It’s almost time for the trades across Major League Baseball to start flying around in earnest.
With only eight days to go until the trade deadline, the Toronto Blue Jays are in good shape, sporting a three-game lead over the New York Yankees in the American League East with a rubber match to play against their rivals from the Bronx on Wednesday.
Surprisingly, the Blue Jays’ starting pitching has been something of an Achilles’ heel this season. They rank 24th in starter ERA at 4.53, despite boasting a group of veterans that have mostly all been involved in pennant races in years past.
Plus, Chris Bassitt and Max Scherzer will be free agents this winter, so it would be a bonus if the Blue Jays could land a starter under control for multiple seasons. Does that mean slumping Miami Marlins star Sandy Alcantara is a fit?
The Athletic’s Tim Britton, Chad Jennings, and Aaron Gleeman seem to think so. They linked the Blue Jays to Alcantara as a potential fit on Wednesday, in their “trade deadline big board” piece.
“Which version of Alcantara is actually on the market?” the authors wondered. “He ditched his slider earlier this year and started to look like the Sandy of old — right up until this most recent blip, in which he’s given up almost a run per inning over four starts.
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“Since June 1, the walk rate is one-third of what it was before then, and so there’s reason to believe Alcantara’s worst is behind him. He isn’t a pitcher who strikes out the lineup, but he is a potential playoff starter, and the supply of those is very limited this deadline.”
It’s hard to sugarcoat a 7.14 ERA and -1.8 WAR in 19 starts. But Alcantara has a Cy Young Award to his name, and even with as long as it’s taken for him to regain his command after Tommy John surgery, one has to imagine he’ll return to being effective eventually.
The real value could be in acquiring Alcantara for 2026 and 2027, when he’s scheduled to make $17 million and $21 million (club option), respectively. But the Blue Jays are most concerned with this season, so his current struggles could be the primary roadblock.
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