TORONTO -- The Blue Jays saved one last trade for the buzzer, agreeing to terms on a deal with the Twins to acquire reliever Louis Varland and first baseman Ty France on Thursday.
The deal comes at a steep cost for the Blue Jays, too. They are sending outfielder Alan Roden, who was the star of Spring Training before bouncing up and down from Triple-A throughout this season, and left-handed pitching prospect Kendry Rojas, who had risen to No. 5 in the system after Toronto dealt Khal Stephen for Shane Bieber earlier in the day.
TRADE DETAILS
Blue Jays get: RHP Louis Varland, 1B Ty France
Twins get: OF Alan Roden, LHP Kendry Rojas
As the Blue Jays’ final move ahead of Thursday’s Trade Deadline, Varland can be considered the final piece of Toronto’s bullpen remodel, which also included the acquisition of Seranthony Domínguez earlier this week in Baltimore. What sets Varland apart, though -- and this is reflected in the package required to land him -- is that he’s under team control through the end of the 2030 season.
This was an under-the-radar name, which was all part of the attraction for general manager Ross Atkins. While big, obvious bidding wars can break out for relievers like Jhoan Duran or David Bednar, the Blue Jays identified Varland as a less-likely target and went hard.
“Someone that has that much control isn’t an obvious target,” Atkins said, “so we were very aggressive in trying to acquire him. It’s not the traditional trade. He has been very effective this year as a reliever, has as good of a fastball as you can find and as good of a curveball as you can find with a very effective cutter. He can sink it, he’s extremely aggressive, he’s coming after you and that’s extremely attractive to us. He immediately impacts our bullpen in a significant way.”
If this season is a glimpse of what’s to come, the Blue Jays just set up their bullpen with a potential cornerstone piece.
Varland had spent the past couple of seasons bouncing between the bullpen and rotation for Minnesota, but he’s broken out as a full-time reliever this season thanks in large part to his uptick in velocity.
The 27-year-old leans on a big, heavy four-seam fastball that averages 98.1 mph, which is quickly becoming an identity of this Toronto bullpen. For years, it feels like the Blue Jays trailed behind the rest of baseball by a few ticks on the radar gun, which showed in their strikeout totals, but they’ve taken a giant leap forward in that regard, so Varland will fit in nicely right alongside Domínguez and closer Jeff Hoffman. This should also be a fascinating project for pitching coach Pete Walker, especially when it comes to the knuckle curve that Varland goes to for whiffs.
Through 49 innings this season, Varland has posted a 2.02 ERA, which immediately becomes the lowest number in the Blue Jays’ bullpen.
France -- a free agent at the end of this season -- is a particularly interesting piece in this deal, too, and perhaps an unexpected one. Blue Jays fans will know France well from his time with the Mariners, but he’s bounced around since then and hit .251 with a .677 OPS for the Twins in 2025.
“He’s a good offensive player who will get significant playing time against left-handed pitching,” Atkins said. “We’re not going to limit him to that, but he can obviously cover us well at first base and has some versatility beyond that. We’ll sit down and meet with him, but we’re excited about that fit of adding that right-handed bat to our 26-man roster.”
He’s a strong defender, which fits right in with Toronto as one of the best fielding teams in baseball, and France should immediately back up Vladimir Guerrero Jr. at first base. Up to this point, the Blue Jays had been using Will Wagner -- dealt earlier Thursday to the Padres -- or Ernie Clement behind Guerrero, but France will give them a more traditional option.
This is another big, bold move for the Blue Jays after acquiring former Cy Young Award winner Bieber. This organization loves Roden, and Rojas had emerged as one of the highest-upside arms in the entire system, but big talent comes at a big price.
Now, the Blue Jays’ roster is set. It’s up to August and September to determine whether the Blue Jays have done enough to win their first postseason game since 2016 and make a legitimate run, deep into October.