Blue Jays rumored trade deadline plans get dumber by the day

The Toronto Blue Jays are on the brink of watching their season go down the drain. They currently sit 7.5 games out of the third AL Wild Card spot, and they hold a run differential of -51.

While playing in the loaded AL East, the Blue Jays will need to be a powerhouse or they have no chance of competing with the Yankees or the Orioles. So, when the news broke that they may be looking to sell Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Bo Bichette, who have an additional year on their contract, it made sense. Toronto needs more than just 365 days to field a team to compete with New York and Baltimore.

But it seems as though Toronto is once again changing directions with their plans and it doesn't make a whole lot of sense.

Blue Jays expected to sell rentals, hold onto Bichette, Guerrero Jr.

Bob Nightengale of USA Today reported on these plans in his latest article.

"The Blue Jays, whose season is already on the brink, plan to place starter Yusei Kikuchi, catcher Danny Jansen, reliever Yimi Garcia, DH Justin Turner and outfielder Kevin Kiermaier on the trade block. Yet, they still want to make one last run with Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Bo Bichette. They should be staying until at least this winter, if not next summer."

Selling the rentals makes perfect sense and it's exactly what should be expected. The 2024 season is basically over for Toronto, with Baseball Reference and FanGraphs each giving them less than a 5.0 percent chance to make the postseason.

But to compete in the AL East, you need to be a powerhouse. Rebuilding to a powerhouse will take more than just one year. Holding onto Bichette and Guerrero means the Blue Jays think they can put together a team to overthrow the Yankees and Orioles in just one offseason, while unloading all their rental players this season.

Trading Bichette and Guerrero this season would net a huge return for both players, and it would kickstart their rebuild in the direction they need in order to chase down the powers of the American League.

Yes, they would be bad for a while. But they could take a page out of Baltimore's book, as the Orioles have put out the perfect blueprint on how to build a sustainable super team.