It has been a crazy couple of days in the world of Major League Baseball. The trade deadline has come and gone, but not without a flurry of moves by teams all across the league. The Yankees acquired Joey Gallo from the Rangers, the Dodgers acquired Max Scherzer and Trea Turner from the Nationals, and the Cubs traded away their championship core of Bryant, Baez, and Rizzo. The Jays were a busy team themselves. Expected to be buyers, the Jays would look to improve the team any way possible, with priority likely to be on pitching. They acquired All-Star closer Brad Hand from the Nationals, and veteran relief pitcher Joakim Soria from the Diamondbacks. With so many high-profile players being rumored to be traded, the Jays were reported to be in on most of them, but it was uncertain if any deals were going to be worked out. That was, until Friday at 12:29pm when MLB Insider and writer for The Athletic, Ken Rosenthal tweeted that per sources, Jose Berríos was traded to the Blue Jays.
After Max Scherzer was traded to the Dodgers, Jose Berríos was the next best available arm out there, and there were reports of multiple teams contacting the Twins about him. Reports indicated that the Twins’ asking price was extremely high, and rightfully so given Berríos’ performance, age, and years of control. Teams like the Mets and Mariners were turned away by the price, but not the Blue Jays. They traded #2 prospect Austin Martin and #4 prospect Simeon Woods Richardson to the Twins for Berríos. This deal surprised many, as Martin was someone that people would not expect to be traded. However, the Jays clearly felt that getting Berríos was worth giving up two top-rated prospects.
Berríos is only 27 years old, and he isn’t a free agent until the end of next season. He is a two-time All-Star and is having a quality season this year. He currently has a 3.48 ERA, a walk percentage of 6.5%, and a career-best strikeout percentage of 25.7%. He will fit nicely at the top of the rotation with Ryu and Ray, and with him being under control for next season too, he will be an excellent number two starter behind Ryu. While the Jays did give up a lot for Berríos, the Jays have a very deep farm system and still have a number of highly regarded prospects.
Prospects are just prospects until they perform in the majors, and you don’t get trophies for having great prospects. Of course, teams want to sign and develop their own stars, but when you have a deep farm system, you have to use that to prospect capital to your advantage. Could Martin and Richardson go on and become stars for the Twins? Absolutely. However, eventually you have to trade some of your potential future stars for currently major league stars, and if you are the Jays, this is the time to do it.