This season could not have gone any worse for the Toronto Blue Jays.
In a season where the Jays were expecting to compete for a playoff spot, the team is instead competing for a top five draft pick.
It has been an awful season for the Jays, and started that way before the season even began.
One of the players the Jays were hoping and expecting would help carry the club to the playoffs, Troy Tulowitzki, has not yet played a game for the Jays yet this season.
Even worse, Josh Donaldson appeared in 36 of the Jays’ 105 games as of July 31.
Donaldson was not only expected to be the Jays’ best player this year, but if things went south, as they have, was expected to be traded for a kings ransom.
As it turns out, Donaldson, who is currently on the 60 game disabled list with an injury, would be lucky to fetch the Jays anything at all.
Then there are the pitchers.
Marco Estrada, another rental who was expected to be moved if the team was not able to keep pace in the playoff race, has been injured for a part of the season.
The same goes for Marcus Stroman and Aaron Sanchez.
When healthy each have been just okay.
Of course the biggest trouble spot for the Blue Jays this season was Roberto Osuna.
Osuna has not played a game for the Jays since May, when he was accused of assault.
This left the club in an unenviable position.
Osuna was traded on July 30, for what honestly is a pretty solid haul considering his circumstances.
While the non-waiver trade deadline passed on July 31, it will be vital that the Jays continue working the phones until the Aug. 31
waiver deadline.
If they can somehow get Estrada healthy and increase his value it could help. The same goes for Donaldson.
The truth is they likely will not fetch the club much at this point, but something might be better than nothing.
With each player, unless you know you are going to keep them at season’s end, and they are going to be healthy for you moving
forward it might be in the club’s best interest to get the prospect.
In baseball especially, you really never know what a player is going to be.
They are like a lottery ticket.
It might be a lottery worth playing for the Jays.
The big decisions however, will have to come in the offseason.
This team and this country do not want to go through another 20 years of playoff-free baseball.
And with the Yankees and Red Sox ruling the Major League Baseball roost, it will be crucial for the Jays to make the right moves this offseason to close that gap.
It has been a nightmarish season for the Jays, but with the right moves down the stretch and into the winter those nightmares could soon be turned into sweet dreams.
