The Toronto Blue Jays were quite busy today as they made multiple deals to help strengthen their pitching staff and bullpen. They ended up acquiring Scott Feldman from the Houston Astros and Francisco Liriano from the Pittsburgh Pirates. They ended up trading Jesse Chavez to the Los Angeles Dodgers for pitcher Mike Bolsinger. In addition to all these deals being done, it was also announced that the Blue Jays would be moving pitcher Aaron Sanchez to the bullpen.
Let’s look first at the Scott Feldman trade. The Blue Jays ended up trading Scott Feldman for RHP prospect Guadalupe Chavez. Reports were coming out after the trade that the plan with Scott Feldman is to use him out of the bullpen for a majority of the season. One upside to having someone like Scott Feldman is he can be a spot starter for the Blue Jays as they try to make a push towards the playoffs for the second consecutive season. During his time in Houston, Scott Feldman ended up pitching five games as a starter and spent the rest of the time pitching out of the bullpen.
The next trade made by the Toronto Blue Jays made came down after the 4 pm deadline. It was reported on several sites that the Blue Jays had acquired Francisco Liriano from the Pittsburgh Pirates for Drew Hutchinson. When Francisco Liriano was sent to Pittsburgh, he had a bit of a revival in his career as he went 35-25 between 2013 to 2015. Fast forward to 2016 season, he started to struggle mighty as he has a record of 6-11 with an ERA of 5.46. The hope within the Blue Jays organization is that he can revive his career in an AL ballpark.
Finally, the last deal the Blue Jays made was when they sent Jesse Chavez to the Los Angeles Dodgers for Mike Bolsinger. With them moving Chavez, it is expected to see the Blue Jays start to transition Aaron Sanchez into the bullpen within the next few weeks.