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Acquiring recently DFA’ed players Ty France and James Paxton makes sense for the Blue Jays

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One thing is certain about the 2024 Blue Jays – they are about to be gutted.

The 2024 Major League Baseball trade deadline is under a week away, and it’s believed by many that the Blue Jays will trade soon-to-be free agents for a quick re-tool to compete in 2025. As it stands, the Jays have six players who are set to become free agents at season’s end – Yusei Kikuchi, Yimi García, Trevor Richards, Justin Turner, Danny Jansen, and Kevin Kiermaier.

That doesn’t even include other players who could be traded under contract for the 2025 season, such as Bo Bichette, Chad Green and Chris Bassitt,; all three player’s names have come up in speculation in recent times.

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Assuming that the Blue Jays trade the six rentals, that’s a whole ton of holes to fill on the roster, as they’ll need a designated hitter/first baseman/third baseman, a fourth outfielder, a catcher, two relievers, and a starting pitcher, depending on what they get in return.

Well, the Blue Jays could fill a hole or two by acquiring two big league players who are currently on waivers, Ty France and James Paxton. Let’s take a look at the benefits of landing those players.

Ty France

Two seasons ago, Ty France was an All-Star for the Seattle Mariners as they made it to their first postseason since the 2001 season,

The Mariners pulled a Blue Jays, as they placed France on waivers to see if anyone would pick up his $6.775 million deal, but instead of keeping him on the active roster as the Jays did with Kevin Kiermaier, he was designated for assignment on Tuesday.

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Without question, France isn’t the same player he was two seasons ago. This year, he’s slashing .223/.312/.350 with eight home runs in 340 plate appearances, along with a 24.4 K%, matching a new career-high. Overall, he has a 96 wRC+ and a -0.5 fWAR, which isn’t what you want from a first baseman.

If the Jays were good, this is the type of player you don’t consider trading for/claiming off waivers/signing to a major league contract at the end of July. However, news flash, the Blue Jays aren’t good this season, and France is a good low-risk, high-reward candidate, giving he has another season of arbitration in 2025.

Despite playing in the All-Star game in 2022, that wasn’t even France’s best season with the Mariners. In 2021, France slashed .291/.368/.445 with 18 home runs in 650 plate appearances, along with a 7.1 BB% and a 16.3 K% for a 129 wRC+ and 3.2 fWAR.

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The following season, France slashed .274/.338/.436 with 20 home runs in 613 plate appearances, along with a 5.7 BB% and a 15.3 K% for a 125 wRC+ and a 2.5 fWAR. However, he declined mightily in 2023, as he slashed .250/.337/.366 with 12 homers in 665 plate appearances for a 104 wRC+ and a 1.1 fWAR.

His contract is quite hard to stomach for a team looking to shed salary to get under the Competitive Balance Tax. However, if the Jays are able to trade for France and get the Mariners to retain some of his salary, that is worth pondering. Moreover, if he isn’t claimed and elects free agency, the Blue Jays could attempt to sign him to a league minimum deal to see what he’s got.

After all, they’ll need someone to be their designated hitter after Justin Turner is likely traded before Tuesday’s deadline.

James Paxton

One player the Blue Jays may need to outright trade for is James Paxton, who was designated for assignment by Los Angeles on Monday.

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Paxton wasn’t necessarily bad with the Los Angeles Dodgers, as he had a 4.43 ERA and a 4.96 FIP in 89.1 innings pitched. While the K% dropped significantly to 16.4% (his career K% is 25.3%), and his BB% increased to a career-worst 12.3% (career BB% is 7.9%), he’s still a big league pitcher. It’s just that the Dodgers are contenders, and could find better options on the market… such as Blue Jays’ pitcher Yusei Kikuchi.

Paxton’s one-year deal is a confusing one filled with a bunch of bonuses. He had a $3 million signing bonus, a bonus of $2 million for making the opening day roster, as well as a $1 million bonus for reaching 18 games and 20 games, with a $600k bonus for six, eight, 10, 12, and 16 games. The bonuses are on top of a $4 million base salary. Overall, Paxton’s total contract is $14 million after the bonuses.

It was reported by WEEI 93.7 FM’s Rob Bradford that the Boston Red Sox are going to get into the mix for the left-handed pitcher. He spent the entirety of the 2023 season with the Sox, pitching 96 innings with a 4.50 ERA and a 4.68 FIP. It seems more likely that Paxton will be traded, rather than reach free agency.

But boy, would it ever be nice story if the Jays to sign Paxton. The 36-year-old was born Richmond, British Columbia, which could explain his two stints with the Seattle Mariners. Paxton even threw a no-hitter on Canadian soil back in early May of 2018 with the Mariners. 

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It’s also worth mentioning that the Blue Jays drafted Paxton in 2009, but he elected to leave the University of Kentucky and pitch a season in independent ball before the Mariners drafted him in 2010. So maybe the interest isn’t there from Paxton.

With Kikuchi likely on the move, the Jays will need a starter to eat innings for the remaining two months of the season. Paxton is the dream, but that seems unlikely given his okay season and track record.

As always, you can follow me on Twitter @Ryley_L_D.