Do the Toronto Blue Jays have too many good players? Things looked a bit hairy for Canada’s lone MLB franchise when they lost outfielder Daulton Varsho (hamstring), plus their two key offseason acquisitions for 2025: shortstop Andres Gimenez (ankle) and designated hitter Anthony Santander (shoulder).
Instead, their absences have allowed the likes of OF/3B Addison Barger (.823 OPS), utility man Davis Schneider (.780 OPS) and former Victoria HarbourCats OF Nathan Lukes (.769 OPS) to step up and lead Toronto to the top of the American League East at a healthy 55-41.
Varsho and Gimenez are due back shortly, so even if the Bench Mob cools off a bit, the Blue Jays look to be in excellent shape heading towards the All-Star break. But there’s always room for improvement; the 2025 MLB trade deadline is coming up July 31, and while the Jays’ front office might not swing for the fences this time, we’ve got the following five undervalued targets on our radar screens here at Bodog Sportsbook – your No. 1 destination for the best MLB betting in Canada and across the Americas.
Merrill Kelly, SP, Arizona Diamondbacks
Toronto’s rotation has held up well despite its own injury setbacks, and there’s a chance former All-Star Alek Manoah (elbow) will find his magic again once he returns from his rehab assignment in Florida. Still, the starting five is the most important part of any baseball team. You can never have too many good pitchers, even when the rotations tighten up for the playoffs.
The 47-50 Diamondbacks are pretty much where the Jays were last year at this time: on the wrong side of .500, and likely to move some impending free agents at the deadline. Despite winning the National League pennant in 2023, Arizona remains a regional baseball market with a small fanbase, so you might not be all that familiar with Kelly – especially when former All-Star SP Zac Gallen is generating more chatter as a potential shed for the Snakes.
Kelly would be the better choice from a value perspective. Not only does he make less money ($7 million this year) than Gallen ($13.5 million), Kelly is also outperforming him on the mound, posting a 3.34 ERA to Gallen’s bloated 5.40 ERA. It’s possible this is just a bump on the road for Gallen, but Toronto is aiming for the short term here; if they want to take a flier on someone with upside, our next trade candidate has much more to offer.
Michael Soroka, SP, Washington Nationals
Remember this hot Canadian prospect? Soroka was an All-Star for Atlanta in his 2019 rookie campaign and their Opening Day starter in 2020 before tearing his Achilles – which he tore again in 2021. It’s been all downhill from there for the pride of Calgary. Soroka went 0-10 for the Chicago White Sox last year, and he’s 3-7 for the Nationals thus far.
That being said, win-loss records aren’t very good for evaluating starters. For that matter, Earned Run Average isn’t all that great either, so we’re not too concerned about Soroka’s 5.35 ERA with Washington. Consider instead his 4.11 FIP (Fielder Independent Pitching), which might not be the stuff of All-Stars, but it’s more than competent, especially when Soroka is making just $9 million this year.
For further statistical proof, we can point to Soroka’s 9.89 strikeouts per nine innings, which would be a career high for the burly northpaw. He’s also throwing his fastball harder than ever at 94 mph, while showing good command at 2.54 walks/9 IP. As a franchise, the 38-58 Nationals are a complete mess with an interim GM in Mike DeBartolo, so maybe Toronto won’t have to ship too many premium assets in exchange for Soroka, even if other World Series contenders like the New York Yankees and Detroit Tigers will be in the market.
Andrew Kittredge, RP, Baltimore Orioles
Relief pitchers aren’t exactly a dime a dozen. This is one of the most undervalued positions on the roster, and Toronto’s once-stout bullpen has been its weak spot for a while now. Kittredge would provide the Jays with a quality veteran middle reliever at a reasonable price: the prorated remainder of his $9 million salary for 2025, plus another $9 million club option for 2026.
The 43-52 Orioles might not be in a hurry to jettison this useful player. They had designs on a third straight trip to the postseason before things went south. Again, this is not unlike what happened to the Jays last year, so Baltimore might be more inclined to trade away impending free agents like 1B/DH Ryan O’Hearn and OF Cedric Mullins, two of this year’s more talked-about trade targets. But does Toronto really need any more of those pieces?
They could certainly use someone like Kittredge. A former All-Star in 2021, the Spokane, Washington native had Tommy John surgery in 2022, but came back the following August and looks just as good as before – even if Kittredge is now on his third team in three years. He should also be fresh for the playoffs after making his 2025 debut in late May following a left knee debridement procedure.
Paul Sewald, RP, Cleveland Guardians
Canadian baseball fans on the West Coast might remember Sewald from his two-plus years with the Seattle Mariners, where he broke out in 2021 after initially struggling with the New York Mets. As with Kittredge, Sewald is now on his third team in three seasons, losing the closer role for the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2024 before signing a one-year, $7-million deal with Cleveland that also includes a “mutual option” year for 2026.
The Snakes paid a hefty price to Seattle for the promising right-hander ahead of the 2023 deadline, as they embarked on their own playoff run, then watched as Sewald struggled in Games 1 and 5 of the World Series. Toronto would presumably be able to get the veteran reliever for much less this time around. Sewald has only just returned for Cleveland after sitting out May and June with a strained right shoulder.
The thing is, Sewald has been pretty much the same pitcher these past five seasons. Relievers don’t throw as many innings as starters, so you’re always dealing with small sample sizes when you evaluate them. Arizona may have pulled the trigger too early on Sewald, and the 46-49 Guardians have only seen him pitch 15.1 innings this year, with a 4.70 ERA that masks his more proficient 4.06 FIP. This would be a classic deadline-day bullpen acquisition for a team that could definitely use Sewald’s services.
Oneil Cruz, OF, Pittsburgh Pirates
All right, if we’re going to include non-pitchers on our list, let’s focus on the 39-58 Pirates, who have reportedly made everyone but SP Paul Skenes and OF Andrew McCutchen available for purchase. Toronto and all the other title contenders might be tempted to swing for the fences with two-time All-Star OF Bryan Reynolds, but he’s under contract until 2030 with a club option for 2031, and he’s in the middle of the worst season of his career, posting –0.6 WAR (Wins Above Replacement) for last-place Pittsburgh.
Now that MLB teams are subject to a punitive “competitive balance tax” with multiple aprons – not unlike what the Toronto Raptors and other NBA teams have to navigate – the last thing Toronto needs at this time is another fat contract, at least not with this amount of risk attached. Why not take a flier instead on Cruz? This exciting 26-year-old made his MLB debut in 2021 and is making just $785,000 for the Pirates this year, but Cruz is eligible for arbitration in 2026, so Pittsburgh might want to get something for him now rather than pay him later.
In the meantime, Toronto would have the opportunity to kick the tires on Cruz by using him as an extra outfielder. This has also been a somewhat disappointing season for the fifth-year player, posting a career-low .733 OPS, but Cruz also leads the National League at press time with 29 stolen bases, and his 16 home runs heading toward the break are just five shy of last year’s career high.
Again, all five of these trade candidates are “under the radar” value picks, so they’re not getting talked about as much as, say, Pirates SP Mitch Keller, who’s been rumoured as a likely target for the Chicago Cubs. But if you’re a veteran of the baseball betting wars, you know how important the right supporting cast is to a would-be World Series contender like Toronto. The Jays as constructed should be fine no matter which reinforcements they add, so keep checking in with us at Bodog Sportsbook as we get ready for what will hopefully be a deep run into the 2025 postseason.