Leo Morgenstern

The Blue Jays have placed Patrick Corbin on the 15-day injured list with a teres major strain. The left-hander gave up four runs on seven hits over 2.1 innings in his latest outing. He owns an 8.18 ERA in four appearances since moving to the bullpen. Corbin is known for his durability; this is his first non-COVID-related IL stint since he had Tommy John surgery in 2014. In Corbin's place, Toronto recalled fellow southpaw Adam Macko. The rookie got off to a hot start for the Blue Jays, holding his opponents scoreless in 14 of his first 15 games. Unfortunately, he has given up nine runs in five innings over his last four appearances for the big league club. He now owns a 5.03 ERA (and a 4.80 xERA) on the season, with a 4.18 ERA/4.08 xERA at Triple-A Buffalo. In an additional transaction, the Jays sent a struggling Sean Keys back down to the Bisons. The 23-year-old dominated minor league pitching over the first three months of the season, earning his call to the show in late June. Since then, he has often looked overwhelmed by major league arms, going just 6-for-36 with one walk, one home run, and 13 strikeouts. He only played in four of the team's last 10 games. Davis Schneider will return to replace Keys on the bench. The fan favourite has been the definition of a quad-A player this year. He has embarrassed minor league pitching in a couple of stints with the Buffalo Bisons (173 wRC+), but frustratingly, he's never looked worse at the major league level. View full rumor

In the five-year, $110 million contract that Kevin Gausman signed with the Toronto Blue Jays before the 2022 season, the right-hander negotiated a limited no-trade clause. He has the right to reject a trade to eight of the other 29 teams. Today, The Athletic's Ken Rosenthal reported which teams those are: the Reds, Brewers, Tigers, Mets, Athletics, White Sox, Pirates, and Mariners. Of those teams, the Reds, Mets, and Athletics will not be buyers at the trade deadline, while the Tigers are still on the fence. The Pirates are interested in buying without taking on salary. The Mariners will be buying, but starting pitching is the one thing they definitely don't need. In other words, most of the teams that might be interested in Gausman aren't covered under his partial no-trade clause. And if a contender like the White Sox or especially the Brewers came calling, there's a good chance Gausman would accept a trade anyway. With that said, Gausman told reporters (including MLB.com's Keegan Matheson) after his latest start, "I'm not going to think about [the possibility of being traded] too much. I'm a Blue Jay right now, and the focus is this team, this room and those guys." View full rumor

The Blue Jays lost two of three to the White Sox over the weekend, falling to 46-53 on the season. With 13 games to play before the August 3 trade deadline, they need to go at least 10-3 in that span to be at .500 by deadline day. That's a tall order, especially since all four teams they'll play are at or above .500 right now: the Rays, Red Sox, Nationals, and Cardinals. It's getting harder and harder to stay optimistic. Toronto Blue Jays Weekend in Review (July 17-19) Friday, July 17: CHW 12, TOR 4 Spencer Miles gets rocked, White Sox pile on against Adam Macko, Patrick Corbin, Braydon Fisher. George Springer plays left field, Brandon Valenzuela DHs. Both hit home runs. Saturday, July 18: TOR 1, CHW 0 Joe Carter statue unveiled. Shane Bieber throws six scoreless innings. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. goes 2-for-3 with a double, a walk, and the game's only run. Louis Varland gets save number 20. Sunday, July 19: CHW 3, TOR 0 Trey Yesavage strikes out a season-high nine. Still takes the loss in a quality start. Ernie Clement and Nathan Lukes each reach base twice. Rest of lineup goes 1-for-23. Toronto Blue Jays Transactions of the Weekend Lazaro Estrada recalled. (1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R on Sunday, July 19) Brendon Little recalled. CJ Van Eyk optioned. Adam Macko optioned. Ryan Sprock (acquired for Tommy Nance) assigned to High-A Vancouver Canadians. Blue Jays sign top three draft picks Cole Carlon (No. 39), Ryan Cooney (No. 103), Will Brick (No. 131). Toronto Blue Jays Injury Updates of the Week Max Scherzer got cortisone shots in his thumb. He threw in the bullpen over the weekend. His next rehab outing is not yet scheduled. Yimi García threw a bullpen on Saturday. Jesús Sánchez faced live pitching. Addison Barger is shut down from all baseball activities. He has not given up on returning this season. John Schneider says an August return is possible, if optimistic. Anthony Santander felt more shoulder pain and received a cortisone shot. He will be shut down for a few more days. Lenyn Sosa has not played since late June after suffering a setback in his rehab. He started hitting again this week. View full article

Cole Carlon and the Toronto Blue Jays have agreed to a contract with a $2.4 million bonus, according to a report from MLB Pipeline’s Jim Callis. The Jays took the left-hander with the No. 39 overall pick, which came with a slot value of $2,571,700. According to MLB.com's Keegan Matheson, the Blue Jays are expected to use the money they saved on Carlon's underslot bonus to woo No. 131 overall pick Will Brick with an overslot offer. You can read more about Carlon on Jays Centre at this link. You can also follow along with our Blue Jays Draft Tracker as the team comes to terms with more draft picks in the coming days. View full rumor

No one knows how CBA negotiations between MLB and the MLBPA will affect the 2027 season. However, we now know what the schedule will look like, presuming no prolonged work stoppage. The season will begin with one game on Wednesday, March 24. The teams for that game have not yet been announced. Opening Day for the Blue Jays will be Thursday, March 25, 2027, unless they're chosen to play the day before. They will take on the Yankees in a three-game set in the Bronx, before travelling to Baltimore for a series with the Orioles. The home opener is set for Friday, April 2, against the Mariners. The Jays will be home for Canada Day (facing the Angels) before departing on a 10-game road trip heading into the All-Star break. The Midsummer Classic is scheduled for July 13 at Wrigley Field. Finally, the Blue Jays will end their 2027 regular season at home with series against the Yankees and Rays, wrapping up on September 26. You can find their full 2027 schedule here. View full rumor

The American League cruised to a 4-0 victory in last night's All-Star Game, and the Blue Jays' representatives all did their part to help the cause. Here's how each of them performed. Dylan Cease By the time Dylan Cease threw his first pitch, he was already working with a comfortable lead. The AL All-Stars sent eight batters to the plate in the top of the first – the whole starting lineup except for Ernie Clement – and scored three against the Phillies' Cristopher Sánchez, much to the chagrin of the passionate Philadelphia crowd. It turns out that a one-run lead would have sufficed. In his inning of work, Cease set the tone for the AL pitching staff, throwing the first of what would be nine scoreless frames. First, he embarrassed MLB home run leader Kyle Schwarber. Cease got Schwarber to swing through two heaters down the middle before making him chase a slider well below the zone. Next up was Juan Soto, arguably the hardest out in baseball. Yet, Cease only needed four pitches to retire the Mets slugger. Known for his keen eye at the plate, all Soto could do was watch as Cease floated a knuckle curve and a changeup past him for strikes one and two. After Soto fouled off a sinker to the moon, Cease called his shot: "fastball down and away." (Both he and catcher Shea Langeliers were mic'd up for the inning. I have very mixed feelings about the "in-game mic'd up" thing, but it was interesting to hear Cease call some pitches over the broadcast.) The plan worked, and Soto's face said it all as he walked back to the dugout: The next batter was beloved Canadian / bitter World Series enemy Freddie Freeman, who battled his way to a nine-pitch walk. Oh well. It wouldn't be a Dylan Cease outing without a high pitch count and the occasional control issue. And it wouldn't matter anyway. The final batter of the inning was CJ Abrams. The Nationals shortstop gave Cease a beautiful whiff for his third swinging strikeout of the inning. You can't ask for much more than that. Ernie Clement Clement went 0-for-2 at the bottom of the AL lineup, grounding out on the first pitch in both of his at-bats. However, he still made his mark on the game. In the fifth inning, Clement ran into the outfield on the left side of second base to grab a hard grounder up the middle. Then, he leapt into the air and launched it to first base in time to steal a base hit from Andy Pages: For many, Clement included, it instantly called to mind the catch Pages made last fall to rob Clement of the hit that would have won the World Series. "Yeah, I had to get him back for what he did to us in the World Series... Getting him back a little bit, it felt pretty good," Clement said after the game. While it would have been nice to see him get a hit, I'm so glad Clement had his moment to shine in the All-Star Game. The way Blue Jays fans supported him in the voting was incredible, and being there clearly meant so much to the man himself. "I believe that I could help a team win in the big leagues, but this is just way farther off my radar. I never would have dreamed of it, and I'm just lucky to be here." Louis Varland Louis Varland didn't get to finish the game like I was hoping. He didn't even get a hold, like the seven pitchers who threw before him, because the AL had increased its lead to 4-0 by the time Varland came on for the bottom of the eighth. Still, I'm grateful he got to pitch a full inning. Varland started things off with a triple-digit heater (way outside) to James Wood, perhaps just to show he could. He would quickly retire Wood, perhaps the NL's most dangerous hitter right now, as well as Hunter Goodman and Iván Herrera. The only blemish on his line was a groundball single to NL MVP contender Pete Crow-Armstrong. John Schneider It's hard to argue with the way the AL skipper deployed his pitchers. He gave every available arm a chance to throw in the game, and those arms put on a masterclass against the best competition the NL had to offer. The AL pitchers held their opponents to three hits and two walks, never letting a runner reach scoring position. Most impressive was their 15 strikeouts. By strikeout rate, this was the most dominant showing by a pitching staff in All-Star Game history: League + Year Strikeouts Batters Faced K% AL 2026 15 32 46.9% AL 2019 16 35 45.7% NL 2015 15 39 38.5% NL 1968 11 30 36.7% AL 2014 13 37 35.1% As with the pitchers, it was admirable that Schneider got every eligible position player on his roster into the game. However, his starting lineup decisions were a little more questionable. Hometown kid Mike Trout leading off in Philadelphia was a great call, as was batting AL MVP favourite Yordan Alvarez second. It was a little harder to understand why Langeliers was batting third, considering how cold he's been for the past two months. Similarly, batting Cody Bellinger ahead of Ben Rice and Riley Greene seems to indicate a complete lack of awareness of how badly Bellinger has been playing as of late. That said, Bellinger would go on to win All-Star Game MVP honours, so maybe I'm the one who doesn't know what I'm talking about. (And of course, it's not like it really matters.) Finally, I'd be remiss if I didn't include this screenshot, showing the moment broadcast accidentally confused John Schneider with Mike Trout. Personally, I make that mistake all the time, so I totally get it. Crunching the Numbers The Blue Jays franchise record for most representatives at the All-Star Game was set, unsurprisingly, in 1993, when Toronto sent seven players to the Midsummer Classic. While the Jays only had four All-Stars this year (including Vladimir Guerrero Jr., who did not participate), they did have a record number of All-Stars in another way. Sort of. I'll let Jays Centre contributor Mike LeSage explain: Anyway, that's it for our 2026 All-Star Game coverage. Good luck surviving the next two days with no baseball, and get ready for a whole lot of trade deadline talk over the next 20 days! View full article

When the Toronto Blue Jays signed Dylan Cease to a seven-year, $210 million contract, some fans were surprised. That's No. 1 starter money, and not everyone viewed him as a surefire ace. The Blue Jays saw a pitcher who compiled more than 20.0 fWAR over the past five seasons, with two top-five Cy Young finishes to his name. Others saw a pitcher with a mid-4.00s ERA in two of the past three seasons, who had never even made an All-Star team. Any questions about Cease's acehood are looking awfully foolish half a season into his Blue Jays career. His ERA is two runs lower than it was in 2025, and he has finally made his first All-Star team. Not only that, but he'll be starting the game for the AL squad. Let's take a quick look back at the other Toronto pitchers who had that honour before him. Dave Stieb, 1983 Dave Stieb made back-to-back All-Star teams in 1980 and '81. In 1981, he became the first Blue Jays pitcher to finish an All-Star Game, something I'm hoping Louis Varland will get to accomplish tonight. Stieb failed to make the squad for a third straight year in 1982, although he earned his first Cy Young votes at the end of the season. Then, in 1983, he went 10-7 with a 2.54 ERA over a league-leading 148.2 innings in the season's first half. That performance earned him the ball to start the Midsummer Classic. The Blue Jays' ace threw three innings, striking out future Hall of Famers Mike Schmidt, Andre Dawson, and Tim Raines, as well as two-time MVP Dale Murphy. Stieb gave up a run in the first inning, due to an error of his own doing, but quickly settled in. He was the winning pitcher in a 13-3 AL victory. Stieb wasn't quite as dominant in the second half, but that's only because of how high he set the bar for himself. He finished the year with a 3.04 ERA in 36 starts. While he didn't earn any Cy Young support, he led the Junior Circuit in bWAR for a second year in a row. Dave Stieb, 1984 At the halfway mark of the 1984 season, Stieb was 9-3 with a 2.42 ERA in 137.2 innings pitched. He had fewer complete games, but other than that, he looked every bit as dominant as he had in the first half the year before. Unfortunately, he wasn't as successful in the All-Star Game. Stieb threw two innings and gave up two runs (one earned), this time taking the loss in a 3-1 game. By FanGraphs and Baseball Reference WAR, the 1984 season was the best of Stieb's career. His 7.9 bWAR led the major leagues, as did his 267.0 innings pitched and 146 ERA+. Despite that, he didn't get much love in the Cy Young voting at the end of the year. At least he got to start the All-Star Game for the second time in a row. Hard to complain about that. Fun fact: After seven years of only having one representative in the game, the Blue Jays had three All-Stars in 1984. Joining Stieb were second baseman Dámaso García and shortstop Alfredo Griffin. David Wells, 2000 David Wells began his career with the Blue Jays from 1987 to '92. Three years after he left Toronto, he became an All-Star for the first time with the Detroit Tigers. Another three years later, he made the All-Star team again as a member of the New York Yankees. The 2000 season was arguably the best of Wells's 21-year career. He made 35 starts, won 20 games, and led the majors with a 3.2% walk rate. His first half was particularly strong; he went 15-2 with a 3.44 ERA. Wells threw two scoreless innings for the AL All-Stars in 2000, striking out Sammy Sosa and Jason Kendall. The AL won the game, but they didn't score until the third inning, so Wells had to settle for a no-decision in his third and final All-Star Game appearance. Roy Halladay, 2009 Roy Halladay made six All-Star teams during his tenure with the Blue Jays, and he pitched in four of them (2002, '06, '08, and '09). In his last appearance for the AL squad, he finally earned his first start. He would go on to make two more All-Star teams with the Phillies, starting the game again in 2011. Funnily enough, he is the most recent pitcher to start the game for both Toronto and Philadelphia. That will change for both teams this year, when Cease faces off against Cristopher Sánchez tonight. Anyway, back to Halladay. The right-hander was 10-3 with a 2.85 ERA at the end of the first half. His performance in the Midsummer Classic wasn't his best work – he gave up three runs (two earned) in two innings – but it was still a historic performance. Halladay remains the most recent pitcher (Shohei Ohtani excluded) to take a plate appearance in the All-Star Game. (Don't hold your breath; he struck out.) Halladay went on to finish fifth in Cy Young voting in his final season in Toronto. He led the majors with four shutouts, nine complete games, and a 5.94 strikeout-to-walk ratio. Dylan Cease, 2026 Cam Schlittler of the New York Yankees is the AL Cy Young front-runner, but he'll be sitting out the All-Star Game after pitching on Saturday. For what it's worth, John Schneider claims he would have gone with Cease for the start no matter what. Whether that's homerism or a little white lie, Cease is certainly deserving of the opportunity. His near-no-hitter last week brought him to the top of the AL fWAR leaderboard, with 3.7 fWAR to Schlitter's 3.4 (in three fewer starts!). Cease also leads the AL with 148 strikeouts, a 2.85 xERA, and a 2.96 SIERA. It's going to be fun to watch him take the mound tonight, and even more fun to see what he has in store for us in the second half of the season. View full article

The Blue Jays are six games below .500. They've fallen behind the Red Sox and Orioles in the AL East. They're still only 2.5 games back of a Wild Card spot, but they have the fifth-worst record and run differential in the American League. This wasn't the way the Jays were hoping to end the first half of the season, but hopefully, they can take this time off to reset before embarking on a make-or-break 16-games-in-17-days stretch leading up to the trade deadline. Toronto Blue Jays Week in Review (July 6-12) Monday, July 6: SFG 10, TOR 1 Blue Jays finally (and just barely) break their run-scoring drought. Kevin Gausman takes his fourth loss in a row. The bottom five in the order go hitless. Tuesday, July 7: T0R 9, SFG 3 Jonatan Clase hits his first big league home run since last June. (To be fair, he's back in the big leagues for the first time since last June.) The home run dragon is born. Spencer Miles goes four innings against his former organization. The 18 batters he faced in this one set a new career-high. Wednesday, July 8: T0R 10, SFG 0 Dylan Cease takes a no-hitter into the ninth. Daulton Varsho preserves the no-no with a spectacular catch. Kazuma Okamoto hits a grand slam. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and George Springer go back-to-back. Friday, July 10: TOR 5, SDP 3 Shane Bieber struggles through another uninspiring start – though he persevered after a long first inning. Okamoto hits his 22nd bomb, tying Shohei Ohtani's record for the most home runs hit by a Japanese-born player in his rookie campaign. Louis Varland earns his 19th consecutive save. He's the first Blue Jays pitcher to save that many games in the first half without any blown saves. Saturday, July 11: SDP 8, TOR 7 Trey Yesavage ends his first half on a rough note. (1.2 IP, 4 ER, 1 H, 7 BB, 1 K) Clase hits his second home run of the week. Guerrero homers for the second time in three days. Alejandro Kirk doubles for the second game in a row. He previously only had two extra-base hits since his return from the IL a month ago. Mason Fluharty makes his 50th appearance of the first half. That's one short of tying Trever Miller for the Blue Jays franchise record. Sunday, July 12: SDP 5, TOR 4 Ernie Clement homers, heads into the break hot. The first-time All-Star had a hit in every game this week. Gausman makes a quality start, but the Blue Jays drop their sixth straight game with him on the mound. He hasn't collected a win since May 22. Jeff Hoffman blows it for his fourth blown save and fifth loss. He was so close to entering the break on a hot streak. Toronto Blue Jays Transactions of the Week Chad Dallas recalled (and optioned again). Yohendrick Piñango optioned. Daz Cameron signs an MiLB deal. Ryan Sprock in, Tommy Nance out. (Trade thread) CJ Van Eyk gets his first MLB call-up. Blue Jays select 19 amateur players in the 2026 MLB Draft. Toronto Blue Jays Injury Updates of the Week Max Scherzer makes another rehab start. (4.0 IP, 4 ER, 6 H, 0 BB, 5 K) Jesús Sánchez is getting ready to start a rehab assignment. Addison Barger will be "reevaluated" after the break. Auspicious or ominous? Yimi García is supposedly building back up again. View full article

The 2026 MLB Draft took place over the weekend, and we covered it all here at Jays Centre. Click the links below to read about each of the Blue Jays' selections, including No. 39 overall pick Cole Carlon. No. 39: Cole Carlon No. 103: Ryan Cooney No. 131: Will Brick No. 164: Nolan Higgins Rounds 6-10 Gable Mitchell Dean West Jake Bennett Joey Urban Bryce Chance Rounds 11-20 Brayden Martin Santiago Garcia Mathis Nayral Connor Kelley Oliver de la Torre Carson Cormier Landon Waters Jake McCoy Cole Travers Eddie Rosado Jr. You can also find the complete list of Toronto's selections on our 2026 Blue Jays Draft Pick Tracker. This tool will be updated as players sign. View full article

On Saturday, the Blue Jays made their first three selections of the 2026 MLB Draft. You can read more about each selection by clicking on the links below: No. 39: Cole Carlon No. 103: Ryan Cooney No. 131: Will Brick Today, the draft continues, with the final 16 rounds taking place from 11:30 am to 7:30 pm Eastern. The Blue Jays lost two of their top five picks for signing a free agent who rejected the qualifying offer (Dylan Cease), but they'll have a selection to make in every round of Day 2. The action resumes with pick No. 136, belonging to the Rockies. The Blue Jays will have to wait until pick No. 164 to start their day. Here is the full list of their remaining draft slots: Round 5: No. 164 (Slot value: $421,300) Round 6: No. 193 (Slot value: $330,300) Round 7: No. 222 (Slot value: $262,300) Round 8: No. 252 (Slot value: $219,500) Round 9: No. 282 (Slot value: $202,100) Round 10: No. 312 (Slot value: $191,900) Round 11: No. 342 Round 12: No. 372 Round 13: No. 402 Round 14: No. 432 Round 15: No. 462 Round 16: No. 493 Round 17: No. 523 Round 18: No. 553 Round 19: No. 583 Round 20: No. 613 Like yesterday, you can follow the team's selections on our 2026 Draft Tracker, which we'll continue to update throughout the day and during the post-draft signing period. You can also continue to share all your thoughts in this Day 2 thread. View full article

The Blue Jays still have two games left to play before the break, but the All-Star week festivities are already getting started. The HBCU Swingman Classic was last night, and the Futures Game is tomorrow. The Home Run Derby is set for Monday, and then you can watch Ernie Clement, Dylan Cease, and Louis Varland suit up for the AL All-Stars on Tuesday night. Today, however, might have the most anticipated event of them all. It's Day 1 of the 2026 MLB Draft. This afternoon, representatives from every team will head to the Pennsylvania Convention Center. At 1:00 pm Eastern, the White Sox will kick it all off with the first overall pick. The Blue Jays won't make their first selection until the start of the second round. Initially, they were slated to pick 29th due to their AL pennant-winning season. However, their highest pick was pushed back 10 spots because their 2025 payroll exceeded the second luxury tax threshold. As I write this, our Mock Draft Consensus Board has the Blue Jays taking two-way prospect Archer Horn with the 39th overall pick. At previous points in the draft cycle, the Consensus Board also linked the Jays to Texas A&M outfielder Caden Sorrell and prep infielder Cole Prosek. In total, Toronto will only make three picks today: No. 39, No. 103, and No. 131. In addition to having their highest pick moved back 10 slots, the Blue Jays sacrificed their second- and fifth-highest picks when they signed Cease. The right-hander recevied a qualifying offer from the Padres last November. That fifth-highest pick was the one the Jays would have received as competition for losing Bo Bichette to the Mets; like Cease, Bichette also rejected a qualifying offer. Unfortunately, the Blue Jays also won't have a big bonus pool to work with in this year's draft. The fewer picks a team has and the lower those picks are, the lower the cumulative slot value of all that team's picks is going to be. Toronto's $5,543,100 bonus pool is the second-lowest in the 2026 MLB Draft, ahead of only the Dodgers ($3,951,900). For comparison, the Pirates have the largest bonus pool, with $19,130,700 to spend. Speaking to Sportsnet's Shi Davidi, Blue Jays amateur scouting director Marc Tramuta addressed how his team's small bonus pool could affect the draft strategy: "It's probably difficult to say I'm going to take more than a couple high school players, just given the size of the bonus pool...That's not going to take us out of the market on anybody. It just might not be the volume that we did last year.” Obvious talents like Trey Yesavage and JoJo Parker won't be so readily available for the Blue Jays this year, but that doesn't mean the draft will be any less exciting – it just means the Jays will have to be more strategic with their picks. You can follow their selections on our 2026 Blue Jays Draft Tracker, which will be kept up to date throughout the draft and the subsequent signing period. More importantly, you can voice all of your opinions about Day 1 in this thread. Let's get started! View full article

In a surprising move, the Blue Jays are trading right-handed reliever Tommy Nance to the Twins. ESPN's Alden Gonzalez was the first to report the trade. According to Sportsnet's Ben Nicholson-Smith, the Blue Jays will receive catching prospect Ryan Sprock in exchange for Nance. This news might concern Blue Jays fans with the implication that the team will be selling at the deadline. However, it's more likely that they simply got an offer that they decided was too good to pass up for a middle reliever who's out of options. If the Jays pursue bullpen upgrades later this month, there's a good chance Nance would have been out of a job anyway, and this move guarantees the Blue Jays don't lose him for nothing. View full rumor