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The Toronto Blue Jays seemed to signal the team was giving up on the 2026 MLB season when it traded away top starter Kevin Gausman on Sunday. Turns out, the team’s decision is less a tear down, and more a re-tooling, especially after it acquired starter José Soriano in a deal with the Los Angels Angels on Monday.
Soriano, 27, has a 3.29 ERA over 123 innings. In exchange for Soriano, the Blue Jays gave up shortstop prospect Arjun Nimmala, outfielder Eddie MIcheletti Jr. and pitcher Angel Rivero.
While the decision to acquire a major-league caliber pitcher a day after shipping another one out might seem confusing on the surface, there are a few factors that make it a reasonable exchange for the Blue Jays.
Gausman — while an incredibly important part of the franchise’s resurgence — is old, declining and in the final year of his contract. He has his highest ERA since the 2019 season and may not have been in the Blue Jays’ plans beyond 2026.
Soriano, on the other hand, is still very much in his prime and showed signs of growth earlier in the season. In 42 2/3 innings in April, he had a minuscule 0.84 ERA. That figure ballooned in both May and June, when he posted a 5.34 ERA over those two months, before Soriano settled back down in July to a far better 2.74 ERA.
On top of that, Soriano is still under team control through the 2028 MLB season. The Blue Jays essentially swapped out an older, more expensive pitcher with an expiring deal for a younger, cheaper and potentially better pitcher who the team can keep around for multiple seasons to come.
This story will be updated.
Continue reading...
Soriano, 27, has a 3.29 ERA over 123 innings. In exchange for Soriano, the Blue Jays gave up shortstop prospect Arjun Nimmala, outfielder Eddie MIcheletti Jr. and pitcher Angel Rivero.
While the decision to acquire a major-league caliber pitcher a day after shipping another one out might seem confusing on the surface, there are a few factors that make it a reasonable exchange for the Blue Jays.
Gausman — while an incredibly important part of the franchise’s resurgence — is old, declining and in the final year of his contract. He has his highest ERA since the 2019 season and may not have been in the Blue Jays’ plans beyond 2026.
Soriano, on the other hand, is still very much in his prime and showed signs of growth earlier in the season. In 42 2/3 innings in April, he had a minuscule 0.84 ERA. That figure ballooned in both May and June, when he posted a 5.34 ERA over those two months, before Soriano settled back down in July to a far better 2.74 ERA.
On top of that, Soriano is still under team control through the 2028 MLB season. The Blue Jays essentially swapped out an older, more expensive pitcher with an expiring deal for a younger, cheaper and potentially better pitcher who the team can keep around for multiple seasons to come.
This story will be updated.
Continue reading...
