Agreed, and on top of that, the team decided to hold on to vets + add at the deadline (which happened to be the biggest seller's market since forever), so they'll lose Semien/Ray for just comp picks, and don't have Martin/SWR to use in trades. Hopefully, Berrios has a big free agent year, but even then, he's essentially replacing Ray who has been excellent this season. Improving next season is still very possible, but they didn't do themselves any favors.
The key to competing in the AL East is to be definite in action. If you're a playoff long shot, then turn short term assets into long term assets. If you're legitimately in it, then try to make a real run. The Jays were a playoff long shot (run differential or not, they were behind, what, 4-5 teams?) with the absolute realistic best case scenario being a WC spot. Expecting a 2015 2nd half type of run every time the team greatly underperforms their RD is simply not a smart strategy.
This season has been frustrating on so many different levels despite some great individual performances.