Blue Jays continue to balk at full-blown fire sale at trade deadline

Another day, another loss for the Toronto Blue Jays in which their offense did not show up and their bullpen imploded. Those two themes have been very prevalent in what continues to look like a lost season for a Jays team that expected to at the very least compete for a postseason spot before the season began.

At 41-50, the Jays enter Wednesday's action in last place in the AL East and 9.5 games back of the third Wild Card spot in the AL. FanGraphs gives them 1.6 percent odds to make it to the postseason. It's not officially over, but it'd take a miraculous run for the Jays to even get back into the race, let alone steal a postseason spot.

With the Jays having such short odds to get to the postseason, selling feels inevitable at this year's trade deadline. With that being said, however, selling is not the same as having a full-blown fire sale. While the Jays will likely be selling, Mark Feinsand of MLB.com believes there won't be a fire sale.

Blue Jays continue to refute chances of a full-blown fire sale at trade deadline

"According to sources, the Blue Jays have told other clubs that they are willing to move players with expiring contracts, but those with control beyond 2024 are not being traded. The consensus among a dozen executives we spoke with is that the Blue Jays will attempt to move most or all of their rental players if they sell, working to add some prospects to a farm system that entered the season ranked at No. 24 by MLB Pipeline."

The Jays are willing to move players who are set to hit free agency at the end of the year like Yusei Kikuchi, Justin Turner, and Yimi Garcia to name a few, but in terms of players with more than one year under contract, that sounds very unlikely. The goal of moving rentals would be to improve their subpar farm system, which makes a lot of sense.

Not moving players who are under contract past the 2024 campaign not only means Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Bo Bichette will be staying put, but the Jays won't be moving guys like Chris Bassitt, Kevin Gausman, and Jordan Romano either.

Anything can happen this time of year. If a team comes to them offering the moon for one of those controllable guys, sure, the Jays might strike. Barring an overpayment, it's hard to envision the Jays ruining their chances of competing in 2025, which would happen by trading those who are under contract past this season.