At 44-54, the Toronto Blue Jays entered Sunday’s series finale against the Detroit Tigers as clear trade deadline sellers. The only remaining question was how far would Ross Atkins be willing to go?
Would Atkins consider trading players under team control like Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Bo Bichette, and Kevin Gausman? Regardless of that answer, trading rentals is almost certainly a guarantee.
The Jays don’t have much to offer on that front, but with so many teams in search of starting pitching, Yusei Kikuchi is an intriguing name to monitor. He had a chance to increase his value on Saturday against a Tigers team that had its best player, Riley Greene, on the bench, but he failed to do so.
Yusei Kikuchi’s trade deadline tryout did not go to plan
The Tigers have been playing better baseball of late, but their offense remains subpar, especially without Greene. Kikuchi got off to a strong start, getting through four scoreless innings, but he’d struggle after that.
The Tigers scored their first run of the game in the fifth inning, putting together back-to-back two-out hits, but the sixth inning was really when they took off. After a single, walk, and hit-by-pitch to begin the sixth, Kikuchi was pulled from the game. The first batter that Trevor Richards faced in relief proceeded to launch a Grand Slam to break the game open.
Overall, Kikuchi allowed four runs in five innings against the Tigers, bringing his season ERA to 4.54 in 21 starts. More alarmingly, after a strong start to his season, the southpaw has a 6.62 ERA in his last 11 starts. That bad stretch has spanned over two months.
Asked Yusei Kikuchi if the #BlueJays have had any conversations with him about the Trade Deadline or their plans.
"No. Not at all."
He later said the deadline has been on his mind and that "it's been tough", but he's trying to focus on the games themselves.
— Keegan Matheson (@KeeganMatheson) July 20, 2024
Something that teams interested in starting pitching can consider is the fact that his name being in trade rumors is clearly impacting Kikuchi to an extent. Now, it’s not an excuse that should get him off the hook for his recent struggles entirely, but he’s having a hard time focusing on the present when he knows he’s likely going to get traded any day. By the time he’s traded, perhaps Kikuchi can kick things into gear.
Kikuchi is going to get traded for a decent return because he’s a fine starter, but he had the chance to really prove to contenders that he’s going to help them make a run down the stretch and failed to do so on Saturday. He’ll get at least one more chance to do so before the trade deadline. Hopefully, he can pitch a bit better.
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