With two weeks until the July 30 trade deadline, the Toronto Blue Jays have a difficult decision to make with reliever Chad Green. Will the 33-year-old remain with the club through the rest of this season, or will he join a contender ahead of the stretch run? 
Unlike Yimi García and Trevor Richards, a pair of pending free agents expected to be traded this month, Green is signed for one more season in 2025 and will hit the open market during the following off-season. In theory, that could set him apart from the rental arms that&#8217;ll likely be dealt over these next few weeks. Or it could also take him off the market, entirely.
Most reports to this point have suggested the Blue Jays&#8217; primary focus will be fielding offers on players who can reach free agency after this season, targeting future assets that can help them return to contention next year. However, dramatically improving this flawed roster will likely require more than a modest sell-off. Thus, management should be open to moving any player &#8212; for the right price, of course.
That includes Green, who, with nine seasons of major league experience and six trips to the post-season, would undoubtedly move the needle forward for any team seeking to acquire a veteran, back-end-of-the-bullpen reliever.
But is this the right time to move 6-foot-3 righty? There are several reasons why Toronto would want to keep him around for what might be the franchise&#8217;s &#8220;Last Dance&#8221; with this competitive window in &#8217;25. Conversely, many factors likely make him an appealing trade chip. So, let&#8217;s further explore both sides of this debate.
<h2>Case for trading Green</h2>
The most obvious appeal to making Green available via trade is that he comes with an extra season of value beyond this current one, fortifying another team&#8217;s bullpen for at least a season and a half, including playoffs. That means the Blue Jays will probably set a high price for his services, especially since they&#8217;d create another massive void in their &#8216;pen by moving him.
Given the extreme demand for high-leverage relievers, someone out there could be willing to accept the front office&#8217;s terms. It happened in Kansas City with Hunter Harvey, who fetched a double-A infielder (Cayden Wallace) and the 39th-overall selection in this year&#8217;s draft for the Washington Nationals a day before round one commenced.
Granted, it&#8217;s a bit of an apples-to-oranges comparison, considering Harvey has one more year of arbitration eligibility while Green is already on the books for $10.5 million in 2025. Still, that should be an early precedent the Blue Jays brass can use in its favour.
Toronto could also help increase Green&#8217;s value by retaining a portion of his remaining salary &#8212; both this year (prorated to roughly $5.25 million) and in &#8217;25, which may extend his list of potential suitors, too. And, the bigger the market, the better the return &#8212; as the saying goes.
Even so, a big-market team like the New York Yankees &#8212; one of Green&#8217;s former employers &#8212; or the Los Angeles Dodgers may ultimately be most comfortable taking on future salary at this year&#8217;s trade deadline while others searching for bullpen help stick to the rental market.
But the Dodgers, in particular, could be an ideal fit for Green. They have money to spend, one of the top farm systems in baseball and desperately need to improve the back end of their bullpen, as they <a href="https://www.fangraphs.com/leaders/splits-leaderboards?splitArr=43,72&amp;splitArrPitch=&amp;autoPt=false&amp;splitTeams=false&amp;statType=team&amp;statgroup=1&amp;startDate=2024-03-01&amp;endDate=2024-11-01&amp;players=&amp;filter=&amp;groupBy=season&amp;wxTemperature=&amp;wxPressure=&amp;wxAirDensity=&amp;wxElevation=&amp;wxWindSpeed=&amp;position=P&amp;sort=4,-1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">rank 20th in ERA (6.96) and 24th in FIP (4.89) during high-leverage situations</a> at the unofficial midway mark of the season.
With injuries to closer Jordan Romano and García, plus poor performances from Erik Swanson and Tim Mayza, Green has needed to take hold of closing duties in Toronto, paying the way for his six saves &#8212; tied for a career-high &#8212; and opportunity to showcase his value as a potential mid-season bullpen acquisition.
<h2>Case against trading Green</h2>
In all honesty, this is the route the Blue Jays will most likely take with Green leading up to 6 p.m. ET on July 30.
As tempting as it may be to trade him, the contributing factors toward doing the opposite will probably prove more substantial 14 days &#8212; and 11 games &#8212; from now. One of them, arguably the most significant piece of this equation, is Toronto&#8217;s desire to run it back for potentially one final time next season.
The Blue Jays already have enough bullpen holes to fill over the off-season, as it is. Romano, who underwent arthroscopic elbow surgery earlier this month, may not return this season and could face additional challenges in his 2025 return. That&#8217;s one substantial void to address. Another lies with the uncertainty around Swanson and whether he&#8217;ll avoid being non-tendered this winter.
Of the current bullpen, none of the arms on the roster should be considered locks heading into &#8217;25. Nate Pearson, Zach Pop and Bowden Francis will likely be in the mix since they&#8217;ll all be out of options, and Génesis Cabrera &#8212; who&#8217;ll have exceeded the five years of service time required to block a minor-league assignment &#8212; could also compete for a job. But there&#8217;s minimal internal depth beyond those four.
For the sake of argument, let&#8217;s assume Romano and Swanson occupy two spots at the back end of the &#8216;pen, leaving six to be filled by the start of next season. Perhaps half of those are addressed internally. That&#8217;d still mean management would have to acquire three external relievers &#8212; on top of shoring up the starting rotation and significantly improving the offence.
And that&#8217;s all in one off-season.
Beyond the challenges of roster construction, another element rivals will consider is Green&#8217;s performance, which, outside his six saves and 2.08 ERA, hasn&#8217;t been all that flattering. The right-hander&#8217;s advanced metrics &#8212; such as his 4.48 xERA, 4.97 FIP, 52.9-per-cent hard-hit rate against and -0.2 fWAR &#8212; could heavily diminish his trade value.
As could the number of quality relievers that might be available, including notables like his teammate García, All-Star Kirby Yates, David Robertson, José Leclerc, Carlos Estévez, John Brebbia, Kyle Finnegan and, potentially, the high-priced A&#8217;s duo of closer Mason Miller and primary setup-man Lucas Erceg &#8212; both of whom are under club control through 2029.
Excluding Miller and Erceg, Finnegan is the only player named above with guaranteed control beyond this season. And he&#8217;ll have arbitration eligibility one last time, similar to his former teammate, Harvey. Robertson ($7 million) and Brebbia&#8217;s contracts ($6 million) include mutual options for &#8217;25, although it&#8217;s unclear if either would be exercised.
That could either benefit Green&#8217;s market or hinder it. It&#8217;ll all depend on how much money the Blue Jays &#8212; whose CBT payroll is roughly $10 million over the $237-million luxury tax, <a href="https://www.fangraphs.com/roster-resource/payroll/blue-jays" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according to FanGraphs</a> &#8212; are willing to retain on his contract. But it&#8217;s worth wondering if they&#8217;d be better off paying him to continue playing for their team than against it moving forward.
Given how he&#8217;s performed thus far, the club may have to significantly pay down his $10.5-million salary in 2025 to warrant a meaningful return. As such, it could be more beneficial if he sticks around and aims to finish strong down the stretch and into next season, allowing the front office to revisit this topic if the team drops out of contention ahead of the &#8217;25 trade deadline.

With two weeks until the July 30 trade deadline, the Toronto Blue Jays have a difficult decision to make with reliever Chad Green. Will the 33-year-old remain with the club through the rest of this season, or will he join a contender ahead of the stretch run? 

Unlike Yimi García and Trevor Richards, a pair of pending free agents expected to be traded this month, Green is signed for one more season in 2025 and will hit the open market during the following off-season. In theory, that could set him apart from the rental arms that'll likely be dealt over these next few weeks. Or it could also take him off the market, entirely.

Most reports to this point have suggested the Blue Jays' primary focus will be fielding offers on players who can reach free agency after this season, targeting future assets that can help them return to contention next year. However, dramatically improving this flawed roster will likely require more than a modest sell-off. Thus, management should be open to moving any player -- for the right price, of course.

That includes Green, who, with nine seasons of major league experience and six trips to the post-season, would undoubtedly move the needle forward for any team seeking to acquire a veteran, back-end-of-the-bullpen reliever.

But is this the right time to move 6-foot-3 righty? There are several reasons why Toronto would want to keep him around for what might be the franchise's "Last Dance" with this competitive window in '25. Conversely, many factors likely make him an appealing trade chip. So, let's further explore both sides of this debate.
<h2>Case for trading Green</h2>
The most obvious appeal to making Green available via trade is that he comes with an extra season of value beyond this current one, fortifying another team's bullpen for at least a season and a half, including playoffs. That means the Blue Jays will probably set a high price for his services, especially since they'd create another massive void in their 'pen by moving him.

Given the extreme demand for high-leverage relievers, someone out there could be willing to accept the front office's terms. It happened in Kansas City with Hunter Harvey, who fetched a double-A infielder (Cayden Wallace) and the 39th-overall selection in this year's draft for the Washington Nationals a day before round one commenced.

Granted, it's a bit of an apples-to-oranges comparison, considering Harvey has one more year of arbitration eligibility while Green is already on the books for $10.5 million in 2025. Still, that should be an early precedent the Blue Jays brass can use in its favour.

Toronto could also help increase Green's value by retaining a portion of his remaining salary -- both this year (prorated to roughly $5.25 million) and in '25, which may extend his list of potential suitors, too. And, the bigger the market, the better the return -- as the saying goes.

Even so, a big-market team like the New York Yankees -- one of Green's former employers -- or the Los Angeles Dodgers may ultimately be most comfortable taking on future salary at this year's trade deadline while others searching for bullpen help stick to the rental market.

But the Dodgers, in particular, could be an ideal fit for Green. They have money to spend, one of the top farm systems in baseball and desperately need to improve the back end of their bullpen, as they <a href="https://www.fangraphs.com/leaders/splits-leaderboards?splitArr=43,72&amp;splitArrPitch=&amp;autoPt=false&amp;splitTeams=false&amp;statType=team&amp;statgroup=1&amp;startDate=2024-03-01&amp;endDate=2024-11-01&amp;players=&amp;filter=&amp;groupBy=season&amp;wxTemperature=&amp;wxPressure=&amp;wxAirDensity=&amp;wxElevation=&amp;wxWindSpeed=&amp;position=P&amp;sort=4,-1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">rank 20th in ERA (6.96) and 24th in FIP (4.89) during high-leverage situations</a> at the unofficial midway mark of the season.

With injuries to closer Jordan Romano and García, plus poor performances from Erik Swanson and Tim Mayza, Green has needed to take hold of closing duties in Toronto, paying the way for his six saves -- tied for a career-high -- and opportunity to showcase his value as a potential mid-season bullpen acquisition.
<h2>Case against trading Green</h2>
In all honesty, this is the route the Blue Jays will most likely take with Green leading up to 6 p.m. ET on July 30.

As tempting as it may be to trade him, the contributing factors toward doing the opposite will probably prove more substantial 14 days -- and 11 games -- from now. One of them, arguably the most significant piece of this equation, is Toronto's desire to run it back for potentially one final time next season.

The Blue Jays already have enough bullpen holes to fill over the off-season, as it is. Romano, who underwent arthroscopic elbow surgery earlier this month, may not return this season and could face additional challenges in his 2025 return. That's one substantial void to address. Another lies with the uncertainty around Swanson and whether he'll avoid being non-tendered this winter.

Of the current bullpen, none of the arms on the roster should be considered locks heading into '25. Nate Pearson, Zach Pop and Bowden Francis will likely be in the mix since they'll all be out of options, and Génesis Cabrera -- who'll have exceeded the five years of service time required to block a minor-league assignment -- could also compete for a job. But there's minimal internal depth beyond those four.

For the sake of argument, let's assume Romano and Swanson occupy two spots at the back end of the 'pen, leaving six to be filled by the start of next season. Perhaps half of those are addressed internally. That'd still mean management would have to acquire three external relievers -- on top of shoring up the starting rotation and significantly improving the offence.

And that's all in one off-season.

Beyond the challenges of roster construction, another element rivals will consider is Green's performance, which, outside his six saves and 2.08 ERA, hasn't been all that flattering. The right-hander's advanced metrics -- such as his 4.48 xERA, 4.97 FIP, 52.9-per-cent hard-hit rate against and -0.2 fWAR -- could heavily diminish his trade value.

As could the number of quality relievers that might be available, including notables like his teammate García, All-Star Kirby Yates, David Robertson, José Leclerc, Carlos Estévez, John Brebbia, Kyle Finnegan and, potentially, the high-priced A's duo of closer Mason Miller and primary setup-man Lucas Erceg -- both of whom are under club control through 2029.

Excluding Miller and Erceg, Finnegan is the only player named above with guaranteed control beyond this season. And he'll have arbitration eligibility one last time, similar to his former teammate, Harvey. Robertson ($7 million) and Brebbia's contracts ($6 million) include mutual options for '25, although it's unclear if either would be exercised.

That could either benefit Green's market or hinder it. It'll all depend on how much money the Blue Jays -- whose CBT payroll is roughly $10 million over the $237-million luxury tax, <a href="https://www.fangraphs.com/roster-resource/payroll/blue-jays" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according to FanGraphs</a> -- are willing to retain on his contract. But it's worth wondering if they'd be better off paying him to continue playing for their team than against it moving forward.

Given how he's performed thus far, the club may have to significantly pay down his $10.5-million salary in 2025 to warrant a meaningful return. As such, it could be more beneficial if he sticks around and aims to finish strong down the stretch and into next season, allowing the front office to revisit this topic if the team drops out of contention ahead of the '25 trade deadline.

Outlining the case for and against of Blue Jays trading Chad Green

Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Trey Yesavage (39) pitches against the Seattle Mariners in the first inning during game two of the ALCS round for the 2025 MLB playoffs at Rogers Centre.

Recent articles from Thomas Hall

Breaking News