What will final 24 hours of trade talks bring for Blue Jays?
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TORONTO — Leading up to the final 24 hours ahead of Tuesday’s 6 p.m. (ET) trade deadline, Toronto Blue Jays GM Ross Atkins has stayed the course.
Exiting so far have been three players not in the plans for 2025, traded away for a mishmash of different calibre prospects as the Jays attempt to build some upper-level minor-league depth heading into the winter.
Yimi Garcia and Danny Jansen, as impending free agents, were never going to garner huge returns, while the trade of former first-round pick Nate Pearson was about future roster flexibility with the big right-hander being out of options next season.
Yusei Kikuchi — one of the top starting pitching targets remaining on the market heading into the final day — Justin Turner, Trevor Richards and, potentially, veteran outfielder Kevin Kiermaier could all be added to the list of expiring contracts peddled in the final 24 hours before Tuesday’s evening cutoff.
It’s not expected to extend much past the obvious housekeeping of trading away strictly rentals, but the Jays have fielded exploratory calls on Isiah Kiner-Falefa, Chad Green and Chris Bassitt, who are all signed for one more season, as well as Kevin Gausman, who has two years left on his deal but is suffering through his worst campaign since 2019 with a 4.44 ERA through 21 starts.
There’s a decent chance Atkins can be convinced to part with one of more of those names, as well, but that will depend on what the offers look like as time ticks down to 6 p.m. on Tuesday.
With three trades completed over the past few days, here’s a look at the players the Jays added to the organization in exchange for Jansen, Garcia and Pearson.
These names are ranked from best prospect on down, with an early look at where they could land on TSN’s top 50 Blue Jays prospects list come January.
OF Jonatan Clase
Acquired from: Seattle Mariners
2024 age: 22
Affiliate assigned to: Triple-A Buffalo
Range on 2025 top 50: 5-10
Clase burst onto the scene last year with a breakout campaign that saw him pop 20 homers and steal a whopping 79 bases across two levels at High-A and Double-A.
While there was an adjustment period once he got into the high minors, the compact switch-hitter quickly got over that to start this season, slashing .274/.373/.483 with 10 homers and 26 steals across 59 games at Triple-A.
His productive stat lines earned him a cup of coffee this year when the Seattle Mariners needed an extra outfielder, but that did not go well in a 19-game sample size that saw him mostly playing a bench role.
The swap of an arm for a toolsy outfielder brings back memories of the July 31, 2017, trade that saw Atkins ship Francisco Liriano to the Houston Astros in exchange for another off-the-radar prospect outfielder who was a bit rough around the edges, one Teoscar Hernandez.
Clase’s raw power may not be the same, but it’s likely he gets a whole lot of run as the everyday left fielder in the very near future.
He’s immediately the most interesting — and MLB-ready — outfielder in the system and his ability to play centre field is enviable.
As an aside, hat tip to the Jays for the Garcia signing, a pact that ended up providing a ton of surplus value (2.7 fWAR) for three years and $16 million.
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3B/SS Cutter Coffey
Acquired from: Boston Red Sox
2024 age: 20
Affiliate assigned to: High-A Vancouver
Range on 2025 top 50: 10-20
Shipping Jansen to a bitter rival for their stretch run was likely for a very good reason — it was the best offer by far.
Coffey, one of many breakouts in the Red Sox deep system this season, is the real draw in this three-player package, as the righty hitter is starting to show why he was the 41st overall pick in the draft back in 2022 after a muted start to his pro career.
After hitting just six homers across his first 110 games, Coffey’s pop is starting to show up now with 14 bombs in 61 games to start 2024.
Glove-wise, he’s dabbled after every infield spot other than first base, but the arm is more than enough for the hot corner, a position the Jays are currently trying to find a long-term answer at.
Coffey slides into that third base mix behind options like Addison Barger, Orelvis Martinez, Cade Doughty and, also acquired in this trade, Eddinson Paulino, all of whom are dabbling at second base as well.
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3B/2B Eddinson Paulino
Acquired from: Boston Red Sox
2024 age: 21
Affiliate assigned to: Double-A New Hampshire
Range on 2025 top 50: 15-25
Paulino has been on the radar for a few years as a slow-burn prospect in the Red Sox system, taking things one level at a time up to this point.
A fairly well-rounded and versatile prospect who has run 10 per cent-plus walk rates at every stop, how much power Paulino develops from here on out is going to be the separator between potential everyday infielder and utility guy.
The Red Sox are stacked with intriguing third base/second base types and Paulino — as well as Pinango below — was actually passed over in the annual Rule 5 draft last December.
Given the profile, the Jays may be able to get away with not adding him this November, but that puzzle will be easier to figure out after we see how Paulino finishes out the year in his new organization.
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OF Yohendrick Pinango
Acquired from: Chicago Cubs
2024 age: 22
Affiliate assigned to: Double-A New Hampshire
Range on 2025 top 50: 20-30
Pinango has been a bit of a riddle as a prospect since debuting in 2019.
The lefty swinging outfielder has shown solid exit velocities, but the game power hasn’t matched the raw, as Pinango has hit just 15 homers over the past two seasons combined.
When you combine the pop with solid contact rates, Pinango has that annually-waiting-for-him-to-breakout feel.
Maybe it happens, maybe it doesn’t.
In exchange for Pearson, a volatile reliever, it’s worth a shot that something finally clicks.
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RHP Gilberto Batista
Acquired from: Boston Red Sox
2024 age: 19
Affiliate assigned to: Single-A Dunedin
Range on 2025 top 50: 25-35
The lone arm the Jays have acquired up to this point — they went pitching-heavy in the draft earlier this month, so there’s a clear acquisition strategy at play here — Batista is a nice little upside package to add to the low minors mix.
Signed for $10,000 out of the Dominican Republic two years ago, Batista features a low-to-mid-90s heater and a bevy of secondary pitches that he’ll look to fine-tune over the next couple of years as he adds strength and, hopefully, some more velocity.
He’s an interesting lottery ticket that has a chance to cash in a number of different ways down the road.
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SS Josh Rivera
Acquired from: Chicago Cubs
2024 age: 23
Affiliate assigned to: Double-A New Hampshire
Range on 2025 top 50: 30-50
A third-round pick out of the Florida Gators program in 2023, Rivera’s profile is about as straightforward as it gets.
He’s a glove-first shortstop who needs to cut down on the swing-and-miss in order to fulfill his big-league bench destiny.
At Double-A this year, Rivera has slashed .169/.277/.260 with four homers across 68 games.
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C Jacob Sharp
Acquired from: Seattle Mariners
2024 age: 22
Affiliate assigned to: High-A Vancouver
Range on 2025 top 50: 30-50
After a run that saw Jansen, Riley Adams, Alejandro Kirk and Gabriel Moreno all reach the big leagues in quick succession, the Jays’ catching pipeline hasn’t been able to replicate that kind of success lately.
Sharp probably isn’t going to change that, but the 2023 17th-rounder is a solid flier thanks to his bat-to-ball skills, evidenced by a minuscule 9.9 per cent strikeout rate at Single-A this season.
Catchers can take forever to develop, but Sharp at the very least has the toolkit of a major-league backup.