Toronto Blue Jays
2026-06-21
The Toronto Blue Jays are bolstering their infield depth by trading for Luis Urias, a former top MLB prospect, from the Arizona Diamondbacks in exchange for cash considerations. Toronto Blue Jays manager John Schneider will likely utilize Urias's experience to improve the team's chances of returning to the World Series. Luis Urias was ranked as the second-best second base prospect by MLB Pipeline in 2018 and among the top-20 for the entire league, according to Lou Landers of The Big Lead. Urias has plenty of MLB experience, having played for the San Diego Padres, Milwaukee Brewers, Boston Red Sox, Seattle Mariners, and the Athletics, with a slash line of .230/.315/.338 and eight homers in 96 games with the Athletics in 2025. And with a strong season in Triple-A Reno, hitting .361/.393/.546 with three home runs in 27 games, Urias could have an immediate impact with the Blue Jays. Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet reported that Urias is expected to join Toronto's big-league club after exercising an upward mobility clause. The Blue Jays took a major step forward just hours after landing Urias, scoring eight unanswered runs to beat the Chicago Cubs 8-6, with Daulton Varsho hitting the go-ahead home run, a three-run blast that put them up 5-3 in the seventh inning. Schneider praised the team's battling spirit, saying they're not going to quit, and today was a good one. Reliever Louis Varland also had a big performance, coming in with the bases loaded in the eighth inning and giving up just one run, then closing out the ninth inning, drawing on his experience from the World Series last year. Varland's mindset was to take it one pitch at a time, having pitched in the World Series, and nothing tops that, so he got tunnel vision and was able to block out the crowd. The Blue Jays' win was a significant one, with the team facing down a five-run deficit before coming back to win, and Schneider noted that Vars' homer was huge, kind of getting them going, and allowing them to try to keep it close.