The American League playoff hunt is as tight as ever and with the deadline looming a week away, teams are grasping for that one piece they believe will push them over the edge. For the Blue Jays, that piece is a starting pitcher and they haven’t quite been lucky enough to snare one yet.
Just 5.5 games out of the East and three back in the Wild Card, the Blue Jays have the offense (Jose Bautista and Josh Donaldson) and defense (Donaldson, Russell Martin and Kevin Pillar are particularly above average) to do some damage. What they don’t have is a deep enough rotation to keep from exposing their less than solid bullpen.
Things aren’t actually all that bad as Toronto has been in the middle of the pack as far as starter and reliever ERA, but that has mostly been because their best is pretty good, while their bad is really bad. This is the current situation:
| Blue Jays | Season | July | ||
| SP | ERA | FIP | ERA | FIP |
| Mark Buehrle | 3.23 | 3.80 | 1.24 | 2.20 |
| Marco Estrada | 3.22 | 3.85 | 1.83 | 2.35 |
| R.A. Dickey | 4.53 | 4.81 | 3.33 | 3.77 |
| Felix Doubront | 4.34 | 3.33 | 4.34 | 3.33 |
| Drew Hutchison | 5.19 | 3.76 | 6.32 | 3.77 |
Of course, the first step is admitting you have a problem and the Blue Jays have done that, taking flyers on every pitcher available. Given their defense, adding a single ace to the rotation could be huge (just note the difference in FIP and ERA of the Jays top three starters now) and they are definitely interested.
After Scott Kazmir was sent to Houston for a couple minor leaguers, it came out that the Blue Jays were trying to bring him to Canada and before that they had serious discussions (possibly continuing) with the Marlins (Dan Haren, not Mat Latos) and Padres (mostly Ian Kennedy) about their starting staff. Before that, it came out that they were interested in the Brewers’ Mike Fiers and Mike Leake of the Reds.
Ultimately, the Blue Jays are interested in just about every starting pitcher available on the market and there are certainly some big names left. Only Kazmir has been moved so far of those with direct rumors from the Blue Jays and there are plenty of big names including Johnny Cueto, Jeff Samardzija, and possibly even David Price that haven’t been directly paired with the Blue Jays. The Blue Jays have apparently been looking for a rental player (all except Fiers are free agents going into 2016), so these three should be in the mix as well.
CLEVELAND, OH – JULY 11: Starting pitcher Carlos Carrasco #59 of the Cleveland Indians pitches during the first inning against the Oakland Athletics at Progressive Field on July 11, 2015 in Cleveland, Ohio. (Photo by Jason Miller/Getty Images)
At least that was the case until the most recent rumor, that Toronto is getting greedy. On Wednesday, it came out that the Blue Jays were interested in the Indians’ Carlos Carrasco, just one day after Cleveland’s GM Chris Antonetti announced that the Indians weren’t interested in trading any of their highly coveted, team controlled starters. Not a rental at all, Carrasco is under contract for less than $10M per year through 2020 and he has just began his emergence as a top starter at the age of 28.
While his single season numbers are not quite that of Price, Kazmir or Cueto, his FIP (2.73 – 24th best in MLB), age and contract situation make him worth much more than the others, who would more quickly be able to take the helm of the Blue Jays rotation for the rest of the year. Carrasco (or Fiers) would be more of a fit as the number three starter now, but could be the ace for years to come.
With this added benefit, the cost would go up as well. Unlike the Marlins, Brewers and Reds, the Indians still consider themselves to be contenders and would never let Carrasco go without a major MLB roster changer. This could mean a current Major Leaguer from Toronto or Michael Bourn or Nick Swisher going to Toronto in a salary dump. Either way, this discussion in itself is surprising considering the dearth of starters already open and available.
The fact that the Blue Jays are even talking such a deal shows a large amount of desperation and it would seem that at some point within the next week, they will in fact get their man, whether that man is Cueto, Haren, Leake or even Carrasco. Toronto is certainly putting out feelers and if they don’t get something done soon, it will be a huge disappointment, not only to Canadians, but to those ardent followers of the trade deadline.
