Blue Jays: Matt Svanson is the reliever that got away
Photo credit: © Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images
Dec 22, 2025, 10:00 ESTUpdated: Dec 21, 2025, 23:35 EST
Since Ross Atkins and Mark Shapiro took over the Toronto Blue Jays ahead of the 2016 season, they haven’t lost very many trades.
Sure, there were some trades in there that weren’t great, such as the Brad Hand trade in 2021 or the Mitch White move in 2022. But it’s hard to point to trade where you’re like “darn, I wish they didn’t make that move”. Well, that is except for one trade before the 2023 trade deadline.
The playoff bound Blue Jays made three separate trades with the St. Louis Cardinals shortly before the deadline. After Génesis Cabrera was designated for assignment, the Jays sent catching prospect Sammy Hernandez to the Midwest team. Their big trade before the trade deadline saw them move Adam Kloffenstein and Sem Robberse for Jordan Hicks, while also trading Matt Svanson for Paul DeJong. It was the last one that hasn’t aged well.
Drafted in the 13th round of the 2021 draft by the Jays, Svanson never ranked as a top prospect. In the Jays’ organization, he put up solid, but not spectacular stats in his first full-season. He was pitching well before the trade, but this seemed like a nothing burger trade when it happened.
Obviously, it wasn’t as I’m writing about it. Svanson pitched the entirety of the 2024 season with the Cardinals Triple-A team, where he had a 20.8 K% and an 8.8 BB%. By the end of the season, the 26-year-old became an important reliever for the Cardinals. He finished with a 1.94 ERA and 2.72 FIP in 60.1 innings pitched over 39 games. More importantly, his strikeout rate jumped to 29.1%, while he finished the year with an 8.5 BB%.
The right-handed pitcher sits a tick under 97 mph with the fastball, with a sweeper that is also deemed about average. His ERA ranked eighth among relievers in 2025, finishing ahead of Tyler Rogers, Josh Hader, Jhoan Duran, and a whole lot of other notable names.
Add in the fact that Svanson makes the league minimum for the next two seasons, as well as a few years of arbitration, and the Cardinals got a valuable piece to their bullpen for the foreseeable future for essentially nothing.
DeJong’s tenure with the Blue Jays was unremarkable at best. His first three seasons with the Cardinals from 2017 until 2019 were solid, even hitting the 30 home run mark in 2019, but his play dropped off from there. Before the trade, he was slashing .233/.297/.412 with 13 home runs in 306 plate appearances.
Once coming to Canada, DeJong slashed just .068/.068/.068. It wasn’t like the shortstop didn’t get an opportunity either, as he finished his Blue Jays tenure with 44 plate appearances in 13 games. That’s because Bo Bichette was out with an injury at the time, leading the Jays to pull the trigger on this trade.
Once Bichette returned, DeJong was designated for assignment, later signing with the Chicago White Sox. He spent the 2024 season with them and the Kansas City Royals, where he hit 24 home runs and slashed .227/.276/.427 for a 96 wRC+. DeJong played for the Washington Nationals in 2025, hitting six home runs in 208 plate appearances.
While the context of needing a shortstop makes this trade logical, it has not aged well at all, especially as they had Ernie Clement tearing up Triple-A Buffalo. Sure, Svanson may not have gotten this opportunity in Toronto, but this will go down as one of the worst trades this regime has made. To their credit that’s because they have so few trade losses since joining the organization.
Ryley Delaney is a Nation Network writer for Blue Jays Nation, Oilersnation, and FlamesNation. She can be followed on Twitter @Ryley__Delaney.