Kept the Kids but Lost the Plot

 

The Blue Jays will be rounding out the 2024 season with all of Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Bo Bichette, Daulton Varsho, Kevin Gausman, Jose Berrios, Chris Bassitt and Chad Green. That doesn't entirely mean that they 'won', but they weren't embarrassed. And that's the thing, it's rare for the Blue Jays to be completely humbled at a trade deadline. Even when they were mediocre in like 2018, and they lost people like J.A. Happ and Curtis Granderson, they weren't humbled. They just kept on going. Even losing pieces like Danny Jansen, Yusei Kikuchi and Isiah Kiner-Falefa didn't humble the Blue Jays, at least not entirely.

The real truth is that some of the pieces that have made the Jays a contender in years past A.) got hurt, like Jordan Romano, whose absence in the ninth is hurting this team, B.) had down years, like George Springer and Kevin Gausman, or C.) got hurt AND had a down year, which is what happened with Bo Bichette. For most of the year, guys like Varsho, Kiner-Falefa and Ernie Clement had to do the brunt of the work. You do not play people like Vladimir Guerrero Jr., George Springer and Alejandro Kirk just so you can say 'and our key contributor was some guy from South Jersey'. 

Like, Kevin Gausman has been the anchor of the rotation for the last two years. He nearly won a Cy Young back there. He's been one of the most important contributors to this Jays team, which is incredible considering we all kinda thought he was cooked in 2019. But this year, again, having consecutive amazing seasons has caught up to him, and he's a few steps down from where he was. He still has 9 wins and 118 strikeouts, but his ERA is 4.56. All of Gausman, Bassitt and Berrios have ERAs over 4, which is pretty much just the consequence of being on a 5th place Jays team, even if they're only 10 games under .500 [and if that doesn't seem like a good use of 'only', may I refer you to the White Sox, who are 61 games under .500]. These guys are still producing strong material, and are still durable, consistent options who will probably all land around 200 innings. They're just not, like, incredible this year. Which is fitting, cause neither are the Jays in general.

What I will say is the Jays did get some very cool returns, which does make me think they're not gonna completely bottom out in 2025. Joey Loperfido, while decent in Houston, already has 4 hits in as many games, including a triple. Ryan Yarbrough already seems to be a pretty solid relief option. And it's really only a matter of time before Jake Bloss ascends to the majors again and makes the Astros regret giving up on him so soon.

The Jays may be pretty much done in 2024, but they still have a decent shot at staying relevant going forward. I mean, I don't look at how Vlad's been hitting recently and think 'irrelevant' anyway..

Coming Tomorrow- If you think the Jays had to slot in some new options, think about how many pieces this guy's team lost.