamoto, 19 ; Andres Gimenez, Springer, 14 each; Clement, 12; Guerrero, Kirk, Straw, 10 each; Nathan Lukes, 7; Max Scherzer, Kevin Gausman, 6 each. But in total 34 players were noted by me at least once, just over half of the entire roster of 67 players used. And yes that even included Joe Klein and Chad Dallas. The team should give season tickets to anyone who could name all 67 without consulting their phone or Google!

That’s pretty much a wrap on the 2026 season; soon I’ll delve into the quagmire of what exactly should Toronto do to fix it and get back to the World Series in 2027, but before that, we’ll look at a few random things about the playoffs and game itself.

September In Review & Brief Look Ahead To October Ball

It’s been fun the past two posts looking back at the glory days of the Blue Jays…which assuredly does not include the season ended this past weekend! But for now, let’s get back to the here and now and once again do the Month in Review for the final month of the regular season… which is alas, the last month of the season, period for Toronto.

Before we do that though, I’ll quickly – very – make a few predictions about the early stages of the post-season which kick off for 12 lucky teams (some luckier than others – looking at you Harris County with your team not sporting a winning record!) to make it in.

National League:

Wild cards – Chicago over San Diego

Philadelphia over Atlanta

American League:

Wild Cards – New York over Boston

Chicago over Houston

Division Series:

NL: Milwaukee over Chicago

L.A. over Philadelphia

AL: New York over Tampa Bay

Cleveland over Chicago

OK, one thing that stands out is the list doesn’t inlclude Toronto. So let’s move onto the month that sealed their fate for 2026-

BLUE JAYS SEPTEMBER

11 -13 (.457) 100 runs for, 96 runs against

They had as easy a schedule as could have been hoped for but failed to capitalize on it, in fact losing ground to other mediocre teams like the Guardians and Rangers. A four game winning streak against Cleveland and Kansas City got them over .500 for one day and gave fans hope, but that was quickly dashed as they failed to do more than put together back-to-back wins the rest of the way. An injured Dylan Cease compounded the problems (and to be realistic, probably would have torpedoed any chances of winning a post-season series had they made it that far) but this team’s problems ran far deeper than his arm in the second half.

PLAYER OF THE MONTH-

Kazuma Okamoto – 21 hits including five doubles, five homers, 14 RBI, .344 on base, .500 slugging percentage = .844 OPS; four hit game agaisnt KC on September 5. Seemingly as normal this season, the team’s only real power threat.

PITCHER OF THE MONTH-

Spencer Miles – 7 games, 3 of which were starts. Got one win, one save, 12 1/3 inning, 10 hits, 16 strikeouts to 4 walks, only one earned run for 0.73 ERA. Phenomenally versatile pitcher doing anything asked of him. The astute reader will notice both he and Okamoto are rookies. That fact bodes well for the future… and explains a bit about why the season was so disappointing.

WHAT TO EXPECT THIS FALL-

I’ll look at what the team needs to do to get back on track in the next week or so. Til then, enjoy watching Kevin Gausman pitch for the Cubs in the playoffs!

Remember Them? Hall Of Excellence, Silver Level

OK, last post I noted the Jays were “mathematically” still alive this season and I rolled out my list of “Gold” level choices for the team’s Hall of Excellence and said I’d be back with a “silver” level of inductees soon. Well, now the Jays are mathematically toast and look to make what could be Max Scherzer‘s final trip to a major league mound tomorrow a good one and I’m back, ignoring for the moment the crushing disappointment of the ’26 Blue Jays to honor some of the greats of the franchise’s first 50 years. The Gold ones are the standouts among standouts, the “first ballot” types, these Silver ones are highly worthy of recognition but maybe not quite on the same level. But first, an addendum to the last one and the “Gold” level players. Upon more thought, I have to add in to that list

Tony Fernandez – shortstop. He got to wear a #1 on his uniform for good reason. Flat out the best SS the team’s ever had. He played on and off with them between 1983- 2001 and let’s not underestimate the importance of him being Dominican. Back in the early-’80s, believe it or not, the Jays and Dodgers seemed the only teams interested in the Dominican Republic as a source of talented young players and Tony’s success in Toronto really aided the franchise in recruiting more greats from the island. Also, he was well-loved in Toronto for his charity work and his efforts to give back to his homeland. He had four stints in Toronto. He’d be traded or walk as a free agent but always returned to his second home. Some career numbers to back his Gold status:

Most games played (1450), hits (1563) and triples (73)

Career avg. with team – .297

Four-time All Star and Gold Glove winner

Hit over .300 six seasons

And as an oddity, played 163 games for them in 1986. In a 162 game schedule, that’s something…

I’ll be a bit briefer in my summations of the Silver Level players of mine, but they all deserve more time and should bring back some great memories for Toronto fans

Ernie Whitt – catcher. Everyday catcher every year in 1980s, caught over 120 games 7 years, had 8 10 or more HR years. Then adopted Canada, coached national teams

Russ Martin – catcher. A hometown boy, for one thing. A Jay from 2015-18, not coincidentally the team took off and made playoffs first two seasons. 23 HR in 2015 tied for best-ever by a Jays backstop

John Olerud – first base. The guy who skipped minor leagues. Like going from junior high to college, without stopping to pass go. Only Jay to ever win a batting title (1993) and not only his .363 avg but his 1.072 OPS led league. But had a career average of .297 with them over seven seasons

Fred McGriff – first base. Mr Fall Between the Cracks, a definite Hall of Fame talent overlooked, partly because of his moving around. A regular in Toronto ’87-90, averaged 35 HR, 87 RBI and 97 walks in those years.

Vernon Wells – outfield. Sadly he may have worn out his welcome by the end of his dozen years with the club but third in games (1383), second in hits (1529), 3 Gold Gloves in centerfield. Led league with 215 hits in 2003.

George Bell – outfield. George and his “purple butt.” Longtime fans get the reference.

The first Blue Jay to win an MVP, in 1987, when he had 47 HR and a league-leading 134 RBI. The HR mark was a team record for over 20 years. A colorful character who played regularly for 9 years and had 5 20 HR/ 80 RBI or better years

Jesse Barfield – outfield. Half of the “killer B’s” in the Jays mid-’80s outfield. The first Jay to notch 40 HR or 100 RBI in a year, both in 1986. Great power hitter, great outfield arm (a shockingly low two Gold Gloves but led league in OF assists five times) and a very decent man who set a great example for younger players.

Paul Molitor – Designated Hitter. Throw his name in there with Ricky Henderson as the greatest position player that ever set foot in a Blue Jays clubhouse discussion. Some hesitation because he only played in Toronto for three years. But the first year he did, they won the World Series and he was the MVP. At age 37 in ’93, led league with 211 hits and drove in 111. runner-up in 1993 MVP for regular season; then hit .341 in shortened 1994 season. My personal take – the best get-it-done, no sweat hitter the Blue Jays have ever had. And that, my friends is saying something.

Edwin Encarnacion – Designated hitter. Jose Bautista’s shadow, which perhaps leaves him a little under-rated. From second-half of ’09 through ’16 had 4 100 RBI seasons, hit 30 or more HR last five years, All Star three times, 3HR, 9 RBI in 9 playoff games in 2016. One very big homer that post-season too put them into ALDS

Jimmy Key – pitcher. Crafty lefty who was not as newsworthy of volatile as Stieb but was one of the ’80s greats. Third in WAR among team pitchers (29.7), fourth in wins (116), WAR over 4 four years, over 200 innings 6 years, runner-up for Cy Young award in 1987. when he was 17-8 with league best 2.76 ERA

Jim Clancy – pitcher. Great because of reliability and consistency, not history-making years. Arguably first real good pitcher in franchise history. With them from day 1, 1977-86. Made over 30 starts 8 times, including 40 in1982. Wanna try that, Jacob Misiorowski? Didn’t think so. ERA of 4.10 over those years wasn’t great but had six seasons where it was better than league average. One of baseball’s last real workhorses

Pat Hentgen – pitcher. OK. I admit. I forgot how good Pat was. Won team’s first Cy Young award in ’96 with 8.6 WAR, 20 wins, 3.22 ERA, 10 complete games and league best 266 innings. But also three-time All Star, had three or more shutouts three years, career ERA with team 56% better than league average.

Duane Ward – pitcher. The first modern-era style power-closer pitcher they had. From mid’86 to 1995, pitched 452 games (second best in team history) and posted 3.18 ERA, behind only Tom Henke. 121 saves, second best in team history. 60+ games six years running. 45 saves in 1993 a record that still stands. Four saves in 1993 playoffs ensured that World Series.

Paul Quantrill – pitcher. Basically a hometown boy. With Jays ’96-01, got into 80 or more games twice, had 1.94 ERA in 1997 over 77 games, ERA 31% better than league average over those years. Dynamite middle innings reliever who also started 20 games in 1996.

Buck Martinez – Mr everything. An OK but not noteworthy catcher for six years. The team manager in 2001 into 2002. Won 80, finished 3rd in ’01, let go after starting ’02 20-33. But also TV commentator for team from then through 2025; immensefly popular guy who really became Mr Blue Jays with a little nudging from his wife.Over 40 years big in the organization.

Pat Gillick – executive. In Cooperstown, recongized for “Toronto Blue Jays, primary team.” The General Manager from 1978-94… ie the guy who put together the only two World Series winning teams for us. Excellent knowledge of game and people skills, turned Toronto from baseball backwater to major market competitor.

Tom Cheek – broadcaster. “Touch ’em all Joe…”. It seems a bit questionable to suggest a radio voice for a team all-time list, but hey… from Day 1 of the team through opening game in 2005 – when he had terminal cancer- he was the voice of the Blue Jays. 4306 consecutive games called without a sick day. He is the voice of the team.

There you have it. My Blue Jays honor roll. Am I missing anybody. Oh yes, I for sure am. Two big, big names. Soon I’ll look at the Gray Zone – the two superstars who rank among Toronto’s best-evers… but no one wants to remember. I’ll delve into the Alomar/Clemens mess soon, as well as the “what the hell happened to 2026” mess . But for tonight, ciao. And bring on 2027!

My Hall Of Excellence

When the phrase “mathematically still alive” begins being bandied around, you know it’s time to look forward to next season. The Blue Jays, if you’re wondering, as of me writing this Tuesday morning are “mathematically still alive” in terms of a post-season chance. So the dissection of this thoroughly disappointing season will begin soon here – other sources are already diving into that full speed ahead.

But for today, let’s go back to something I mentioned a few weeks back, one highlight of an ignoble 2026 season for Toronto – the opening of the new Hall of Excellence at the Rogers Centre. A sort of little museum remembering the first 50 years of the team and tipping the cap to some of its greats. They’ve already inducted a number of people into it, but I figured I’d come up with my own list of those I think should be honored. I’m going to break it down into two parts, a sort of “Gold” level and a “Silver” one. Because a lot of players and staff should be remembered, but obviously a few are really on a different level. So, here’s my “Gold Level” Hall of Excellence selections (listed by position, not by ranking):

Dave Stieb – pitcher. The first truly great Blue Jays pitcher and one of the most massively under-appreciated hurlers of the 1980s in MLB. Mind you, some of that is on him… he was notoriously surly and bad-tempered and that rubbed many teammates and journalists the wrong way. But on the mound – wow! Consider some of these points

Lead Jays pitchers in career WAR, 56.9

Seven time All Star

Lost three no-hitters in 9th inning but eventually threw the only no-no in team history in ’90

Tied for best Jays career ERA as a starting pitcher, 3.42

Eight years 200+ innings pitched

ERA 20% or more better than league average, 7 times

175 wins still a team record

Team all-time leader in starts, innings and complete games – 103. Or about ten times the total number of all complete games in the sport in one year now.

Oh, and for fun, he came out of retirement to pitch in the bullpen at age 40!

Roy Halladay – pitcher. The classic story of a comeback. After posting one of the worst seasons for a pitcher in team history in 2000, he agreed to go to the lowest levels of the minors to rework everything about his pitching… and came back as the AL’s dominant starter for the rest of the 2000s. The only Jay who’s number is retired by the team; sadly that was accelerated by his accidental death in 2017. Some highlights:

Second in team all-time WAR for pitcher, 48.4

Third best ERA among Jays starters, 3.43

Second in wins, 146

Won Cy Young in 2003, runner-up in 2008

22 wins in ’03 a single season record for team. Had 9 complete games and WAR of 8.1 that year

Led league in complete games five years

Six time All Star

In Baseball Hall of Fame

Tom Henke – pitcher. A dominant closer in an era when “closers” weren’t necessarily part of the regular baseball vocabulary. From 1985-92, he made sure few late inning leads slipped away and he was a part of the first World Series winning Toronto team.

Third in all-time games pitched for Toronto, 446

Best career ERA of any Jays pitcher active for more than two seasons, 2.48

Most saves in team history, 217

WAR over 3 three times

Pitched over 60 games four times

Had 20 or more saves each year from 1986-92 inclusive; led league in ’87 with 34.

Allowed no runs in five post-season appearances for team

Carlos Delgado – 1B. The most consistent and multi-faceted hitter in team history. Unfortunately, playing on a mediocre team at the time (a regular player from 1995-2004) kept him from really being noticed much by other fans elsewhere. A shame since he:

Is second in all-time games played for team, 1423

Leads in career doubles (343) home runs (336), walks (827) and RBI (1058, more than 200 more than anyone else)

Second in MVP voting in 2003, when he led league with 145 RBI and 1.019 OPS

Three Silver Slugger Awards

25 or more HR each year 1996-2004

57 doubles in 2000 led league

Intentionally walked over 20 times two years

Somehow though, only a two-time All Star.

Jose Bautista – outfield. Baltimore, Tampa, Kansas City and Pittsburgh all had him but dumped him before he arrived in Toronto late in the 2008 season. Bet some people had some ‘splainin’ to do to their bosses! Quickly became the face of the new, rejuvenated Jays of the 2010s and one of the all-time fan faves. On the field-

Second in team HR – 288

Third in RBI – 766

Second in walks – 803

All Star six years straight; 3 Silver Slugger awards

54 HR in 2010 led majors and is still a team single season record. Led league again in 2011

WAR over 6 three times

Four years 100+ walks

Three 40 HR seasons, only Delgado has also done that for them

6 HR, 16 RBI in 20 playoff games in 2015-16

And something about a famous “bat flip”…

Cito Gaston – manager. The captain of the ship held tight reins but let players be themselves. He was the manager from midway through 1989 through ’97 and then came back 2008-10. As such he’s the guy running the lineup and startegies for the only two World Series winners in team history. Only Joe Torre and Dave Roberts have done so (for Yanks and Dodgers, obviously) since then. He led the Jays to five division titles; besides his years, they’ve had three in total. He wasn’t always the most media-friendly guy and perhaps that’s kept him from getting real recognition he deserves around the league.

Paul Beeston – executive. The first person hired on by the new team back in 1976, soon became VP and by 1989, club president and COO. Did that through 1997, thus building the first really great teams in club history; then became President of MLB (not to be confused with Commissioner mind you); returned to run Jays as COO 2008-15, which started the second run of really great teams.

1992, 1993, 2025 seasons – There has to be a special place in there to commemorate the first two World Series championships for Toronto (and Canada); back to back years only the Yankees and Dodgers have managed to do since, and last year.heartbreaking as Game 7 was, still an oustanding World Series appearance the country had waited decades for. This season shows just how hard it is to get that far!

Sometime soon, I’ll mention my “Silver” picks but for now, well done Gold honorees!

Odds, Sods And A Big Weight Off Big Shoulders

75-75. An even .500. This is not where the Jays nor us fans expected them to be in the second week of September, but c’est la vie. But the glass is still half full, considering 1) on July 24, well past the halfway mark of the year, they were at 47-57, and seeming buried when it came to post-season possibilities.

They’ve been finding ways to win since then, and 2) today’s game was not a step, but a leap forward for them. Not only did they beat the Orioles 8-1, to win the weekend series and push Baltimore three games back in the standings, they pulled off a rather nifty fifth inning with back-to-back-to-back homers from George Springer, Vladimir Guerrero Jr and Kazuma Okamoto. Nothing like three homers in three at bats to rouse the home crowd a little! Springer’s was his 15th, second best on the team to Okamoto’s 32… and his rocket seemed destined not to land in the back of the stands but in Barrie it was hit so hard. (Ontario fans will get the geo there!) . But the one that really stood out was Vladdy’s.

The collective amount of text given over to Guerrero’s struggles this year from every fan, sports channel and news network, if printed out would dwarf the infamous Epstein files. We won’t get into that here, per se but to point out that his no-doubter to the left field stands was his long awaited first home run of the season in front of the home Toronto crowd. A weight the size of a felled maple tree was lifted off his shoulder as he watched it soar over the fence.

It’s worth noting too that starter Dylan Cease didn’t have his “good” stuff today. But after loading the bases in the first inning with no one out, he pitched his way out of it and stayed five innings to get the win, walking five and not looking A-1 sharp but doing what team aces do – giving enough to make sure the team won, no matter what. More and more he’s looking like one of the all-time Jays greats… and he’s been one of them less than a year.

But back to Guerrero. Besides his homer, he also had two singles and a double, his first four-hit game of the season. More and more lately, he’s been beginning to look close to his former self. He’s not there yet, but so far in September, he’s hitting .276 with a .431 slugging percentage. No, not MVP numbers but exponentially better than what he did in August – .223 average, .298 slugging. He’s been trying everything but today’s blast (on the heels of one Friday that died on the warning track thanks to a strong wind blowing inwards) might just be the key to getting him to relax and be the Vladdy we all know and love… and that rocked last year’s playoffs. If he can come close to that; the playoff picture just turned 90 degrees in Toronto’s favor.

A few other odds and sods:

Whoever the most valuable player for Toronto has been this year, there is not an opinion, there’s a fact – the biggest, best surprise has been Spencer Miles. This guy has been some kind of feel-good Movie of the Week selection which, if made by Hollywood would have had you going “oh please! As if!!”.

You know Spencer… but you didn’t last winter. Why would you? He was coming off Tommy John surgery, had pitched all of 14 professional innings in his life, all at A-level ball, and tossed 8 inglorious innings in the Arizona Fall league last autumn, which he admits weren’t all that noteworthy let alone good. No wonder San Francisco let him go … but why did Toronto pick him on a Rule 5 draft? I have no idea, but someone saw something there and give that guy, or girl a bonus and a new car at Christmas, Blue Jays. Miles has been nothing short of outstanding this season, and what’s more, is getting better as the year goes along. He’s the only player selected on the Rule 5 draft this year still active with the team that picked him up (catcher Daniel Susac of the Giants is still with them but got put onto the season-ending 60 Day IL in August) and the first real Jays Rule 5 success story since Kelly Gruber in 1983. So far this year, 46 games, 7 of them starts, 6-2, 2.71 ERA WAR of 2.2, has started games, closed games and anything in between. Currently he’s gone 13-straight appearances without allowing a run. And no wonder – per Keegan Matheson of the Jays website, he has a 52% ground ball rate on balls hit off him (better than 88% of pitchers) and his sinker is one of the best pitches in the game. In fact, stats nerds put it as the seventh best pitch of any pitcher in baseball this year, and second best among sinkers

Says Spencer, “they (the Jays coaching staff) instilled a lot of confidence in me and allowed me to trust myself.” Kudos coaching staff, kudos scout who watched him when he was anonymous and most of all, kudos Spencer Miles!

Toronto recently opened its own sort of Hall of Fame in the Rogers Centre, the “Hall of Excellence.” Instead of just having great players names up on the railings of the upper decks, there’s now a mini-museum honoring the greats with artifacts like gloves, bats, jerseys and even a Carlos Delgado notebook and videos of major plays and days. It looks brilliant and I hope to see it and also plan to list my names that I would include there, sometime soon.

One more thing – the Trade Deadline watch. As you might recall, I gave Ross Atkins a mixed review on the August trades. I liked acquiging Jose Soriano a lot; I also fully approved of trading Daulton Varsho and was undecided about Jeff Hoffman. I did not like trading Kevin Gausman. So, an update-

I was right about Varsho, was I not? Since going to Houston, his downward-drifting numbers have fallen into a death spiral. In 37 games since the trade, he’s hitting .183 with a .562 OPS – according to Baseball Reference, 42% below league average. In the outfield, he’s credited with 0 defensive runs saved. One might wonder if Toronto would not have already been out of contention had they kept him and not put Brett Bateman into the lineup, he of the .326 average and two home runs this weekend fame.

Hoffman has been in 15 games with a decent 2.63 ERA for the Twins since going over. He has not saves though and seemingly they use him much as Toronto did, in low-pressure middle inning situations. He’s good there, but perhaps not good enough to merit his $10M plus salary.

Most unexpected though is Gausman. Although he’s had a couple of gems with the Cubs, all in all, he’s not been any godsend to the Wrigley disciples. In seven starts there, he’s gone beyond 5 innings only three times, has yielded nine homers and sports a 5.31 ERA, worst since his 2019 season with Atlanta and Cinci. Is he done, out of sync with his new catcher or just not into his new team and city as much as he might have been? I don’t know, but it might lean him more towards retiring after this season, as he’s already talked of doing. But if he doesn’t – I’d still take a chance on him in ’27 if I were the Blue jays. But not at the same salary he’s had. I do think though, that he has at least one more good year left in him… if back with his friends on the friendly shores of Lake Ontario, wearing a bird not a bear on his uniform.

A dozen games to go… it’s gonna be a wild ride, Toronto!

Month in Review – August

If nothing else, the Blue Jays showed a newfound tenacity in August and played overall, their best baseball of the season… despite trading off a trio of stars on the Trade Deadline. Certainly the team’s been disappointing and at times inept this season, but they still have that same spark and “can-do” attitude that took them so far in 2025. And they ended the month on a high note, doing what they need to do – sweeping a series from a fellow Wild Card contender, namely Seattle, with Max Scherzer turning back the clock to deliver his best outing with Toronto (7 innings, only one hit, no runs and 10 strikeouts, moving him up to ninth all-time in that category.) Here’s the breakdown of the month-

BLUE JAYS AUGUST 2026

17-11 (.607)

As of end of today (30th) tied for 4th in division, 15 behind Tampa, 1.5 games out of last wild card spot. They don’t play tomorrow but of course, those numbers will change tomorrow before September arrives.

115 runs for, 107 runs allowed

The best winning pct. in a month this season – so far – closing in on the last wild card although falling yet further behind Tampa, who along with New York, seem uncatchable for the top two spots in the East. Some bats heated up nicely, although some (most notably, sigh, Vladimir Guerrero Jr.) did not. Meanwhile, the pitching kept getting things done despite the ongoing revolving door of starters because of injuries (with Shane Bieber, Trey Yesavage and newcomer James Taillon adding onto the infirmatory list this month).

PLAYER OF THE MONTH –

Alejandro Kirk. Back to where he should be and what the team needs him to be – a super durable, hard-hitting catcher who can work wonders with his pitchers. He appeared in every game this month (although occaisonally DHing to give him a wee bit of a break), had 30 hits, 12 walks, five HR, 20 RBI, 5 games with multiple RBI, a 4-hit game on the 6th vs. the Cubs and overall, hit .341 with a .501 slugging pct. and .921 OPS. He even stole his second career base! That’s showing up when you need it! An honorable mention to George Springer who keeps getting better as the season drags on; he hit .333 with six doubles and a pair of homers, and three games with 3 or more hits.

PITCHER OF THE MONTH –

Depite Max Scherzer bookkending the month with a pair of great starts and Louis Varland continuing to be nearly untouchable in the bullpen, it has to be Dylan Cease. Continuing his quest for a Cy Young award, he made 5 starts, threw 31 innings, with 43 K, giving up only 15 hits and having an ERA of 2.03, that lowering his year’s number from 2.41 to 2.33. On pace to have second lowest ERA by a Toronto starter in franchise history.

WHAT TO LOOK FOR THIS MONTH –

As easy a schedule as they could hope for, which really puts them in charge of their own destiny vis a vis making the post-season. Three off days in September, with tomorrow making it four before season’s end. 24 games, all against teams currently boasting losing records and a number against teams close to them in Wild Card race, namely three in Cleveland starting Tuesday, three against Texas later and six against the Orioles (three at home, three in Camden Yard) with whom they are currently tied.

Let’s hope the … if not “hot” at least “warm” hitting carries over on the calandar. Also, look for Cease to go all out to outdo Yanks Cam Schlitter and win that Cy Young. Do I smell another complete game shutout coming soon, Dylan?

DAVE BALL RATING FOR AUGUST –

out of 5.

Water Trod. Now Time To Do Some Fast Surfing.

Let the real fun begin! ? Last time out, I said the Blue Jays just needed to tread water over the previous week with three games against Tampa and three against the Yankees. And that’s exactly what they did, winning three of six. The surprise was that they won two in Tampa (where they traditionally always struggle, year in, year out) and played pretty well but only took one of three in the Bronx where they’ve held their own in recent years. Anyway, not terrible for road games against the two best teams in the AL this year, but “not bad” won’t be good enough for the remainder of the calendar. They have 30 games left, all against teams who have losing records currently. But, I hate to remind you, so too do the Jays. It’s a mad dash to the finish line and six or seven teams could realistically be vying for that last spot in the post-season : besides Toronto, definitely Cleveland, Minnesota, Houston/Texas (presumably one of those will win the West, albeit possibly with a losing record, which will leave one still in the Wild Card hunt) and likely we could add Baltimore, Seattle and maybe even Detroit in there. The DFL breaks it down quite well on his site today. Playing break even won’t cut it for the remainder of the year – the Jays have got to start putting some W’s together in a run.

Can they do that? We’ll see. They have been playing better this month. Keegan Matheson noted that statistically, the Jays are back where they should be in August, namely boasting the best defense in the game by way of runs saved. This wouldn’t be a surprise – they’ve been tops the past three years – except for their inexplicable sloppy fielding in the first half. As a bonus, Jesus Sanchez won’t have to see the white roof of Tropicana Field again , at least until October!

And do I know how to call ;em or do I know how to call ’em?! Well, gotta toot by own horn when I’m right because I predicted so many things wrong early in the season! Last post I said it seemed like Kazuma Okamoto was about to break out of his slump and get hot, and right after posting that,voila – two homers in the Tampa series and hits in every game of the road trip, with a .471 slugging percentage on it. Add to that Alejandro Kirk, currently on a 12-game hitting streak, over which time he’s raised his average from .250 to .283 and has even been intentionally walked three times. If they can find a way to get Vladdy and/or Springer to follow along and they’ll be well-positioned to pick up a few 8-1 or 10-2 wins instead of their usual 3-2, 4-1 type games.

As for the pitching, it’s been pretty good lately but you have to worry about the over-worked bullpen. Mason Fluharty has been to the mound more times this season than anyone else in MLB (69 games) and is on pace to if not beat Mark Eichorn‘s all-time Toronto single season record (89), top Paul Quantrill‘s 1998 82 games for second place on the list. Braydon Fisher is right behind him with 63, and rubber-armed Tyler Rogers is still among the top 7 with 61. And let’s not forget closer Louis Varland with 60 high-pressure appearances. We need the starters to give a few more innings than they’ve been doing most of the season and we need John Schneider to stop even toying with the idea of a six-man rotation involving at least one “bullpen” game. Use the best five you have, John and if there’s an off-day, as there is next Monday, you could do worse than bypass the #5 spot. Get Dylan Cease in there as much as you can to give him every possible chance to win the Cy Young, and more importantly, the team every chance to win.

Well, old habits die hard and I was personally happy to see Kevin Gausman making headlines yesterday for his great start with the Cubs, seven shutout innings. Made me think of the Jays deadline trades and look at how the guys we sent away have been doing.

Gausman has made four starts with Chicago. The Cubs have won three of them, but one would have to say two of his starts have been really good (7 innings, 4 hits, 2 runs against KC in his debut there and last night’s 7 innings, 3 hits, 0 runs against Arizona) but two have been kind of poor (4 2/3 innings, 7 hits, 6 earned runs against Washington and 4 1/3 innings, 7 hits, 3 runs against the White Sox in a game where he was pulled with muscle cramps in his non-pitching hand). He’s given them at least 86 pitches every time, has allowed 21 hits and 5 walks in 23 innings with a 4.30 ERA.

Now, compared to Jose Soriano, who we got from the Angels to essentially replace him in the rotation… well, judge for yourself. Soriano’s made four starts for us, Toronto have won 3 of those, and he’s gone 90+ pitches each game. I’d call them one very good start, one pretty good one and two mediocre ones. His best start, against Boston, he went 6 innings, allowing 4 hits and two walks (plus a wild pitch) but only one run. Over the four, he’s logged 21 1/3 innings with a 3.85 ERA. There’s a lot of upside to his game, but as we noted when he arrived, Pete Walker has his work cut out to cut down on Jose’s high walk tally which equates to too many base runners and too few innings due to those long at bats. All things considered, he was still a brilliant pick-up given his potential and his not being a free agent for the next two seasons.

Reliever Jeff Hoffman has been… well, Jeff Hoffman, 2026 style, with Minnesota. Busy, some good appearances, some bad. He’s appeared in 8 of their games and 5 have been problem-free but he’s allowed earned runs in three of the eight, bumping his season ERA up a few notches to 4.04. It would seem the Twins are using him similarly to how the Jays did, as a durable middle-innings guy to be kept away from high-stress innings.

Outfielder Daulton Varsho joining Houston has seen his new club lose 11 out of the 18 games he’s been in and drop to second place in the division no one wants to win. Varsho’s not helped the cause much there. Even though he’s hit in the past four games, he’s still 11-65 (a .169 avg) with 2 doubles and 2 HR in those 18 games, good for a .531 OPS. That drops his already poor season OPS to .658, or about 10% below league average. His defense seems to have been fine though.

It seems replacing him in Jays land is newcomer Brett Bateman, (seen above) one of the minor leaguers acquired from the Cubs for Gausman. Was I wrong about him? We’ll see, but I predicted he wasn’t Major League ready yet and would probably only project to be a bench player. Schneider’s been using him as the regular CF lately and he’s been in 14 games. He’s 18-59, or a .305 average so far. Clearly the guy can hit the ball and his .344 on base pct. thus far show his good eye for the strike zone has carried up with him from the minors. He’s delivered a few clutch hits already and he’s been flawless fielding, with Baseball Reference already crediting him with 3 defensive runs saved, and zero errors but one nice outfield assist resulting in a double play. Brett seems to hustle and have good instincts but before we decree him the new Willie Mays, it pays to also note that only 17% of his contact has been “hard hit” and 56% have been ground balls. Did Toronto really need another infield singles, contact hitter? Well, maybe, maybe not, but so far he has been an upgrade so, “welcome Brett”.

Bring on those Royals… those Royals who suddenly have won eight-straight. Sigh. Nothing’s going to be easy for this year’s Blue Jays!

Yes, Believe It Or Not, The Glass Is Not Yet Empty When It Comes To The Jays Season

Let’s call this the “Tread Water” week. Because that’s what the Blue Jays need to do over the next six days... any more than that will be a bonus. Because if they can do so, they actually might still be a realistic bet to make the playoffs.

Now, I know off the top that sounds rather silly. We know this is not the same as last season’s Blue Jays, who at this point last year were comfortably in first place with a 73-53 record. We’ve flogged that now long-dead horse enough. No indeed, if this year’s squad with this year’s disappointing 61-65 record were time-transported back to play in the 2025 season, they’d have been justified to be looking up new fishing rods or best places to see fall colors in Vermont in October, because they’d not be playing baseball in that month!

But the good news is, the 2026 Jays aren’t the only under-achievers. In fact, the entire 2026 American League is remarkably mediocre, truth be told. Our East division is the only one with more than one team sporting a winning record and the only two teams that seem guaranteed of a post-season spot, Tampa and New York. It’s not beyond the scope of imagination to think that some team will win the West with a losing record. As such, the Jays chances aren’t brilliant… but they are there, and beginning to look up, as Jays’ writer Keegan Matheson pointed out yesterday. They are beginning to play with a little of the grit and all-in attitude they did so well with last season, several players are starting to warm up a little and mostly, once we get past this week, the schedule is a gift to them.

Let’s look at that. This week they are on a tough road trip – three games in Tampa, three in New York. You know, “the only two teams that seem guaranteed a post-season spot” in the AL this year. Tampa has the league’s best record and New York are next, with 69-55 and that is four games better than any team in the Central or West are. Now, again this year the Jays seem to be holding their own against the Pinstripers … they’ve split the ten games they’ve played this season thus far. But Tampa, as always it would seem, are the Jays nemesis. Tampa have won 8 out of 10 to date. So it’ll be a bit of tough sledding through Sunday. But then the good news begins.

The remaining 30 games of the season put Toronto up against Kansas City (six games total), Seattle, Cleveland, Sacramento, Baltimore (for six), Detroit, Texas and Cincinnati to close out the sched. Not one of those teams is above .500. Statisticians rank the Jays remaining schedule, Rays and Yanks notwitstanding as the third easiest of the 30 teams. We haven’t played the Royals or Reds yet this year, but against those other teams, Toronto’s been 12-9. KC, last in the Central, are currently 52-74; Cinci are last in the NL Central, although with a record not much different than Toronto’s, namely 60-65.

Clearly, if the Jays can even split the upcoming six games, they have a chance to make hay in the final month. That 12-9 record, albeit from a small sample of total games, equates to a .571 winning pct. If they just did that in the final 30 games, that would be 17 wins. Add in three from this week’s road trip and you’re adding 20 wins. Total – 81, a .500 season. Right now .500 would easily win them a Wild Card spot, strange as that is. But that’s thinking they only play as well as they have so far this year. If they hustle, start to “click” as they seem to be doing of late (they’ve won 9 of 14 since the Trade Deadline) they might realistically get 83, 84. Not a season that would most years stand out, but in 2026, probably an Admit One ticket to the post-season.

Among the things Toronto’s improved this month is the defense. We’ve noted earlier this season, it’s not been as strong as usual and that’s never a good thing when runs are hard to come by. But in August, they’ve only made four errors in total, in 16 games… and one of those was by backup infielder Luis Urias, who’s now on the IL and not all that likely to return this year. Solid fielding helps the pitching, and that has been good of late, more times than not. Max Scherzer has gotten into a groove of late that while not making people think it was 2016 Max again, has looked very legitimate and not like some kind of nostalgic pity act. In his last three starts, he went 5 innings, with 3 hits, 1 run allowed, 92 pitches (against Boston); 5 1/3 innings, 5 hits, 2 runs, 84 pitches (against Philadelphia) and most recently 6 innings, 4 hits, 1 run on 84 pitches (vs St. Louis). No, he’s not gonna nab his fourth Cy Young but those types of starts are very acceptible for a #4 starter. Speaking of Cy Youngs, Dylan Cease might win one, but he’s clearly a little behind Yankees Cam Schlitter with the New Yorker leading in innings pitched (152 to 138) and the all-important ERA (2.19 to 2.42) though Cease is the King of the K, with a league-leading 201 strikeouts. One thing Dylan seems is results-oriented and he’s going to be going all out to outdo Schlitter and get that trophy. He’s come near a no-hitter twice this summer; maybe with this schedule and the motivation of winning the award, third time will be the charm.

The other thing that seems to bode well for the Jays is, as Matheson put it “the law of averages”. Simply put, so many guys on this team are hitting so much below their norm, it would seem likely that at least some wll get hot and get closer to their career averages. Certainly Alejandro Kirk‘s looking more like himself of late and Andres Gimenez seems to be doing that too. Since Aug. 5, he’s been held hitless only once, and is hitting .341 with a .487 slugging pct and 8 RBI. He’s also pushing the envelope a little more; he’s stolen 4 bases (in 5 tries) in that span, bringing him to a club high 17 SB this season. It’s rather leading the rally for a team suddenly willing to take a few more chances on the bases and – as manager John Schneider‘s been urging so much this summer – take some big swings. If one or two other players start to heat up similarly – maybe Ernie Clement, maybe George Springer and hopefully, just maybe Vladimir Guerrero Jr once his concussion symptoms lessen to let him back into the lineup – the team should be able to put W’s on the board fairly reliably.

The one last hitter to mention is Kazuma Okamoto. It seems that at least for now, Kaz is going to be a very streaky hitter. This month, mostly he’s been cold. That’s probably good. It means he’s due to go on a real hot streak. I’m not making that up. His last home run was July 28, meaning he’s gone 18 games without one. He’s only exceeded that once in his young career, 21 games between May 6 and 28. But when he starts hitting the longball, he keeps doing so. Six times this season he’s hit homers in back to back games and in early May, he hit them in three consecutive ones. He’s had a few hard hit balls of late; you have to think he’s soon going to go on one of those homers-in-clusters tears… and nothing wins games faster than a few timely home runs.

So, yes, the year’s been disappointing… but there’s every chance the lads can turn that around by season’s end and treat us all to another year of Blue Jays playoff baseball.

The Trade Deadline (Part 2)

Alright, the trade deadline is gone, the Jays are still looking good one night, weak the next and Kevin Gausman got to avoid pitching against his old buddies for his first game as a Cub. Last time, I railed against the trade that sent him to Chicago. But I believe in giving credit where it’s due, and the other trades the Jays and Ross Atkins pulled off earlier this week are much better and deserve said credit. Let’s take a quick look at them … quickly before we see the “prize” return make his Toronto debut later this afternoon.

Arjun Nimmala and two other minor leaguers to L.A. Angels for Jose Soriano. This one is a steal, potentially one of the best trades Atkins has pulled off in his decade with the team. We’re getting the AL Pitcher of the Month for this past April and is under team control for the next two seasons too… and with a salary of under $3M this year, even with arbitration, he’s likely to be pretty affordable next year. For three minor leaguers, only one of whom most fans have heard of.

Soriano is 27 and can be summed up pretty easily – absolutely dominant when he throws strikes. This year, he’s 9-6 (with a last place club in the Angels) with a 3.29 ERA over 123 innings… but the year’s been a bit of two in one, the yin and yang of Jose. He was the best pitcher in baseball coming out of Spring Training. In his first six starts this year (which the team won all of) he only allowed one – one! – run total, giving up 18 hits over 37+ innings. Two of the six games were 10-strikeout ones and his ERA was a stunning 0.24 at that point. Since then though… some of his old bugaboos have come back and over his next 14 starts, he went 3-6 with an ERA of 5.02. In the 73 innings within them, he gave up an uncharacteristic 10 homers while walking 36. He gave up six and seven walks in two games. And that’s the worry with him – his control needs work. However, his last two Angels starts have been sharp again – a 7 inning, 4 hit, one walk, 2 run one followed by 5 innings, 3 hits, 3 walks but no runs.

There’s lots of upside with him. He relies on a sinker fastball which averages 96 mph and occasionally hits the triple digits but he also has a four-seam one, a decent slider and one of the best curveballs in the game. When he misses the strike zone (which I again reiterate, he does a lot) he tends to miss low, helping him have both a low hard-hit rate against and 51% of all contact being ground balls. Toronto’s infield is better than L.A.A.’s so even the groundballs shouldn’t hurt him quite as much here, but clearly Pete Walker‘s Job 1 as pitching coach is to get him to throw more strikes. If he succeeds, the duo of him with Dylan Cease should be the best in the American League next season. If he doesn’t succeed, well, we still get a decent starting pitcher who will shine on some nights.

Nimmala has been ranked as high as the second best in the Jays organization, but scouts must be seeing something his numbers don’t show. Just shy of 21 he still hadn’t progressed beyond A-ball with the Jays and while his scouting report did offer better than average power (which might increase as he ages and puts on bulk) and an OK arm, he has “average bat to ball skills” and ordinary glove skills. Numbers back that, this year in A-ball he was hitting .268 with 8 homers in 64 games. Now, I don’t want to dump on the guy nor say he will not be a future star, but consider this … in this year’s draft, 8 of the first 20 players picked, including the top 3, were all shortstops. One gets the idea very good shortstops will be a dime-a-dozen by 2028 or ’29. Above average starting pitchers won’t be.

Daulton Varsho to Houston for Spencer Arrighetti. A baseball classic trade. Short-term win for Houston, long-term win for Toronto. Although the win for the Astros may not be as huge as some imagine. In Arrighetti, Toronto get a youngish starting pitcher (26) in his third major league season. He’s been on the IL since July 9 with a foot issue, which he seemed to aggravate last night in his Buffalo debut (on a rehab stint) for the Jays. He was looked at as being probably the #5 or 6 starter for the Astros back at the start of the season, coming off a so-so year. His record is again, kind of so-so in 2026 – 7-5 with a 4.60 ERA. But he has some good pitches and potential. He K’s a lot of batters but also walks too many – 135 in 268 career innings. He doesn’t give up a lot of hard hit balls, so it sounds like Pete Walker might want him to sit in on lessons given Soriano- throw strikes!

Varsho of course had become a popular Jay, and he’ll improve a rather drab Houston outfield as they continue to be in the battle for the division it seems like no one wants to win this year. But, Varsho is also a pending free agent, 30 years of age and already losing a step or two and suddenly, bewilderingly, seems to have forgotten how to slug. Of course, that’s not unique to him on Toronto’s bench this year but it is a problem. In this his seventh big league season his OPS is a below-average .682. That in a good part because he’s only hit 7HR. Last year, he launched 20 in just 71 games. Put another way, from one homer about every 13.5 at bats last year, he’s knocking one out every 48 times this year. And his defensive numbers, while still decent, are dramatically lower than the past two years. It’s hard to see how he would have fit into Toronto’s plans next year anyway, especially if wanting a raise from his current $11M-plus.

Briefly, there was Adam Macko to Texas for Josh Smith. A good trade of an average but serviceable enough reliever to get us a versatile utility infielder. I’ve said all year the Jays didn’t have enough depth in the infield, Smith helps out in that regard.

Jeff Hoffman to Minnesota for three minor leaguers including Dasan Hill. In some ways, I’d rather have kept Hoffman. We’ve talked about him quite a bit this year and we know the score – he seemed to fold under pressure and blew a lot of saves early but has been very good in middle relief, in lower “leverage” spots. He is under contract for next year too, but at about $11M. It’s likely Toronto could find a reliever of similar quality this winter for less money. But the plus is Hill, instantly ranked as the sixth best prospect in the organization. He’s a 20 year old lefty with a very good fastball and slider who had a 3.19 ERA last year, his first pro season. He’s regressed a bit this year, to 5.80 over 16 minor league starts. He doesn’t give up a lot of hard hit hits but … this is becoming a theme, isn’t it, his control needs work and he walks way, way too many batters currently. If he can cut down on that, he should be a real option for the 2028 rotation.

Well, there you have it. Atkins botched one but got one trade really right and three pretty good ones to boot. The bottom line is the team has a better farm system than it did last week, and if Soriano can pitch like he did in April, they even have a slightly better starting rotation. Not a bad two days work, Ross.