Trade Tree: The Yusei Kikuchi deal has the potential to be a lengthy trade tree
Photo credit: © Neville E. Guard-USA TODAY Sports
Nov 13, 2026, 13:00 ESTUpdated: Nov 13, 2026, 00:55 EST
Two years ago, the Toronto Blue Jays made a tree that has already branched out quite a bit.
With a 50-57 record and seven and a half games behind the final wild card, the Blue Jays sold ahead of the 2024 trade deadline. They made a boatload of trades, including trading Isiah Kiner-Falefa to the Pittsburgh Pirates for Charles McAdoo, as well as Nate Pearson for Yohendrick Piñango and Josh Rivera.
However, none of those trees have branched out as much as the Yusei Kikuchi trade on July 29th, 2024. That’s the trade tree we’ll look at in this edition!
Yusei Kikuchi’s time with the Blue Jays
It’s almost certain that Major League Baseball will enter a lockout a minute before December 2nd. Funnily enough, the off-season that the Blue Jays signed Yusei Kikuchi to a three-year deal also had a lockout. Kikuchi wasn’t signed during the flurry of moves before the lockout, instead signing on March 14th, 2022, following the announcement of the new Collective Bargaining Agreement.
The left-handed pitcher’s 2022 season was a weird one. Across 100.2 innings of work, Kikuchi had a 5.19 ERA and 5.62 FIP, with a 27.3 K% and 12.8 BB%. He was a back-end of the rotation option for the Blue Jays, but he just couldn’t find success. Before the end of the season, Kikuchi was moved to the bullpen, where he had a 4.91 ERA and 4.15 FIP in 18.1 innings of work, with a 39.8 K% and 10.8 BB%.
Tweaks were made, and Kikuchi followed up 2022 with a career-best season in 2023. Across 32 starts, the southpaw had a 3.86 ERA and 4.12 FIP in 167.2 innings of work, with a 25.9 K% and 6.9 BB%. The Blue Jays made the postseason thanks to a strong pitching, and Kikuchi was a part of that.
Unfortunately for the Jays, that pitching, specifically the bullpen, was their downfall in 2024. Kikuchi’s 2024 season before the trade was an up and down one. His ERA of 4.75 wasn’t great, but he had a solid 3.66 FIP thanks to a 26.2 K% and 6 BB%, even with the 17 home runs he gave up.
But with the trade deadline looming and the Blue Jays well out of the playoff race, they made a trade.
The trade
On July 29th, 2024, the Blue Jays sent Kikuchi to the Houston Astros for Will Wagner, Joey Loperfido, and Jake Bloss. It’s not the first time that the Blue Jays with Ross Atkins as the general manager have made a trade with the Astros while selling ahead of the trade deadline.
In fact, all five deadlines that they’ve sold since taking over before the 2016 season, has seen them make a trade with the Astros.
During the three rebuilding seasons from 2017 until 2019, the Blue Jays and Astros made several trades. In 2017, the Blue Jays sent Francisco Liriano to the Astros for Nori Aoki and Teoscar Hernández.
The following season, they acquired Ken Giles and two prospects for Roberto Osuna, followed by acquiring Derek Fisher for Aaron Sanchez, Joe Biagini, and a prospect. Then this past season, they sent Daulton Varsho to the state of Texas for Spencer Arrighetti.
Among the five, the Kikuchi trade is the second-best.
The following trades
This is the only trade the Jays made from the 2024 trade deadline that has already seen a secondary trade to the tree.
Ahead of the 2025 trade deadline, the team’s fortunes flipped, and they were buying before the deadline. Their one non-buying move saw the Blue Jays send Wagner to the San Diego Padres for defensive catcher Brandon Valenzuela. The switch-hitting catcher didn’t make his big league debut until 2026.
It seems like this branch could continue. According to The Athletic’s Mitch Bannon, teams are asking about the Blue Jays’ backup catcher, including the Cincinnati Reds. Who knows where that’ll go in the future.
Before the start of the 2026 season, the Blue Jays sent Loperfido back to the Astros in exchange for Jesús Sánchez. This branch of the tree has already ended, which we’ll find out about in the next section.
How every player has performed since
So how has every player performed since the trade, as well as the players in the ensuing trades?
Kikuchi made 10 starts with the Astros, authoring a 2.70 ERA and 3.07 FIP across 60 innings of work. Unfortunately, he didn’t pitch in the Astros’ short-lived playoff run, as they fell to the Detroit Tigers in the Wild Card Series.
That off-season, Kikuchi signed a three-year deal worth $63 million with the Los Angeles Angels, his third American League West team. In 2025, the southpaw posted a 3.99 ERA and 4.23 FIP in 178.1 innings of work, with a 22.5 K% and 9.6 BB%. He made just 14 starts last season, finishing the year with a 4.92 ERA and 3.93 FIP in 67.2 innings of work.
Wagner made an immediate impact on the 2024 Blue Jays, slashing .305/.337/.451 with two home runs in 86 plate appearances before requiring season-ending surgery in September. He failed to find the same success in his 40 games with the Jays in 2025, slashing just .237/.336/.298 with no home runs for an 86 wRC+.
Following the trade, Wagner appeared in 15 games for the Padres where he slashed just .133/.235/.133, followed by 16 games and 45 plate appearances for the National League West team in 2026.
Like Wagner, Loperfido joined the big league team following the trade. He played 43 games, where he slashed .197/.236/.343 with two home runs in 144 plate appearances. Loperfido had success in limited outings in 2025, slashing .333/.379/.500 with four home runs in 104 plate appearances for a 148 wRC+.
Also like Wagner, Loperfido didn’t receive much playing time in the big leagues last season. He appeared in 40 games, slashing .214/.311/.330 with a home run in 121 plate appearances for an 82 wRC+. That one home run came late in a game against the Blue Jays on June 23rd. Had they won it, they would’ve reached .500 for the first time since early April. They didn’t reach above .500 until early September.
Bloss is the lone player remaining from the original trade. The right-handed pitcher also happens to be the lone player of the three who has yet to appear in a big league game for the Blue Jays.
Upon joining the organization, Bloss was optioned to the Triple-A Buffalo Bisons, where he had three good starts before giving up 21 earned runs over his final 17.2 innings of work. Those tough outings continued in 2025, appearing in just six games before requiring Tommy John surgery in May. He returned in May of 2026, where he appeared in 11 minor league games before a season-ending shoulder injury.
There weren’t a whole lot of positives from Sánchez’ time with the Jays. While the tools are there, specifically his batted ball data, the results weren’t. Across 299 plate appearances, the outfielder (that is a generous term) slashed .260/.318/.416 with eight home runs for a 105 wRC+. In September, he was DFA’d and joined the Arizona Diamondbacks off waivers.
Of the five players the Jays have acquired via the Kikuchi trade tree, Valenzuela is the best of the bunch. Due to Alejandro Kirk’s early-season injury, Valenzuela joined the team sooner than expected, but managed to out-play Tyler Heineman to become the team’s back-up catcher.
Overall, he slashed .222/.307/.372 with nine home runs in 271 plate appearances, good for a 93 wRC+. Before Kirk was reinstated from the injured list, Valenzuela was slashing .252/.333/.457 with seven home runs in 145 plate appearances, good for a 122 wRC+.
Time will tell if he can find that form with the bat again, but even if he doesn’t, Valenzuela’s defence more than makes up for whatever shortcomings his bat may have. In 618.2 innings behind the plate, Valenzuela finished with 9 Defensive Runs Saved and 13 Fielding Run Value, ending the season as a Gold Glove finalist.
On a fWAR basis, the Blue Jays have accumulated 3.1 fWAR from the four players who have played following the trade. Most of that is courtesy of Valenzuela’s 2.1 fWAR, but Loperfido had a 0.7 fWAR season in 2025, and Wagner a 0.6 fWAR season in 2024. Who knows how Valenzuela performs next season, or whether or not Bloss can live up to his potential.
That said, the Kikuchi trade has the potential to be a lengthy trade tree, and a beneficial one at that.
Cynthia Ryley Delaney is a Nation Network writer for Blue Jays Nation, DFOEdmonton, and DFOCalgary. She can be followed on Twitter @CynthiaRDelaney.