The Toronto Blue Jays had a busy trade deadline both selling and buying, but the real problem down the stretch remains their offense.
Toronto ranks dead last in baseball in team OPS and has scored the fewest runs of any team this season, a broken lineup that's made a difficult year even harder to watch.
Their .678 OPS ranks as the fourth-worst mark in franchise history, with the other three seasons all coming from the club's first six years of existence.
Toronto sits 3.5 games back of the final wild card, and Ross Atkins has shown he's willing to make aggressive moves, opening the door to look at recently released bats who could help.
Jorge Soler stands out as a real name. The Angels couldn't move him at the deadline, and he was DFA'd and cleared waivers, becoming a free agent.
Soler has hit 12 home runs in 86 games this season, though he's slashing just .203/.291/.373 overall. Those 12 homers would still tie him for second on Toronto's roster, behind only Kazuma Okamoto's 24 blasts and level with George Springer's 12.
Why Refsnyder and Hays also make sense as depth options
Rob Refsnyder, a former Blue Jay back in 2017, has struggled badly with Seattle this season, hitting just .140 over 53 games, but he's historically thrived against left-handed pitching, hitting .302 with a .902 OPS against lefties last season.
That's a real contrast to Davis Schneider, Toronto's primary lefty-masher bench bat, who's hitting just .147 this season overall.
Austin Hays, a former All-Star released by the White Sox following the deadline, offers another right-handed outfield option, even though his 2026 numbers with Chicago have been rough at .233/.250/.326.
Notably, Hays has hit .279 with 12 home runs and 40 RBIs against Toronto throughout his career, meaning signing him would remove a familiar Blue Jays killer from the market entirely.
It's a bit like a store picking through the clearance rack, betting a couple of proven names still have something left even after being let go elsewhere.
Would any of these low-cost additions actually move the needle for baseball's worst offense, or does Toronto's core problem run deeper than a depth signing can fix?
Which released veteran should the Blue Jays pursue: Jorge Soler, Rob Refsnyder, or Austin Hays?
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