The Toronto Blue Jays are leading the AL East and are looking like a playoff team in 2014 and that means trade rumors at the deadline and names like Jeff Samardzija, James Shields, Justin Masterson, Francisco Liriano, Jason Hammel, Trevor Cahill, Max Scherzer and Bronson Arroyo could be in the mix for Alex Anthopoulos this summer if the team wants to improve their pitching rotation.
The Blue Jays have been hanging around the AL East all season and over the past couple weeks the team has pushed their way up the standings and now they have a 5.5 game lead over the Orioles. The team has some needs in the rotation and could look there for trades, as Jon Heyman at CBS Sports writes that the team may target names like Jeff Samardzija, James Shields, Justin Masterson, Francisco Liriano, Jason Hammel and Bronson Arroyo to help solidify the rotation. Max Scherzer is likely not going anywhere, but he is coming into free agency and hey, stranger things have happened.
The Boston Globe and writer Nick Cafardo put together a list of names that the Red Sox and Blue Jays could look at and Hammel along with Shields, Samardzija and Masterson were named as potential targets. The Blue Jays come into the middle of June with mediocre pitching overall compared to their offense, which ranks in the top 10 in all major categories and that is why they may look there to upgrade this season. Shields is an option with the Royals, while the Cubs are shopping Samardzija and the Blue Jays may have to give up Drew Hutchison to get one of those deals done and that will be a tough choice for the team.
The team has been getting help all over the lineup with Jose Bautista, Melky Cabrera, Edwin Encarnacion, and Adam Lind and Encarnacion is an early MVP candidate with 20 home runs already on the season. The Jays have been going strong with Mark Buehrle, R.A. Dickey, and Drew Hutchison, but they will need another arm and that could mean the loss of Hutchison to get it done. This season the team is second in runs scored and fifth in batting average, while the team, is second in slugging and fourth in on base percentage. The team is ranked 19th in ERA and 16th in quality starts, while they are also 20th in BAA and 26th in WHIP heading into the middle of June.
The Blue Jays have shown that they are for real this season and that banks on some premise that the team has had over the past couple years. After pulling off the big trade with the Marlins for Jose Reyes and Mark Buehrle and also snagging RA Dickey, the team was expected to improve but they missed the playoffs and now they are on the right track. Players like Joe Bautista, Melky Cabrera and Edwin Encarnacion have been fantastic and that is one reason why the team is leading the division. Buehrle has been off to an amazing start and many thought the team would be looking to trade him at the deadline based on his performance, but instead the exact opposite has happened. Cahill was just designated and he is making too much money to get claimed.