The Toronto Blue Jays were once seen as real suitors for Sandy Alcantara, but that door has closed despite a brutal stretch from the Marlins.
Miami dropped a 12-game losing streak that sank their own playoff hopes, the kind of collapse that usually pushes a team toward selling off assets like Alcantara.
But a Marlins insider made clear this week that Alcantara isn't going anywhere.
"We have to stop talking about Sandy Alcantara being traded, he's not going to be traded," Craig Mish said. "There are a lot of players on this team, Eury Pérez, Max Meyer, Joe Mack, these are cornerstone-type players. I believe they will be with this team through the deadline and through the future."
That's a firm answer that removes a name Sports Illustrated's Patrick McAvoy had floated as a fit earlier this season, given Toronto's rotation injuries.
"The Blue Jays have been dealing with pitching injuries left and right to the point that they signed Patrick Corbin," McAvoy wrote. "If there was a team out there that could use an ace, it would be Toronto right now."
Toronto sits at 48-58, still running low on time to climb back into contention, and losing a potential target like Alcantara only narrows the available options further.
Why Toronto could still add and subtract at the same time
The Athletic's Mitch Bannon still predicts Toronto adds a top-tier starter despite selling off pieces elsewhere.
"The Jays will sell, moving significant pieces off the MLB roster, but still bring in a big-fish starting pitcher with multiple years of control," Bannon wrote. "They need an addition like Jose Soriano, Reid Detmers or Nick Lodolo to compete in 2027."
At the same time, Bleacher Report's Kerry Miller suggested Toronto could ship out veteran Max Scherzer, who's made just one appearance in the past three months and carries a 10.23 ERA across six starts this season.
"Father Time has caught up with MLB's still rostered 40-somethings who will be first-ballot Hall of Famers in a few years," Miller wrote, grouping Scherzer with names like Justin Verlander.
It's a bit like renovating one room while selling off furniture in another, both projects happening under the same roof at the same time.
Does losing Alcantara as an option push Toronto toward a different, more realistic target, or does missing out on him simply confirm how thin the true ace market actually is this summer?
Would landing a controllable starter like Jose Soriano or Reid Detmers actually help the Blue Jays more than keeping their current veterans?
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