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2-player trade proposal between the Blue Jays and Pirates announced involving Nathan Lukes


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Bobby Ohr
December 5, 2025  (12:17)
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Oct 19, 2025; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Toronto Blue Jays right fielder Nathan Lukes (38) celebrates after a single in the first inning against the Seattle Mariners during game six of the ALCS round for the 2025 MLB playoffs at Rogers Centre.
Photo credit: Nick Turchiaro-Imagn Images

The Toronto Blue Jays are now looking at the trade market and a proposal was announced involving fan favorite Nathan Lukes going to the Pittsburgh Pirates.

There has been a lot of speculation regarding trades lately, especially involving some of their starting pitchers such as Jose Berrios, Bowden Francis and Eric Lauer.

Blue Jays could look to trade Nathan Lukes

The Blue Jays main focus right now seems to be adding offense and solid relief pitchers to their bullpen which is why insider Mitch Bannon recently proposed a trade involving Lukes.
Bannon mentioned that the Blue Jays could look to trade Lukes to the Pittsburgh Pirates in exchange for relief pitcher Carmen Mlodzinski in a one for one trade.
However, adding Tucker to that list makes Toronto's outfield even more crowded. With that, Blue Jays reporter Mitch Bannon of The Athletic predicted Toronto will trade Lukes, a fan-favorite, to the Pittsburgh Pirates for pitcher Carmen Mlodzinski. -Shelton

In this proposal, Bannon seems to believe that landing free agent Kyle Tucker would be a huge part of it as it would give the Blue Jays some freedom to trade a left handed hitter like Lukes.
«Tucker, who visited Toronto's development complex in Florida on Wednesday, has been worth at least 4.6 WAR the last five seasons, per Baseball Reference,» Bannon wrote. «He could be the elite left-handed bat the Jays would love to pair with Guerrero at the top of their batting order. Tucker's addition would also allow the Jays to move an outfielder like Nathan Lukes, traded in this example offseason for further pitching depth.» -Bannon

Lukes had an incredible 2025 season as he finished with 12 home runs and 65 RBIs which no one really saw coming when he cracked the Opening Day roster last season.
Due to how he played during the season and in the playoffs, the Blue Jays could actually get a solid return for him.
Mlodzinski would be a great addition to the Blue Jays bullpen after finishing with a 3.55 ERA in 99 innings pitched last season and 89 strikeouts which also included 12 starts.
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2-player trade proposal between the Blue Jays and Pirates announced involving Nathan Lukes

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