BREAKING: Jays make SURPRISING trade... Jays Acquire FLAMETHROWER | Toronto Blue Jays News

Some breaking news. The Toronto Blue Jays have just made a surprising trade as they have just acquired a reliever that throws 100 miles an hour. We're gonna break down the trade and discuss who they gave up, who they got. And what it means is we are just hours away from the game against the Guardians. And of course, more moves are on the horizon ahead of this big, big series. We're gonna break all of it down and a lot more on this episode. But before we get into it, very quick reminder to hit that subscribe button. You guys have been absolutely beasts for the support and it means the world to me. Folks, yes, the trade deadline is over, but you can still technically make some trades. Apparently, we obviously are making them, I guess. The Jays have just acquired Jose Rodriguez from the Dodgers. Now, we're gonna dive into the player and the Jays. Maybe this is a Braden Fisher V2 situation, but they just acquired a reliever, a righty reliever, who throws absolute gas, is super tall randomly. And I didn't expect a trade to happen today. Of course, today is September 1st, so September call-ups can happen. They have two spots open. We'll see who they go with. I'll probably have a video on that tomorrow morning and kind of ahead of the game tonight, potentially. But for those curious about how trades are happening now, I'll dive into it a little bit later, but let's start with what they gave up. So Rodriguez, who's 25, has a 3.38 ERA and 34 innings at AAA Oklahoma this year. He is a high strikeout reliever. He was acquired for Sebastian Rodriguez, who is 19. So they're trading, I guess basically at this point, a lottery ticket in Sebastian Rodriguez for a guy in Jose Rodriguez, who throws absolute gas, strikes out a ton, and I'm impressed. I am very impressed by this acquisition. Is it a robbery? Who knows? They obviously got Braden Fisher from the Dodgers a few years ago, and that ended up being a fleece of a move, obviously for Kevin Biggio, who now no longer plays for the Dodgers. But I'm surprised that they were able to actually get a bullpen piece that maybe they're gonna call up at some point. And let's start with Jose Rodriguez, his stats here. So you can see in AAA this year, 3.38 ERA in 29 innings. And that's between, you know, AAA had a couple games in rookie ball as well, just four. But he's been around for a while. He's 25 years old, has yet to really make an impact at all at the actual MLB level, obviously. But I don't know, he's having a pretty darn good year. And yes, he is a reliever in AAA, which means he's not gonna be a starter or anything like that. But he is close to MLB ready, I would assume, if they wanna give him a chance, right? Because he's a very, very polarizing player. You can see here, obviously this is from Avery, and he's joking, but you can see the video from MLB Mexico. Jose Rodriguez is 100 feet tall. Saw he was up to 100 this year. Slider ranked well by scouts, but tons of his strikeouts come on the changeup. So obviously if you're throwing 100 miles an hour, you can have a dominant changeup if it's good. And clearly, Jose Rodriguez is, he has a plus slider. And we're gonna have to see, I believe he was ranked the number 29 prospect in the Dodgers system, and the Dodgers system is always loaded, and that was in 2025, of course. But to give some more context on this, you can obviously see right here, he's 25, a 3.38 ERA, and again, he's a high strikeout reliever. The notable thing about all these stats is he kinda, the Jays almost need a high strikeout reliever. We look at who's in the bullpen right now. You have Tyler Rodgers, you have Spencer Miles. They don't particularly, outside, I guess, Louie Varley, don't have that guy who can strike out a ton, a ton of people. I mean, Brendan Little, to a degree, but you don't really trust him in high leverage. I'm not saying Jose Rodriguez is even gonna play for the Jays team this year, that he's gonna come up and be insane. But anytime you can get somebody with upside that has the potential of being an impact arm, especially when you require him for next to nothing, I mean, it's a lottery ticket. Maybe Sebastian Rodriguez, when I'm 50 years old, is gonna be a very good pitcher in the majors. But if that's the case, it is what it is. And it is kinda funny that they both switched Rodriguez's, I guess, if you wanna call it that, the Jays, and the Dodgers. Now, the Dodgers have a ton of guys who just throw 100, so they print them. But he's a six foot, and this is from Damon, he's a six foot six, a mountain of variety with an unorthodox delivery. His high 80s changeup with 10 inch of arm side run has generated a ludicrous 68% whiff rate in AAA in 2026. The foreseam sits near 97 with bad shape, sinker at 96 with 15 inches of run, and a slider with a nearly 40% whiff rate. So, it seems like a steal. It almost seems like on the surface, they kinda robbed the Dodgers, but it is kinda scary to use that in a sentence. They actually robbed the Dodgers because it is the Dodgers, after all. But I mean, you look at the stats, you look at the advanced analytics, you look at all that stuff, I mean, I like it. I don't hate the move, I mean, there's no reason to hate the move. For those curious about Sebastian Castro, there's not a ton of information on him. He's a pitcher, he put up a six ERA in seven games in the Dominican Summer League. So, didn't look great there, but again, he's super, super young, super raw. Maybe the Dodgers firm system will benefit from having him in there, and obviously, maybe their pitching lab can kinda get to work with him. But I like it, I really, really like the move. Now, touching on Jose Rodriguez a bit, he has six pitches, four seamer, the sinker, the changeup, a cutter, so a variation of fastball, a slider, and a curveball. So right now, it says Yankees, it means Dodgers. So, obviously, that's interesting. So the 30th ranked in the Dodgers system, maybe it's 29th ranked, wherever you wanna put him, I absolutely love the move. Where will he slot into the Jays system? We're gonna have to see. Will they use him this year? He's less, I mean, he's a prospect, but he's 25 years old, like, he is knocking on the door of being an actual MLB pitcher soon, if he has an ability. Now, Mitch Bannon did tweet, I'm looking at it right here, just a few minutes ago, teams can acquire non-40 man players after the trade deadline, which is what happened here. Rodriguez would have had to have been acquired and put on the 40 man yesterday to be playoff eligible. So this isn't somebody who's gonna be able to pitch in the playoffs for the Jays this year, but I think what could happen is, let's say somebody on the Jays goes multiple innings, or is gonna be down for a few days. We've seen they've used the option game a lot. Now, they do get another couple pitchers coming in, or depending on who they go with, probably Joe Mantiply, we'll see kinda where they go. Adding another arm, having another arm that's optionable and can be called up is gonna be helpful. So comment down below what your thoughts are on this. Do you think it's a steal? Do you think it's a robbery? What are your guys' thoughts? It's a pretty surprising trade, because no one saw it coming at all, and to get a righty who throws 100, touches 100, he averages around 97, for basically pennies, is a very good sign. Now, what else is a good sign is that the Jays are one and a half games back of a playoff spot. So we all know, today's again, September 1st, any moment now, and I would assume in a couple hours ahead of the game tonight, they will be making a ton of call-ups, a ton of different moves. I will have a video or a short covering it at some point. I'm expecting Josh Smith and Joe Mantiply. Maybe Sean Keyes gets called up. Maybe we see Ricky Tiedemann. But it's gonna be a huge, huge weekend, of course. So this is how it lines up for September. The Guardians, obviously, tonight, the Jays currently have a 25% chance to make the playoffs, rounding up a little bit per fan graphs, same percent as the Orioles, who won on an insane catch by Colton Couser last night. Hurt all of us, all of our souls here. But if you can take care of business against the Guardians, you then play the Royals and then the Athletics. Those are two very winnable series, even though you just lost the series against the Royals. It's a very winnable time of year. If you can go out and take care and just win the series, you don't have to sweep the Guardians. If you win the series against the Guardians, depending how things shake up with the Orioles, you will be officially in a playoff spot, up by half a game, if you just win the series. Now, you have Eric Getty tonight, you obviously, tomorrow, you have Dylan Cease, I believe. So it'll be, you can see the probables here. So it's Dylan Cease tomorrow, and then Thursday, Jose Sarriano. Go win a series. Some guys are pretty hot right now. Let's see if Kazuma Okamoto can kinda keep it up. George Springer hitting .556 over his last five games. Brett Bayman's on fire, but he's not on fire. And it's gonna be George Springer as well. It's gonna be crazy. Comment down below what your thoughts are on the trade, and how you feel ahead of tonight's game. We'll see you guys later.