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The Blue Jays are looking to the future with the Trade Deadline quickly approaching
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Photo credit: Brian Bradshaw Sevald-USA TODAY Sports
Veronica Chung
Jul 12, 2024, 08:30 EDTUpdated: Jul 12, 2024, 08:51 EDT
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This was supposed to be tough. Except, things took a turn for the Toronto Blue Jays in the worst way possible. It was only a few weeks ago when Toronto eyed to climb back to 0.500 to maintain some semblance of competitiveness. That best-laid plan backfired as the Blue Jays continued to struggle mightily. As the Blue Jays slowly descended into mediocrity, the writing on the wall became clear: selling at the deadline was inevitable.
This mess was indubitably the most undesirable outcome for the Blue Jays; being uncompetitive during a contention window was never the plan. Even Toronto’s series wins against the Seattle Mariners and the San Francisco Giants on the road failed to evoke any sense of roaring optimism. Instead, the two series exposed the Blue Jays’ weaknesses while giving them a chance to showcase their potential among the Triple-A reinforcements.
The overarching theme of inconsistency arose during the six-game stretch for Toronto. To start the arduous West Coast road trip, the bats disappeared as Seattle’s pitching dominated for the first game at T-Mobile Park. When the lineup heated up and provided run support for the next two games in Seattle, the Blue Jays’ pitching almost fell apart and barely made it out alive.
Oracle Park presented its trials to Toronto as the offence once again couldn’t muster up enough hits and its pitching surrendered a walk-off run to the Giants. The Blue Jays found solace in the next two games by taking full advantage of shakier Giants’ pitching and won two games in a row. But the truth of the matter was these wins weren’t going to propel Toronto into a playoff conversation. 
The underlying volatility in the Blue Jays’ performance haunted them well into the dog days of summer. Their farm system was nearly depleted of competent talents and the team received more and more injury news along the way to make the matters worse. At the major league level, shortstop Bo Bichette and outfielder Daulton Varsho all exited mid-game with injuries. Toronto’s minor league wasn’t immune to injuries either with pitching prospects Ricky Tiedemann and Adam Macko leaving with soreness. To add insult to injury, third base coach Carlos Febles left the game with injury concerns.
These never-ending injuries sealed the fate of the stumbling Blue Jays as if they weren’t already grappling with enough ordeal. Pretty much anything that can go wrong has gone wrong. Toronto’s call to place outfielder Kevin Kiermaeir on waivers on Thursday served as a testament to the lost season. And this harsh decision proved that Murphy’s law was very much alive for the Blue Jays. 
In bleak times like now, seeing the brighter side can be quite difficult. But sometimes, in life, things need to get bad enough before we’re forced to take action. According to the Region-Beta Paradox, worse situations actually end up being better for us because they inspire us to take some kind of action. This paradox can easily be applied to the Blue Jays as they head into the trade deadline in less than two weeks. 
The Blue Jays’ continuous underperformance and a tougher division landscape spelled trouble this season and so far, the team sank to the bottom of the division. While this grim reality was something they wanted to avoid at all costs, their current state could help them to make significant progress. As the team’s focus shifts to the future, this provides a time to re-evaluate the major-league roster, farm systems and drafting and development strategies. There is a time for everything. This is the time for the Blue Jays to step back and see how they draft, construct and develop better.
Toronto desperately needs an overhaul throughout its system given that it now doesn’t have serviceable players who can meaningfully help in the majors. From that perspective, its diminishing playoff odds could be a blessing in disguise so long as the team uses this opportunity wisely. Parting with the existing talents at the trade deadline is certainly going to be challenging but choosing to get worse now may serve the Blue Jays better down the road.
Acknowledging and accepting Toronto’s destiny this year isn’t the easiest pill to swallow. Yet, embracing defeat now will force the Blue Jays to build a more solid foundation for a stronger rebound. Things are only going to get rougher for the Blue Jays from here on out but that doesn’t necessarily mean all hope is lost. They say it’s darkest before the dawn – we can only hope that the dawn will come in Toronto too.

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