The Toronto Blue Jays find themselves in a curious position with right-hander Yariel Rodríguez.
When they signed Rodríguez before the 2024 season, the Blue Jays planned for him to fill out their starting rotation. He couldn’t make it work as a starter, but this season they’ve shifted him to the bullpen and gotten solid results.
In 32 innings this season, Rodríguez has posted a 3.06 ERA, though his 4.37 FIP suggests he’s been riding some good fortune. That’s a valuable middle-relief piece to have around, but for five years, $32 million, Toronto thought they were getting a bargain as their number-four starter.
While it’s not like Rodríguez is breaking the bank, he still might be expendable. That would only happen if a team was so desperate for starting pitching that they were willing to trade the Blue Jays a starter-value prospect package to land him.
The way I see it, teams that need rotation help might view Rodríguez differently than Toronto does right now.
In a recent YouTube video, content creator Jim Riley speculated that the Athletics, who have a bottom-three rotation in Major League Baseball this season, just might be that team at the 2025 deadline.
“We want to grab a pitcher with years of control,” Riley said, referencing the A’s. “Remember, the Blue Jays were open for business… What about Yariel Rodríguez to the A’s?
“Send a young bat, and this could help the Jays, depending on the trade. The A’s have a lot of good, young bats that are at these top levels (of the minors) or at the major league level. Could the Jays get… I don’t know, Tyler Soderstrom?”
Soderstrom lit the world on fire in April and even though he’s cooled off, his future value is likely a lot higher than Rodríguez’s. But whether it’s a big piece like that or a deal revolving around Rodríguez as the headliner, there’s definitely a fit between these two teams in terms of organizational need.
What makes this interesting is the timing. The Athletics desperately need pitching help, and Rodríguez still has two and a half seasons of team control remaining.
Of course, the Blue Jays are under no pressure to deal Rodríguez, as he won’t be a free agent for at least two and a half seasons. This would be an opportunistic move if the right offer comes through – the kind where Toronto gets more value than they expected for a player who didn’t quite fit their original plans.
