Blue Jays acquire José Soriano from Angels

Soriano takes the ball for Friday’s contest at historic Wrigley Field with the Blue Jays moving to a six-man rotation. The 27-year-old was one of the biggest names to move at the trade deadline, heading north of the border in a four-player swap. He’s posted a strong 3.29 ERA, 1.25 WHIP and 127/57 K/BB ratio across 123 innings over 22 starts so far this year. This will be his first outing since July 26.

The decision to pitch Taillon in Houston bumps Dylan Cease back to Thursday’s series opener against the Cubs at Wrigley Field. It’ll be José Soriano making his Toronto debut on Friday as they transition to a six-man rotation on a temporary basis.

This is an interesting pivot for the Blue Jays after trading Kevin Gausman to the Cubs yesterday. Toronto still clearly views itself as a contender in 2027 and beyond, so they replace Gausman with Soriano, who is under team control for two more seasons after this one. Soriano has regressed since his hot start to the season, and his reliance on a mediocre four-seam fastball led to far too many home runs; however, he has a good collection of secondary pitches, and this is a Toronto organization that has gotten the best production out of Dylan Cease by tweaking his changeup. This is a nice landing spot for Soriano, but the Angels get a solid return here, headlined by Arjun Nimalla, a 20-year-old shortstop who is the 43rd-ranked prospect in baseball, according to MLB Pipeline.

Angels interim general manager John Mozeliak said in a team statement that Soriano won’t pitch this weekend due to the uncertainty of the next 48 hours leading up to Monday’s trade deadline. That doesn’t mean that a trade is imminent, but the club doesn’t want to take any chances. The 27-year-old righty has been the subject of plenty of trade rumors recently and it appears that Los Angeles will consider moving him for the right price. He’s in the midst of the strongest season of his career with a solid 3.29 ERA, 1.25 WHIP and 127/57 K/BB ratio across 123 innings over 22 starts.

The revelation comes as a bit of a surprise as the Angels appear to be more willing to move on from someone like Neto, who was viewed as one of their more long-term building blocks. There are plenty of teams that could use a shortstop, which is probably why Los Angeles interim general manager John Mozeliak is going to entertain overtures. It doesn’t sound like anything is imminent, but the Angels could be headed for more of a full-scale teardown than many anticipated.

Soriano gave up three hits, walked three and struck out five. The run came in the fifth after a miscue on what should have been an inning-ending double play. Soriano has rebounded nicely with a 2.74 ERA in four starts this month. He’s due to make his next start at home against Milwaukee.

Although he was hit fairly hard — nine of the 17 balls in play against him topped 101 mph — Soriano struck out seven in his longest and probably best outing since May 10 against the Blue Jays. Since that game, he’d had a 5.24 ERA and a 54/33 K/BB in 56 2/3 innings over 11 outings. Soriano will likely make his next start Sunday against the Giants. There’s a chance that could be his last with the Angels, though Reid Detmers remains the better bet to be traded.

Detmers spent last year in the bullpen but has enjoyed a solid return to the rotation, posting a 4.16 ERA, 1.12 WHIP, and 130/35 K/BB ratio in 114 2/3 innings. There are still some consistency issues, and being able to work with the pitching development program in another organization would probably benefit him. Jose Soriano also started the year on fire, allowing one earned run in his first six starts. In 14 starts since, he has a 5.15 ERA, 1.53 WHIP, and a 72/40 K/BB ratio in 73 1/3 innings.

Detmers has been a viable fantasy option for most of the first half of the season despite winning only three games, as he registered a 4.19 ERA, 1.14 WHIP and a 123/35 K/BB ratio across 108 2/3 innings through his first 19 starts. He’ll be followed in the Angels’ rotation by Grayson Rodriguez and Ryan Johnson in their weekend series against the Tigers. Jose Soriano and Walbert Urena will pitch on Monday and Tuesday respectively against the Cardinals.

Soriano tossed a scoreless first inning, then gave up two runs on two walks and a hit in the second. He settled in for four more scoreless frames, giving up just one more hit the rest of the way before departing after six innings with four strikeouts. The 27-year-old right-hander ends the day with a 3.40 ERA, 1.28 WHIP, and a 115/51 K/BB ratio across 106 innings. He’ll take on the Twins in Minnesota on Sunday.