With the 2023 Major League Baseball All-Star Game in the books, the real postseason battle begins. The Toronto Blue Jays will be looking to trade a starter in order to make it to fall ball.

Toronto finished the first half of the season with a 50-41 record, good for third place in the American League East and the third wild card. At this rate, fall baseball is possible, but with games left to play in the second half, they’ll need to hang on – or make a run.메이저놀이터

Toronto’s weakness is its starting pitching. It’s been a weak spot. Through 91 games in the first half, Toronto used six different starters. Four of them – Kevin Gausman, Jose Berrios, Chris Bassett, and Yusei Kikuchi – never missed a rotation. However, Alec Manoa struggled and was sent down to the minors, with Trevor Richards temporarily taking over as the fifth starter while he took time to regroup.

Luckily, Manoa returned to action on Aug. 8 and pitched six innings of one-run ball against the Detroit Tigers to earn the win. This allows Toronto to start the second half with its normal five-man rotation.

But there are still question marks.

“Bassett has been erratic lately, and Yusei is not a pitcher you can always count on,” the Toronto Jays Journal wrote on Wednesday. There are still concerns. Manoa was good in his first start since returning, but there’s no telling if he’ll return to his form of last year or his miserable form of this season.”

Bassitt had 12 quality starts in the first half of his 19 starts, going 8-5 with a 4.19 ERA. However, the second half of the year was not as good. In six games, he went 1-1 with a 6.83 ERA. Kikuchi also gave up nine runs in 9⅓ innings in two games in July.

Against this backdrop, it’s good to see Ryu’s rehab pitching going well. Ryu has pitched in Rookie League and Single-A games on the last five and 10 days, respectively, totaling seven innings and one run on seven hits.

Ryu is expected to make two more minor league appearances to improve his pitch count and velocity before returning to the rotation later this month.

“Hyun-jin Ryu, who is currently on a rehab assignment in the minors, could be another option,” the outlet wrote, but also questioned “how much can they rely on a pitcher who has been a major disappointment for most of his time in a Toronto uniform?”

Since joining Toronto in 2020, Ryu has gone 21-12 with a 4.07 ERA in 49 games. While he was the ace for much of 2020 and the first half of 2021, injuries and struggles have kept him out of the lineup since, and he underwent Tommy John surgery last June.

“The best option is a trade,” the source said. Considering a trade before the August 1 deadline would be a good option. There are several potential candidates, including Shane Bieber (Cleveland), Eduardo Rodriguez (Detroit), and Marcus Stroman (Chicago Cubs).”