It’s always intriguing to see the stories that spill out after the trade deadline, and fans already had a hint of how wild it could have been last week. The Toronto Blue Jays shocked the league by trading for Jose Soriano, taking him away from other clear playoff contenders who were interested in acquiring him. It turns out that after the Los Angeles Angels had already traded him away, there were other teams that were calling the Blue Jays to see if they would immediately trade him again.
Now, we know that one of those teams calling the Blue Jays to talk about a second Soriano trade was the Chicago Cubs, who had an extremely active trade deadline day.
The Athletic reported earlier this week that the Cubs and Minnesota Twins contacted the Blue Jays after they traded for Soriano, and the Blue Jays did listen. It does sound like the Twins made the most progress in those talks with the Blue Jays, but ultimately Soriano stayed put.
According to the report, the Twins were prepared to send a package headlined by Kaelen Culpepper, Minnesota’s third-ranked prospect.
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Via The Athletic.
“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.”
Although that deal between the Twins and Blue Jays never materialized for Soriano, the two clubs did complete a trade that sent reliever Jeff Hoffman to the Twins.
As for the Cubs, they were obviously talking with the Blue Jays leading up to the trade deadline, making two separate deals. Jameson Taillon, who was designated for assignment after his start on July 26, was moved to the Blue Jays, who then traded Kevin Gausman in a different deal to the Cubs for a pair of prospects.
The Cubs were also one of the teams that showed interest in both Soriano and Reid Detmers, hoping to trade for a controllable starting pitcher. They must have really been in love with Soriano to take the next step and talk to the Blue Jays about him after the Angels had already traded the right-handed pitcher.
And of course, there was the Detmers talk, which didn’t amount to a trade, but the Cubs and Angels were obviously talking as well. The Cubs did make a trade with the Angels, sending Moises Ballesteros as the headliner, along with right-handed pitching prospect Mason McGwire, for reliever Ryan Zeferjahn.
So, eventually one of these executives will give more names, but it makes you wonder if at any point the Cubs, Angels, and Blue Jays would have agreed to a three-team trade. We don’t see those as much anymore, so it would have been a stunner at the trade deadline.
