Blue Jays Trade Pitch Lands 2.93 ERA Ace After Latest Report

A month or two ago, many believed the Toronto Blue Jays would sell at the deadline. Instead, the Blue Jays have started to play well in recent weeks, despite their 15-1 loss against the Boston Red Sox on Saturday. The Blue Jays are only three games out of first place in the American League East, sitting at 44-37. 

If this continues over the next month before the end of July, with the trade deadline on July 31, the Blue Jays will likely be buyers. When searching for potential options for them to trade for, Sports Illustrated recently predicted that they’d land on Seth Lugo, predicting the Blue Jays to win his sweepstakes. 

“Lugo doesn’t strike out a ton of hitters, but he hasn’t posted an ERA above 3.60 since 2020 and quietly finished second in AL Cy Young voting last year while winning a Gold Glove to boot. The 35-year-old also fared well in two playoff starts last season. The converted reliever would improve just about any postseason rotation, and the Royals may feel obliged to deal Lugo ahead of his looming free agency if MLB’s lowest-scoring offense doesn’t perk up in the coming weeks,” SI wrote.

Will the Royals Be Sellers?

The Kansas City Royals, similar to how the Toronto Blue Jays were playing at the beginning of the year, are one of the more disappointing teams in baseball. 

The Royals are 38-44 and 13.0 games back in the American League Central. While the AL Central could get interesting, as it typically does, the Royals don’t look to be in a good position to make the postseason via the Wild Card or in the division. 

According to their general manager, J.J. Picollo, there are plenty of things they have to consider. He doesn’t know what the record would have to be for them to be buyers or not sellers, but he added that if the Royals are in a position to make the postseason, players like Lugo might not be available.

“Whether it ends up being where we’re in a position that we’re in it, or a position we’re not, you’re always trying to improve your team,” Picollo said, per MLB.com.

“If we’re within striking distance – and I don’t know what that record would be because .500 seems to be a playoff record right now – I don’t think we should panic and say the season is over,” Picollo said. “Because there are just too many games left in the season. We’re trying to build off of something that was really positive last year. Making the playoffs again this year would be really important to this organization and really important to the city.”

What Is the Blue Jays’ Biggest Need?

When searching for what the Toronto Blue Jays need during the trade deadline, The Athletic recently linked them to a starting pitcher. 

Adding Lugo to the mix would arguably be one of the bigger moves of the deadline. The right-hander is getting up there in age at 35 years old, but he’s continued to impress, posting a 2.93 ERA this season. After a 3.00 ERA and 181 strikeouts over 206.2 innings last year, there’s reason to believe Lugo can continue throwing the baseball at this type of level. 

“Things can change in the next few weeks, but the biggest needs right now are starting pitching, relief pitching (every team needs bullpen help at the deadline) and a bat that can preferably hit lefties,” they wrote.

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