Potential Blue Jays trade target could be off the table thanks to vaccination status

Potential Blue Jays trade target Andrew Chafin may not be a viable choice with news breaking of his COVID-19 vaccination status.

Andrew Chafin, affectionately known as ‘The Sheriff’ thanks to his glorious mustache, may not be heading north of the border to become Toronto’s newest mountie after all, as reports are beginning to circulate that he is not vaccinated against COVID.

With the Detroit Tigers getting ready for a four game series in Toronto, Chafin will not be able to travel with the team due to Canada’s policy against the coronavirus. He will join the ever-growing list of unvaccinated, ineligible MLB players that can’t travel to Toronto.

Blue Jays: Potential trade target now likely off the table

As we’ve seen with Andrew Benintendi recently, being unvaccinated makes you a tougher fit for teams that head to Toronto often, primarily the AL East. While the Yankees are reportedly back in the Benintendi sweepstakes, an acquisition by the Blue Jays themselves seems near impossible.

Chafin, 32, is as reliable as they come out of the bullpen. He has the unique distinction of being equally dominant against both right and left-handed bats and has nearly 450 big league appearances under his belt to this point.

The Blue Jays have been an obvious fit for Chafin’s services all along as they have just a single reliable left-handed option on their entire pitching staff in Tim Mayza. Anthony Banda is also on hand but he has continued to struggle at the major league level and doesn’t seem long for the big league roster.

In Chafin, the Blue Jays could have added a soft-tossing southpaw that has been dominant this season, posting a 2.53 ERA in 37 games, striking out 39 batters, walking ten and allowing just a single home run in 32 innings in 2022.

In an interview following today’s game against the Padres, Chafin did not have much to say when asked by reporters whether he’d be willing to reconsider his stance on the vaccine if it meant he could play in the postseason for teams facing Toronto.

“We’ll see what happens,” said Chafin, opting for a quiet approach in the media when questioned about the choice he decided to make prior to the season.

Unless he changes his tune, Chafin has effectively removed himself from consideration of the Blue Jays and maybe even other teams in the American League who will have to face Toronto before the year is over. It remains to be seen how this will truly affect his trade value but with the deadline in less than a week, we will find out soon enough.