With under two weeks to go until this year’s trade deadline, there are still several teams that are undecided on what course of action they plan to take. The Blue Jays should be the opposite, looking to add before the trade deadline to bolster a potential postseason run.

The National League West has a couple of teams that are in this boat with Arizona and San Francisco; the former boasts several trade-worthy assets between both sides of the ball, and despite the latter trading for Rafael Devers earlier in the season, the Giants have lost six in a row and are only three games above .500. The Rockies are the only team with an undoubted status. However, recent history suggests that they are prone to holding onto any tradable assets.

Let’s take a look at some options – some obvious, and some not so obvious – from the NL West that the Blue Jays could explore.

Suárez is part of what makes Arizona’s situation more and more interesting; he could generate quite a haul if the Diamondbacks turned to trading him, but as one of the league’s best power hitters this season, he brings a lot of value to Arizona if they are in contention. Nonetheless, there are hardly any contenders who wouldn’t benefit from Suárez’s services, and there are already reports that the Yankees, Mariners, and Tigers are showing interest.

Suárez made his second career All-Star appearance this season, and he picked up right where he left off since the break with five home runs already. On the season, Suárez is slashing .254/.325/.598 with a .924 OPS, 36 home runs, 86 RBIs, and 18 doubles. His home run total ranks third in the majors, and his RBI total ranks first. Suárez has reverse splits in multiple areas; he hits righties far better than he does lefties, and with a .914 OPS in high leverage at-bats, his numbers are far better in high leverage than they are in low leverage.

With Suárez being a third baseman by trade, the Blue Jays would have to navigate a few lineup and defensive arrangements as Ernie Clement and Addison Barger have proven more than capable of manning the hot corner together. In a subjective sense, those things seem to work themselves out, and in this case, if the Blue Jays were to acquire Suárez, his implementation would be forced, as his bat would have to play every day.

Furthermore, Anthony Santander’s status is becoming more and more uncertain, making Suárez a realistic fit as opposed to just a potential option.

While all of the noise around Arizona pitching surrounds Zac Gallen and Merrill Kelly, the Blue Jays can kill two birds with one stone if they acquire Ryne Nelson. For one, they’d be plugging in a pitcher who could make an immediate impact into their rotation. Second, and perhaps more importantly, the Blue Jays would be looking beyond just renting a starter for the remainder of the season. While the front office will be trying to improve its current roster, it also wouldn’t hurt to notice that Max Scherzer and Chris Bassitt are entering free agency, and Jose Berrios and Kevin Gausman will be another year older. Still just 24 years old and under team control through 2028, Nelson could answer a couple of different questions for the Blue Jays.

Nelson has appeared in 21 games this season, and although he started the season as a reliever, 10 of his last 11 appearances have been starts. That looks to be his home going forward, as his numbers have much improved since moving into the rotation. Through 11 total starts, Nelson has posted a 5-2 record, 3.09 ERA, and 1.06 WHIP with the Diamondbacks, having him built up to a hair under 90 pitches.

He favours his fastball more than anything else, with a 62.5% usage rate, and averaging at 95.5 mph, it’s far and away his most effective pitch. With extension in the 85th percentile, Nelson’s fastball has 19.7 inches of vertical break and induces just a .187 batting average. Beyond that, he’s got three other pitches that he throws around 10% of the time, with none of them having the same level of effectiveness as the heater.

There’s still strides to be made (including finding that secondary pitch), but that hasn’t limited Nelson of late; the young righty has a 2.29 ERA over his last seven starts with his team going 6-1 in those outings. Kelly and Gallen don’t raise the ceiling of this Blue Jays team for me, but if they’re going to nab a starter from this team, Nelson would be worth an inquiry.

Cease would make much more sense as an offseason add for the Blue Jays, but if we’re looking at this year, his stuff would play more than anyone else in Toronto’s rotation right now, especially if we’re talking about strikeouts.

A free agent after this year, Cease has had one of his roughest campaigns this season. Though 20 starts, the 29-year-old righty has authored a 4.64 ERA, 1.30 WHIP, 11.5 K/9, and 3.2 BB/9. He features a slider, four-seamer, and knuckle curve, with the first pitch generating a 42.1% whiff rate and the second pitch averaging 97 mph. Cease is seeing an unfortunate uptick in several categories, including hits, walks, and homers.

A lot of it has also come down to consistency for Cease, who has just one more outing with at least six innings with one run allowed or less as he does outings in which he’s allowed six earned runs or more.

While Cease can help the Padres down the stretch, he’s a piece that the Padres can afford to lose in the interim. Yu Darvish was activated off the IL two weeks ago, Michael King has a return date targeted in the coming weeks, and they’ve seen solid results from Stephen Kolek and Randy Vásquez. Jon Heyman reported that San Diego is already in the market for another starting pitcher anyway.

Contender-to-contender swaps aren’t extremely common, but even if it’s not with the Blue Jays, Cease could be moved if the market for top-end pitching isn’t as fluid.

The Rockies don’t have much to offer this season, but Herget has put together a nice season for them and has some value as the deadline nears. Herget has pitched in 35 games this season, posting a 3.00 ERA, 1.37 WHIP, 43 strikeouts, and 18 walks. His experience in Coors Field hasn’t been kind to him, but his ERA has been balanced out by a stellar 1.23 ERA in 22 innings on the road this season. He’s capable of going north of two innings out of the ‘pen, recording north of three outs 21 times this season.

Herget won’t have the most lavish Baseball Savant page, but he does stand out with his funky sidearm delivery that pairs nicely with a pair of breaking pitches in his arsenal. It’s somewhat similar to current Blue Jays reliever Nick Sandlin, who also has an abnormal delivery on his pitches. Sandlin hit the IL in early July with right elbow inflammation, and while I’m not saying Herget is a surefire 1-for-1 swap, he would be a serviceable substitution to Sandlin if there is any further severity to that injury.