Blue Jays could have another future cornerstone budding before their eyes

The Toronto Blue Jays have been a franchise divided this entire season.

On one hand, they have the talent that it takes to compete. They just need a few more pieces to be the World Series contenders that they want to be. Vlad Guerrero Jr., Chris Bassitt, Kevin Gausman and Jose Berrios headline their talented roster while Bo Bichette sits on the IL.

On the other hand, they haven't quite played like a World Series team. Guerrero is basically the only player on the roster who has played like a World Series competitor this season.

So, the Blue Jays front office took the most logical approach at the trade deadline. They opted to reload, not rebuild. When I say this, I mean, they were sellers at the deadline, but they only traded away the players on expiring contracts. They're going to be active in free agency, and they will be looking to contend in 2025.

Making it easier to contend in 2025 is a breakout star pitcher making his presence known over the past few weeks.

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Meet Bowden Francis, a bonafide Blue Jays star

Bowden Francis was cruising under the radar for all of 2024, until he decided to take a no-hitter into the ninth inning on August 24th.

If you don't know Francis very well, let me introduce you to the 28 year old.

Francis has been a reliever his entire big-league career. He's made 44 big-league appearances, only nine of them being starts. Each of his past five appearances have been starts, all coming in August. All were excellent outings.

In August, including a 0.1 inning relief appearance against the Yankees, Francis has thrown 34.1 innings, allowing 10 hits and four earned runs. These are the type of numbers that fit prime Jacob deGrom or prime Randy Johnson, not a pitcher that's made just nine big league starts.

But here we are, in the middle of Bowden Francis' big league breakout stretch.

The Blue Jays are going to need a lot of things to happen if they want to turn their organization around heading into 2025. There are obvious things like turning Bichette back around, signing some big name free agents and buying at the trade deadline. But making sure Francis continues trending in the right direction would be the biggest difference-maker.