2026 MLB trade deadline: Blue Jays and Guardians trade fits
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Jul 30, 2026, 14:30 EDTUpdated: Jul 30, 2026, 14:16 EDT
Last season, the Toronto Blue Jays and Cleveland Guardians made a trade.
On trade deadline day, 2025 the Jays sent pitching prospect Khal Stephen to the Guardians for Shane Bieber, as the Blue Jays were buying and the Guardians were selling. Of course, the Guardians went on to make the playoffs thanks to a terrific run in the final two seasons. This year, the roles are reversed.
Sitting with a 50-59 record, the Blue Jays are at the bottom of the American League East, as well as five and a half games back of the final wild card spot with plenty of teams to jump. One of those teams are the Guardians, who are 56-54.
The Guardians don’t tend to go big at the deadline, but they do need to augment their lineup. Let’s take a look at the Guardians’ needs ahead of August 3rd’s trade deadline.
What do the Guardians need
The Guardians’ biggest need is undoubtedly a right-handed bat, which The Athletic’s Zack Meisel points out in this article.
If you think the Blue Jays are light on right-handed batting options, you ain’t seen nothing yet as they got nothing on the Guardians. Of the 13 position players on their 26-man roster, only Austin Hedges, David Fry, Rhys Hoskins, and Gabriel Arias bat right-handed. None of those players have at least a wRC+ over 100 and at least 200 plate appearances.
There is a caveat, of course, as the Guardians have four switch-hitting players on their 26-man roster. The best of the bunch is José Ramírez, but Brayan Rocchio, Angel Martínez, and Patrick Bailey all have the ability to bat from the right-side of the plate.
As for positional need, one of the Guardians’ needs is a designated hitter. This season, the Guardians’ designated hitters are batting just .209/.299/.364 with 16 home runs in 465 plate appearances for an 88 wRC+. Only seven other teams, including the Blue Jays, have worse production for the DH spot.
A contending team can never have too much pitching. And while the Guardians have a top 10 rotation in terms of ERA and FIP, perhaps they’d have some interest in a Blue Jays’ starter? The same goes for their bullpen, it’s not a big need but adding wouldn’t hurt.
Who do the Jays have to sell
The Blue Jays have four expiring contracts of note, Kevin Gausman, Shane Bieber, George Springer, and Daulton Varsho.
Varsho is a left-handed batting outfielder, which is the furthest thing from a fit for the Guardians. Bieber, a former Guardian, had a rough outing last time start and likely tanked any trade value he had from his previous two starts.
Gausman is the Blue Jays’ most valuable trade chip, but with a top 10 rotation in baseball, the cost of acquisition may be a bit too much for the Guardians. Moreover, Gausman is owed around $7 million for the remainder of the season according to MLB.com’s Keegan Matheson.
Springer is owed about the same amount over the remainder of the season, but of any Blue Jay, he is the best fit for the Guardians. He’s a right-handed batter, he’s used to being a designated hitter, and Springer can still play outfield in a pinch.
However, not only is Springer owed around $7 million for the rest of the season, but he also has 10-5 rights and can veto any trade. With the Guardians being a small market team, the Jays would have to send money back in any trade with the Guardians, which would also net them a larger return.
Other players of note who could be of interest are Myles Straw, Ernie Clement, and Jeff Hoffman. Straw is a former Guardian and has a team option worth $8 million. Clement is still in his arbitration years and is a productive right-handed bat (and a former Guardian.
Like Springer, Hoffman is making his fair share of money for the next few months, and has an additional season on his contract worth $11 million. Though the Guardians don’t have that much of a need for relief help, this would be a case where the Blue Jays may need to send money.
Recent trades between the two franchises
Before joining the Blue Jays, Mark Shapiro and Ross Atkins ran baseball operations for the Guardians. So it shouldn’t come as a shock that the two teams trade quite often.
Obviously there’s the Bieber trade from last deadline, but during the 2024/25 off-season, the Jays acquired Straw for essentially nothing, as well as Andrés Giménez and Nick Sandlin for Spencer Horwitz and Nick Mitchell.
Those are the major trades of the 2020’s, but the selling Blue Jays also traded Josh Donaldson to the Guardians for Julian Merryweather, a less-the-ideal package for the 2015 American League MVP. Another trade deadline selling move came the year before, when the Blue Jays sent reliever Joe Smith to the Guardians for Thomas Pannone and Samad Taylor.
Ryley Delaney is a Nation Network writer for Blue Jays Nation, Oilersnation, and FlamesNation. She can be followed on Twitter @Ryley__Delaney.
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