The Toronto Blue Jays acquired José Soriano from the Los Angeles Angels on Aug. 3, the day of the MLB trade deadline, but other teams were trying to get them to trade him again.
The Chicago Cubs and Minnesota Twins were buyers at the deadline, and both reportedly tried to get Soriano from the Blue Jays after they acquired him.
"Multiple clubs reached out to the Angels in the days before the deadline with interest in acquiring Soriano, Reid Detmers and Zach Neto. 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," wrote The Athletic on Monday. "The Jays listened."
The Blue Jays did not deal Soriano again, just hours after getting him, but the fact that they listened is interesting. They gave up one of their top prospects to get him, so in return they would have wanted a package that outweighs the one they gave up. Otherwise, they would gain nothing from the deal.
The Cubs pivoted and got Clay Holmes after already adding Kevin Gausman from the Blue Jays before the Soriano deal. The Twins did not make a significant starting pitching addition after missing out on Soriano. They did, however, add Jeff Hoffman.
"Already talking with Toronto about Jeff Hoffman, the Twins discussed a Soriano package built around the organization’s No. 3 prospect, infielder Kaelen Culpepper, and other pieces," wrote The Athletic. "The teams were clearly unable to line up when, one source said, Toronto made it clear the only way they would even consider listening further is if the Twins included top pitching prospect Riley Quick as the second piece in a multi-player package."
Soriano looked solid in his first start with the Blue Jays and is under club control for two more seasons.