Ross Atkins, general manager of the Toronto Blue Jays, addressed the media on Tuesday night following one of the busiest trade deadline days in the team’s history.
The Blue Jays sent away Yimi Garcia, Danny Jansen, Nate Pearson, Trevor Richards, Justin Turner, Isiah Kiner-Falefa, Kevin Kiermaier, and Yusei Kikuchi, along with every other upcoming free agent on their roster.
Over the course of the last six days, the Blue Jays have dealt away eight players—all of whom were on their MLB roster at the start of the season—and acquired 14 players in exchange. Twelve of those 14 guys are position players, and all but one, reliever Ryan Yarborough, are still regarded as prospects.
Atkins insisted that this trade deadline was more of a “retooling” than a “rebuild” for the Blue Jays.
Atkins stated, “Clearly, we did not want to be trading players away at this point.” “This stage in my career and where our organization is at is frustrating. However, we shifted our attention from getting better to reorganizing the current group.
The general manager expressed his expectation that the Blue Jays will be a contender starting in 2025.
“We have added players who can complement us extremely well. They are strong, physical, and dynamic.”
He stated that the club’s positional depth and overall athleticism were to be enhanced by the transactions made prior to Tuesday’s 6 p.m. ET deadline. Additionally, the trades were intended to revitalize the farm system, whose caliber had declined significantly in recent years.
“We will always need to make purchases, and there are a number of ways to do so. We’ve just raised the possibility of doing so by adding greater depth and flexibility. We’re going to need to add in free agency and via trade.
Atkins expressed his dissatisfaction with the Blue Jays’ decision to trade away their established players rather than acquire more of them, after entering the season with post-season aspirations.
After trading reliever Richards to the Minnesota Twins for outfielder Jay Harry, Toronto acquired Charles McAdoo, a third baseman, from the Pittsburgh Pirates in exchange for cash considerations and utility player Kiner-Falefa.
In exchange for pitcher Ryan Yarbrough, the Jays dealt outfielder Kiermaier, 34, to the Los Angeles Dodgers. Kiermaier declared last week that he would like to step down at the end of the current campaign. Over 81 games this season with Toronto, Kiermaier was hitting just.195 with four home runs and eighteen runs batted in.
With High-A Cedar Rapids, the 22-year-old Harry has played in 82 games and is batting.214 with eight home runs and 39 RBIs.
The 22-year-old McAdoo has split his season between double-A Altoona and High-A Greensboro. In 87 games, he has made contact.315 with 17 stolen bases, 14 home runs, five triples, 63 RBIs, and 21 doubles.
The 31-year-old Richards had made 45 appearances (two starts) with Toronto, recording a 2-1 record, 4.64 earned run average, and 52.1 innings pitched with 49 strikeouts.
This season, 29-year-old Kiner-Falefa made 82 appearances, his first with Toronto. He’s experiencing a career high.292 with 33 RBIs and 17 extra-base hits.
Pitcher Kikuchi went to Houston, pitcher Pearson to the Chicago Cubs, catcher Jansen to Boston, and infielder Turner to Seattle in exchange for Toronto, who is currently last in the American League East.
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