The sell-off of the 2024 Blue Jays officially began late Friday afternoon, with veteran reliever Yimi García being the first player to leave.
The Jays traded García, a pending free agent at the end of the season, to the Seattle Mariners in exchange for minor-league outfielder Jonatan Clase and catcher Jacob Sharp.
The decision to move García was hardly a surprise. With the Jays out of playoff contention, his name had been mentioned in rumors for weeks. García admitted Friday he had his bags packed long before the deal was completed. “It’s a mix of emotions that I’m feeling right now,” García said through an interpreter. “I’m very happy that I’m going to the Mariners, of course. They’re contending. And I’m very sad. The Blue Jays organization is first class. They treated me with a lot of respect, my teammates, too.”
García was considered one of the top relievers available at this year’s deadline. The 34-year-old right-hander had been one of the few bright spots in an otherwise dismal Jays bullpen, posting a 2.70 ERA across 30 innings.
He signed a three-year, $16-million (U.S.) deal with the Jays in 2022 and said early on he turned down more money from an undisclosed team because of his desire to win a World Series. The Jays made the post-season in each of his first two years with the club but never won a game once there. “I wouldn’t call it frustrated,” García said when asked about that unfortunate turn of events. “This is baseball. Sometimes you think you have the team to win, but it’s a long season … Unfortunately for us, it didn’t happen.”
The primary piece coming to the Jays is Clase. The 22-year-old outfielder has long been touted as “the fastest runner in Seattle’s system” and was ranked the Mariners’ 10th-best prospect by MLB Pipeline. He brings a mix of power and game-changing speed; in 2023, the Dominican became the first player to hit 20 home runs with at least 70 stolen bases since minor-league tracking began in 1961.
Clase has spent most of this season in Triple-A Tacoma but also appeared in 19 games for the Mariners, batting .195 with a .452 on-base-plus-slugging percentage. There are legitimate questions about whether he will make enough consistent contact to become an everyday player, but there’s upside in his ability to draw walks and hit the ball out of the park despite a five-foot-10, 150-pound frame.
Sharp wasn’t included in MLB Pipeline’s top 30 prospects for the Mariners and has a long way to go before becoming a big-league option. The 22-year-old is batting .255 with a .773 OPS in 44 games in Class A after being selected in the 17th round of last year’s MLB draft.
The two prospects seem like a fair return for a high-leverage reliever on an expiring contract, but the final verdict won’t be known for some time. The still-developing Clase, who figures to join the Jays at some point in August, has been optioned to Triple-A Buffalo.
The trade marks the start of what is expected to be a busy few days for the Jays’ front office. Yusei Kikuchi, Friday’s starter, is expected to be dealt before Tuesday’s deadline, while other pending free agents such as Danny Jansen, Justin Turner, Kevin Kiermaier, and Trevor Richards remain available.
Reliever Chad Green, starters Kevin Gausman and Chris Bassitt, and infielder Isiah Kiner-Falefa are also trade candidates, but the Jays have long talked about a desire to retool in an attempt to be competitive again next year, so it’s not immediately clear if they’re being shopped. All four players are signed through at least 2025.
García, though, won’t be part of the group moving forward. “In my situation, you’re expecting something like that to happen,” said García, who was previously traded from the Marlins to the Astros at the 2021 deadline. “It was kind of normal for me.”
It might be normal for García, but it doesn’t feel that way for most of his former teammates. The Jays haven’t been sellers at the trade deadline since Bo Bichette was called up to make his big-league debut in Kansas City on July 29, 2019.
Bichette’s arrival, combined with the debut of Vladimir Guerrero Jr. earlier that year, marked the start of a new era for Jays baseball. That chapter is drawing to a close without any playoff success to show for it.
To get back into contention, the Jays will have to continue overhauling one of the worst minor-league systems in baseball while also having a successful off-season this winter. García was the first domino to fall; he certainly won’t be the last.
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