Every Active Blue Jays Trade String

My DiamondCentric colleague Greggory Masterson has written some excellent articles about trade trees over at Twins Daily. Most recently, he drew a line linking Michael Cuddyer, Minnesota’s first-round pick in 1997, to a couple of current Twins, Austin Martin and Simeon Woods Richardson.

Inspired by his writing, I wanted to trace the lineage of some recent Blue Jays trades. However, I was less concerned with the more broad-ranging concept of the “trade tree” and more interested in what I’m calling “trade strings.” 

The term “trade tree” is often used to describe, in the words of Harold Hutchison at Brewer Fanatic, “the future transactions stemming from any given trade.”

In other words, as long as the tree starts with a trade, it can include transactions beyond just trades. 

For instance, I could draw you a line from Marco Scutaro to present-day Paxton Schultz. The Blue Jays traded for Scutaro in 2007 and later drafted Aaron Sanchez as a compensation pick for losing Scutaro to free agency. In 2019, the Jays traded Sanchez, Joe Biagini, and Cal Stevenson to the Astros for Derek Fisher, and in 2021, the Jays and Brewers swapped Fisher and Schultz. 

On the other hand, a trade string, as the name implies, needs to be a string of trades – and only trades.

Sixteen players on Toronto's 40-man roster became Blue Jays via trade. I've listed them all below, in the order in which they joined the organization:

1. Paxton Schultz
2. Bowden Francis
3. José Berríos
4. Adam Macko
5. Daulton Varsho
6. Braydon Fisher
7. Jonatan Clase
8. Jake Bloss
9. Joey Loperfido
10. Tommy Nance
11. Andrés Giménez
12. Myles Straw
13. Shane Bieber
14. Louis Varland
15. Brandon Valenzuela
16. Chase Lee

Most of these players aren't part of a trade string at all, meaning that no one they were traded for also joined the Blue Jays via trade. Take a look:

Bowden Francis

Blue Jays career: 62 games, 0.4 fWAR (2022-present)

1. The Blue Jays acquired Bowden Francis and Trevor Richards from the Brewers in exchange for Rowdy Tellez.
2. The Blue Jays selected Rowdy Tellez in the 2013 MLB Draft.

Daulton Varsho

Blue Jays career: 365 games, 7.3 fWAR (2023-present)

1. The Blue Jays acquired Daulton Varsho from the Diamondbacks in exchange for Lourdes Gurriel Jr. and Gabriel Moreno.
2. The Blue Jays signed Lourdes Gurriel Jr. and Gabriel Moreno as international free agents in 2016. 

Braydon Fisher

Blue Jays career: 52 games, 0.8 fWAR (2025-present)

1. The Blue Jays acquired Braydon Fisher from the Dodgers in exchange for Cavan Biggio. 
2. The Blue Jays selected Cavan Biggio in the 2016 MLB Draft.

Jonatan Clase

Blue Jays career: 41 games, 0.0 fWAR (2024-present)

1. The Blue Jays acquired Jonatan Clase and Jacob Sharp from the Mariners for Yimi García.
2. The Blue Jays signed Yimi García as a free agent in 2021.

Tommy Nance 

Blue Jays career: 50 games, 0.8 (2024-present)

1. The Blue Jays acquired Tommy Nance from the Padres in exchange for cash considerations.
2. The Blue Jays acquired cash considerations from ticket sales, TV revenue, loonie dog nights, etc. 

Andrés Giménez 

Blue Jays career: 101 games, 1.0 fWAR (2025-present)

1. The Blue Jays acquired Andrés Giménez and Nick Sandlin from the Guardians in exchange for Spencer Horwitz and Nick Mitchell.
2. The Blue Jays selected Spencer Horwitz in the 2019 MLB Draft and Nick Mitchell in the 2024 MLB Draft.

Shane Bieber 

Blue Jays career: 7 games, 0.3 fWAR (2025-present)

1. The Blue Jays acquired Shane Bieber from the Guardians for Khal Stephen.
2. The Blue Jays selected Khal Stephen in the 2024 MLB Draft.

Louis Varland

Blue Jays career: 23 games, 0.2 fWAR (2025-present)

1. The Blue Jays acquired Louis Varland and Ty France from the Twins in exchange for Kendry Rojas and Alan Roden.
2. The Blue Jays selected Alan Roden in the 2022 MLB Draft and signed Kendry Rojas as an international free agent in 2020.

Chase Lee

Blue Jays career: N/A

1. The Blue Jays acquired Chase Lee in exchange for Johan Simon. 
2. The Blue Jays signed Johan Simon as an international free agent in 2020.

However, the Blue Jays aren't without any active trade strings. Here's what we've got:

Two-Trade Strings

The following three Blue Jays were all acquired via trades, and at least one of the players the Blue Jays traded to acquire them was also acquired via trade.

Paxton Schultz

Blue Jays career: 13 games, 0.1 fWAR (2025-present)

1. The Blue Jays acquired Paxton Schultz from the Brewers as the player to be named later in exchange for Derek Fisher.
2. The Blue Jays acquired Derek Fisher from the Astros in exchange for Aaron Sanchez, Joe Biagini, and Cal Stevenson.
3. The Blue Jays selected Aaron Sanchez in the 2010 MLB Draft, Joe Biagini in the 2015 Rule 5 draft, and Cal Stevenson in the 2018 MLB Draft.

José Berríos

Blue Jays career: 139 games, 8.0 fWAR (2021-present)

1. The Blue Jays acquired José Berríos from the Twins in exchange for Austin Martin and Simeon Woods Richardson.
2. The Blue Jays acquired Simeon Woods Richardson and Anthony Kay from the Mets in exchange for Marcus Stroman and cash. (The Blue Jays selected Austin Martin in the 2020 MLB Draft)
3. The Blue Jays selected Marcus Stroman in the 2012 MLB Draft.

Brandon Valenzuela (feat. Jake Bloss & Joey Loperfido)

Valenzuela's Blue Jays career: N/A 
Bloss's Blue Jays career: N/A
Loperfido's Blue Jays career: 84 games, 0.4 fWAR (2024-present)

1. The Blue Jays acquired Brandon Valenzuela from the Padres in exchange for Will Wagner.
2. The Blue Jays acquired Jake Bloss, Joey Loperfido, and Will Wagner from the Astros in exchange for Yusei Kikuchi.
3. The Blue Jays signed Yusei Kikuchi as a free agent in 2022.

The Three-Trade String

The following Blue Jay was acquired via trade, and the player the Blue Jays traded to acquire him was acquired via trade, and the player the Blue Jays traded to acquire the player the Blue Jays traded to acquire him was also acquired via trade.

Adam Macko

Blue Jays career: N/A

1. The Blue Jays acquired Adam Macko and Erik Swanson from the Mariners in exchange for Teoscar Hernández.
2. The Blue Jays acquired Teoscar Hernández and Nori Aoki from the Astros in exchange for Francisco Liriano.
3. The Blue Jays acquired Francisco Liriano, Reese McGuire, and Harold Ramírez from the Pirates in exchange for Drew Hutchison.
4. The Blue Jays selected Drew Hutchison in the 2009 MLB Draft.

At the head of the longest active Blue Jays trade string is Adam Macko, who has been on the 40-man roster for two years, although he's yet to make his MLB debut. The 24-year-old left-hander has outlasted Erik Swanson in the organization; Swanson was released in June. 

Macko and Swanson came to Toronto in the trade that sent long-time fan favourite Teoscar Hernández to Seattle. Hernández played parts of six seasons with the Jays, hitting 129 home runs in 609 games. He was an All-Star and a two-time Silver Slugger winner, even earning a handful of down-ballot MVP votes.

To bring in Hernández, the Blue Jays parted with veteran Francisco Liriano. The southpaw pitched well for Toronto down the stretch in 2016 (49.1 IP, 2.92 ERA, 3.55 xERA) but struggled the following season (82.2 IP, 5.88 ERA, 5.07 xERA) before he was flipped to Houston.

It all starts with Drew Hutchison, a low-round draft pick out of high school in 2009. He debuted for the Jays in 2012 and made 76 appearances (73 starts) for the club before they dealt him to the Pirates to knock over the first domino of the Adam Macko trade string.

The TBD Trade String 

An eagle-eyed observer might have noticed one trade-acquired Blue Jay missing from my breakdown. Let me explain...

Myles Straw 

Blue Jays career: 137 games, 1.8 fWAR (2025-present)

1. The Blue Jays acquired Myles Straw, international bonus pool space, and cash considerations from the Guardians in exchange for a player to be named later or cash.

The Guardians dealt Myles Straw to the Blue Jays for salary relief. Still, they were also supposed to (maybe) receive a PTBNL in the deal. If the Blue Jays are indeed sending anyone back to the Guardians (or if they already have?), we don't know who it is. So, it's possible (though unlikely) that there's another trade string waiting to materialize here.