The <a href="https://bluejaysnation.com/">Toronto Blue Jays</a> should have a fairly good idea within the next month whether they&#8217;re going to be buyers or sellers. I know that seems weird to say for a team that&#8217;s currently a game over .500 and only 1.5 games out of a Wild Card spot, but a lot can change within a month.
Further complicating matters is that few teams are pulling away in the American League. Only three of MLB&#8217;s top teams reside in the Junior Circuit, and 10 of 15 teams in the AL are all within three games of a playoff spot. If your team is hovering around .500, you still have a shot at playing in October.
But with so few outright sellers on the market this season, it makes a compelling case for a team in that murky middle to cash in some of their assets, or maybe even go a little wilder and go the &#8220;buy and sell&#8221; route. Enter the 2025 Blue Jays.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">
Chris Bassitt, Gorgeous 71mph Slow Curve. 🌈 <a href="https://t.co/GiopFKRbAV">pic.twitter.com/GiopFKRbAV</a>
&mdash; Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) <a href="https://twitter.com/PitchingNinja/status/1922817299267961073?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 15, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
For a team that was as aggressive as they were in the offseason and <a href="https://bluejaysnation.com/news/blue-jays-officially-sign-vladimir-guerrero-jr-to-a-14-year-500-million-extension">with the ink</a> on Vladimir Guerrero Jr.&#8217;s $500 million contract barely dry, it doesn&#8217;t make sense for this team to go scorched earth a la 2024. But there may be an opportunity to sell off some pieces while remaining competitive.
Contenders are always looking to bolster their starting rotation at the trade deadline. With a lack of readily available arms on the market, it doesn&#8217;t look to be a buyer&#8217;s market this year. If they chose to, could the Blue Jays utilize one of their veteran arms as a trade chip at this year&#8217;s deadline?
I&#8217;m thinking squarely of Chris Bassitt.
Last night&#8217;s start aside, the 36-year-old is having a decent season. His results so far are closer to his first season with the Blue Jays in 2023 (3.60 ERA, 186 strikeouts, 2.7 bWAR) as opposed to last year (4.16 ERA, 168 strikeouts, -0.1 bWAR).
On paper, it makes little sense to pluck your number three starter from the rotation one-third of the way through the season, but the next four to eight weeks will be a moving target for the Blue Jays to buy or sell. If they&#8217;re still in contention, it would be difficult to navigate losing Bassitt&#8217;s innings, unless there&#8217;s another starting pitcher ready to pick up the slack.
That decision may depend on the status of Alek Manoah, who is still rehabbing from his Tommy John surgery. Keegan Matheson of MLB.com wrote <a href="https://www.mlb.com/news/alek-manoah-talks-progress-from-tommy-john-surgery">the Blue Jays have pencilled in August as a &#8220;loose&#8221; timeline for Manoah&#8217;s return</a>. Again, that&#8217;s if all goes according to plan, which makes it difficult to envision Manoah back in the fold before the trade deadline.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">
Chris Bassitt believes he can be much more consistent when it comes to helping the Blue Jays. Has a 3.80 ERA through 66.1 innings, 69 Ks, “but I think I’ve been terrible” … “I’m pretty upset”
&mdash; Ben Nicholson-Smith (@bnicholsonsmith) <a href="https://twitter.com/bnicholsonsmith/status/1928641254654406726?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 31, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
With Max Scherzer&#8217;s injury, the Blue Jays are already down one starting pitcher, cobbling together a bullpen day every five games so far with varying degrees of success. Bowden Francis had a bounce-back start in his last outing in Arlington against the Rangers, but he&#8217;s hardly out of the woods yet.
If anything, the starting rotation is the one area of the team where the Blue Jays need to add, not subtract. If Manoah or any other Blue Jays depth starter were on the doorstep, then it might make a little more sense to shop Bassitt on the trade market. But as of now, it would just compound the issue the Blue Jays have faced with their lack of starting pitching depth.
But if this season goes sideways in the next month or two? Whoo boy, that changes everything. With so few sellers on the market, there may not be many difference-makers on the market. Among rental starting pitchers, there&#8217;s Luis Severino, Andrew Heaney, Zach Eflin and Tyler Anderson. Not exactly a murderer&#8217;s row of starters.
However, if the Blue Jays enter the fray as a seller, suddenly Bassitt leaps to the top of the list of the best rental starting pitchers on the trade market. It&#8217;s almost a similar scenario to 2018 when the Blue Jays had J.A. Happ on the trade block. He was one of the best arms on the market, but relative to his contemporaries, he wasn&#8217;t having an all-time season in 2018.
As we saw last year with the Houston Astros willing to pony up three prospects for <a href="https://bluejaysnation.com/news/angels-name-former-blue-jay-yusei-kikuchi-as-2025-opening-day-starter">Yusei Kikuchi</a>, all it takes is one team that&#8217;s desperate for starting pitching to set the market. With that particular trade, it may have been quantity over quality, but the Blue Jays emerged from that deal with three potential big league pieces in Will Wagner, Joey Loperfido and Jake Bloss.
In reality, Bassitt has been an unsung hero for the Blue Jays in the first half of 2025. With a starting rotation constantly in flux, he&#8217;s been a reliable arm for most games. Cashing in and trading him right now could sever the Blue Jays&#8217; chances of getting back to the postseason.
But if we reconvene in four to six weeks and the Blue Jays haven&#8217;t gained any ground in the standings or have tumbled down even further in the Wild Card chase, then all bets are off. Some tough conversations may be on the horizon in the Blue Jays&#8217; front office related to their veteran starting pitchers like Bassitt.
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The <a href="https://bluejaysnation.com/">Toronto Blue Jays</a> should have a fairly good idea within the next month whether they're going to be buyers or sellers. I know that seems weird to say for a team that's currently a game over .500 and only 1.5 games out of a Wild Card spot, but a lot can change within a month.

Further complicating matters is that few teams are pulling away in the American League. Only three of MLB's top teams reside in the Junior Circuit, and 10 of 15 teams in the AL are all within three games of a playoff spot. If your team is hovering around .500, you still have a shot at playing in October.

But with so few outright sellers on the market this season, it makes a compelling case for a team in that murky middle to cash in some of their assets, or maybe even go a little wilder and go the "buy and sell" route. Enter the 2025 Blue Jays.

https://twitter.com/PitchingNinja/status/1922817299267961073

For a team that was as aggressive as they were in the offseason and <a href="https://bluejaysnation.com/news/blue-jays-officially-sign-vladimir-guerrero-jr-to-a-14-year-500-million-extension">with the ink</a> on Vladimir Guerrero Jr.'s $500 million contract barely dry, it doesn't make sense for this team to go scorched earth a la 2024. But there may be an opportunity to sell off some pieces while remaining competitive.

Contenders are always looking to bolster their starting rotation at the trade deadline. With a lack of readily available arms on the market, it doesn't look to be a buyer's market this year. If they chose to, could the Blue Jays utilize one of their veteran arms as a trade chip at this year's deadline?

I'm thinking squarely of Chris Bassitt.

Last night's start aside, the 36-year-old is having a decent season. His results so far are closer to his first season with the Blue Jays in 2023 (3.60 ERA, 186 strikeouts, 2.7 bWAR) as opposed to last year (4.16 ERA, 168 strikeouts, -0.1 bWAR).

On paper, it makes little sense to pluck your number three starter from the rotation one-third of the way through the season, but the next four to eight weeks will be a moving target for the Blue Jays to buy or sell. If they're still in contention, it would be difficult to navigate losing Bassitt's innings, unless there's another starting pitcher ready to pick up the slack.

That decision may depend on the status of Alek Manoah, who is still rehabbing from his Tommy John surgery. Keegan Matheson of MLB.com wrote <a href="https://www.mlb.com/news/alek-manoah-talks-progress-from-tommy-john-surgery">the Blue Jays have pencilled in August as a "loose" timeline for Manoah's return</a>. Again, that's if all goes according to plan, which makes it difficult to envision Manoah back in the fold before the trade deadline.

https://twitter.com/bnicholsonsmith/status/1928641254654406726

With Max Scherzer's injury, the Blue Jays are already down one starting pitcher, cobbling together a bullpen day every five games so far with varying degrees of success. Bowden Francis had a bounce-back start in his last outing in Arlington against the Rangers, but he's hardly out of the woods yet.

If anything, the starting rotation is the one area of the team where the Blue Jays need to add, not subtract. If Manoah or any other Blue Jays depth starter were on the doorstep, then it might make a little more sense to shop Bassitt on the trade market. But as of now, it would just compound the issue the Blue Jays have faced with their lack of starting pitching depth.

But if this season goes sideways in the next month or two? Whoo boy, that changes everything. With so few sellers on the market, there may not be many difference-makers on the market. Among rental starting pitchers, there's Luis Severino, Andrew Heaney, Zach Eflin and Tyler Anderson. Not exactly a murderer's row of starters.

However, if the Blue Jays enter the fray as a seller, suddenly Bassitt leaps to the top of the list of the best rental starting pitchers on the trade market. It's almost a similar scenario to 2018 when the Blue Jays had J.A. Happ on the trade block. He was one of the best arms on the market, but relative to his contemporaries, he wasn't having an all-time season in 2018.

As we saw last year with the Houston Astros willing to pony up three prospects for <a href="https://bluejaysnation.com/news/angels-name-former-blue-jay-yusei-kikuchi-as-2025-opening-day-starter">Yusei Kikuchi</a>, all it takes is one team that's desperate for starting pitching to set the market. With that particular trade, it may have been quantity over quality, but the Blue Jays emerged from that deal with three potential big league pieces in Will Wagner, Joey Loperfido and Jake Bloss.

In reality, Bassitt has been an unsung hero for the Blue Jays in the first half of 2025. With a starting rotation constantly in flux, he's been a reliable arm for most games. Cashing in and trading him right now could sever the Blue Jays' chances of getting back to the postseason.

But if we reconvene in four to six weeks and the Blue Jays haven't gained any ground in the standings or have tumbled down even further in the Wild Card chase, then all bets are off. Some tough conversations may be on the horizon in the Blue Jays' front office related to their veteran starting pitchers like Bassitt.

<hr />

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Celebrate <a href="https://nationgear.ca/collections/bluejaysnation">Vladdy’s big news</a> in style with the exclusive new <a href="https://nationgear.ca/collections/bluejaysnation">BlueJaysNation Vladdy merch</a> — available only at <a href="https://nationgear.ca/collections/bluejaysnation">NationGear.ca</a>! Rep a future Hall of Famer and wear your team's pride loud. Limited drop. Don’t miss out.

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