The Toronto Blue Jays have been the hottest team in baseball since selling at the trade deadline.
Toronto didn't move out as many players as some expected. But they did part ways with a couple of key veterans, headlined by Kevin Gausman and Daulton Varsho.
Since then, the Blue Jays have gone 10-5. That stretch has them sitting half a game back of a playoff spot.
Sometimes subtraction works out better than anyone plans for. This looks like one of those stretches.
Meanwhile, the two players who left aren't having the same kind of run.
Varsho, dealt to the Astros, is hitting a rough .125 with just three RBIs through 54 plate appearances since the trade.
For a pending free agent, that's an expensive stretch to be going through right before hitting the open market.
Why the Blue Jays look smart on both sides of this
Varsho had been dealing with his own struggles in Toronto before the trade even happened.
A .125 average over 54 plate appearances isn't a fluke sample. It's a real slump following him from one city to the next.
Gausman, sent to the Cubs, has had his own rough transition, carrying a 6.17 ERA over his first innings in Chicago.
Two veterans moved out, and both are scuffling in their new homes while Toronto keeps winning without them.
That's not proof the trades were smart on their own. But it's the kind of early return that makes a front office look good either way.
Toronto's stretch run is about the roster in front of them now, not the ones who left. Whether the 10-5 run turns into a playoff berth is still the real question.
Did the Blue Jays make the right call trading both Kevin Gausman and Daulton Varsho?
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