It’s no secret that with the trade deadline approaching quickly, we may see a different Toronto Blue Jays roster to close out 2026.

The team is still eight games below .500, and their playoff aspirations are more like a pipe dream than a possibility.  Things are bleak in Blue Jays Land, and Toronto sports fans are torn between what to do. With the team looking to almost confirm they will sell expiring contracts like Kevin Gausman, George Springer, and Daulton Varsho, among others, perhaps they will look to be creative.

Ross Atkins is someone who always tries to see if he can improve the roster without stripping away too much from the core. By selling off these assets, it’s possible Toronto would offload money to balance the luxury tax as opposed to making seismic baseball moves. That being said, the team can still potentially make moves to make them, at the very least, be competitive to round out 2026 and kickstart their future campaigns (barring the whole pending lockout).  When evaluating what the team needs, scavenging across the league would determine what they could acquire.

Shockingly, the team that was ranked in the top 10 of home runs in 2025 is now sitting 26th in the league. The only two players who have double-digit home runs on the season are Kazuma Okamoto (24) and George Springer (12). The next closest names are Brandon Valenzuela (eight), who’s a rookie, and Ernie Clement (eight), who is four away from his career high of 12 home runs. The fact that Vladimir Guerrero Jr. has not hit a home run at Rogers Centre since Game 6 of the ALCS, approaching almost a year, is absolutely the most frustrating and mind-boggling thing among any Jays fan. With losing out on Addison Barger and Anthony Santander for the whole season, the team has subtracted a lot of power from their lineup. What the team needs to evaluate is adding another power bat to the middle of their lineup. While Yohendrick Pinango has shown flashes of power, he’s only 24 years old and has a lot to improve on.

When looking at names the Blue Jays can acquire, they don’t have a ton of standouts from the trading board. Casey Schmitt, who was on a tear with the Giants, is out for the season with a torn meniscus. The team is missing the impact bats they had in the likes of Teoscar Hernández and Marcus Semien of years past. Now, this is not saying reacquire any of those two (although Hernández wouldn’t exactly be impossible), the team needs to look at more logical names. Going back to the Giants, I wonder if Heliot Ramos is a name that fits the bill. While his power is down, he could be someone who can benefit from a change of scenery into a more home-run-friendly ballpark at Rogers Centre. Another name to potentially look at getting back could be Tyler O’Neill from the Baltimore Orioles, albeit trading in the division can get messy. These are not be-all, end-all solutions, but for a team that desperately wants to add some pop to their lineup, they need to look at the bigger picture.

You truly can never have enough pitching, even with the allure of potentially seven arms the Blue Jays had going into 2026. With José Berríos not likely to pitch until mid-2027 at the earliest, and Cody Ponce not guaranteed to be 100% post-injury, you have a lot of question marks outside of Trey Yesavage and Dylan Cease. We got some extended looks at Chad Dallas and C.J. Van Eyk this year, but there is still a lot more to be desired.

Several Jays fans have been intrigued by the potential inquiry of Reid Detmers or José Soriano from the Los Angeles Angels. Both are young and team-controlled until 2029, meaning they will both be entering the prime of their careers within that range. With how the Angels do business, it is possible the Blue Jays can swoop in to try and snag one of these arms, even though that might be a conversation should 2027 still be in play. Perhaps the Pittsburgh Pirates may still entertain Mitch Keller even though they are within two games of the final wild card spot. Even the Washington Nationals, with names like Foster Griffin and Cade Cavalli, could be in play for the right cost.

This one is a bit more niche, but it is something the organization has had issues with. With Brendon Little’s career imploding and Mason Fluharty being overworked to the core in 2026, the Blue Jays’ left handed pitching depth is not in a good place, with Ricky Tiedemann’s health also fluctuating. Adam Macko and Joe Mantiply were the other two left-handers we saw a lot of this year, and both have had success before Mantiply’s injury and Macko’s struggles the last few weeks.

Simply put, as good as Mason Fluharty has been, the team needs to incorporate more left-handed pitching into its arsenal. The Miami Marlins have two really solid arms coming through the ranks with Thomas White and Robby Snelling itching to crack the major leagues, but it would cost Toronto premium prospects in addition to roster players to acquire them.

Nick Lodolo from the Cincinnati Reds is another arm that comes with intrigue if you’re the Jays. While injuries have been an issue for him all season, he is someone who can be morphed into a more consistent starter by adjusting his walk rate. His K/9 sits at about 9.6 for his career, which sits around the same threshold as Yesavage thus far.