Are Blue Jays Best-Suited as Sellers at MLB Trade Deadline This Summer?

Should the Toronto Blue Jays be buyers or sellers at the trade deadline?

May 25, 2025; St. Petersburg, Florida, USA; Toronto Blue Jays starting pitcher Chris Bassitt (40) throws a pitch against the Tampa Bay Rays during the first inning at George M. Steinbrenner Field. | Kim Klement Neitzel-Imagn Images

The Toronto Blue Jays have been a hard team to figure out this season with consistency being a massive issue.

With the calendar flipping to June, the Blue Jays could be one of the most interesting teams to watch in the coming weeks.

Currently, the team is hovering right around the .500 mark, which means they could be a buyer and also could become a seller.

Toronto has an important stretch coming up that could help determine what this team may or may not be.

Fortunately, the franchise was able to lock up their star slugger Vladimir Guerrero Jr. to a long-term deal. If that wasn’t accomplished it would have been a much harder deadline to navigate for the franchise.

Now, with the star slugger signed for the next decade, they can try to make smart decisions as a franchise to step up success.

Will Toronto Be Buyers or Sellers?

Kerry Miller of Bleacher Report recently wrote about the Blue Jays perhaps being best-suited to be sellers at the trade deadline.

“And while they wouldn't be sellers if the deadline were tomorrow, one needn't squint too hard at their negative-10 run differential to envision them trading away the likes of Chris Bassitt, Bo Bichette, Chad Green and Max Scherzer to save what would be more than $20M,” he wrote.

Even though they are right around .500, a negative run differential is a good indication that the team might not be a contender.

Last year, the Blue Jays had a bit of a fire sale to try and recoup some prospects while moving players that weren’t in their long-term plans. Now, this summer could end up being the same, and if so, they will have some talented players to move.

In the starting rotation, Bassitt could be one of the most appealing starters on the market if the team decides to be a seller. The veteran right-hander has had a strong season and could be a front-end caliber starter a contender would pursue.

Furthermore, Bichette was once thought to be a building block for the future along with Guerrero, but as an impending free agent, the team might consider trading him away. The young slugger has had a bounce back campaign, but hasn't been an All-Star player like in the past.

While Bassitt and Bichette would certainly bring back quite the haul, the Blue Jays would likely be happy moving Max Scherzer as well if the veteran could get healthy and become desirable.

He was unfortunately one of the failed signings by the franchise this winter that have contributed to them underachieving a bit.

Overall, a lot will depend on the next few weeks of action, but Toronto feels like more of a seller than a buyer at this point.