The Toronto Blue Jays made a bold and unexpected move to pick up Jose Soriano on the morning of MLB’s trade deadline.
While the acquisition itself came as somewhat of a surprise, what was even more surprising was a report soon after the deal that teams were already calling the Blue Jays with interest in their newest pitcher.
On Monday, we learned just who exactly it was attempting to land Soriano, as Mitch Bannon and Dan Hayes of The Athletic revealed that the Minnesota Twins and Chicago Cubs were among the teams that reached out with offers.
“After the Jays finalized their deal for Soriano, sending a three-prospect package to the Angels built around shortstop Arjun Nimmala, the Minnesota Twins and Chicago Cubs were among the teams that then also reached out to Toronto to see if the Jays would be interested in moving Soriano again, league sources granted anonymity because they weren’t authorized to speak about deadline dealings publicly said. The Jays listened.
The Jays weren’t actively shopping Soriano after acquiring him, one source said, but did consider offers. Toronto was thrilled to land Soriano, but listening on offers — even for players teams intend to keep — is standard practice deadline due diligence for most front offices,”
The 27-year-old Soriano is playing on the one-year, $2.9 million contract he signed with the Angels in January to avoid arbitration. He has two more years of team control beyond 2026 before becoming eligible for free agency in 2029. He’s gone 9-6 across 23 starts so far this season, sporting a 3.24 ERA to go with 130 strikeouts and 60 walks.
As Bannon and Hayes mentioned, Toronto was likely never all that interested in flipping Soriano, but of course, you have to at least listen when other teams come calling.
The offers were said to be strong, with some top prospects included in discussions, which further demonstrates just how high the Blue Jays are on Soriano given that they didn’t budge.
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