3:52pm: The Blue Jays are paying a portion of Varsho’s deal, Chandler Rome of The Athletic reports.
3:12pm: The Blue Jays and Astros are close to a trade that’ll send center fielder Daulton Varsho from Toronto to Houston in exchange for righty Spencer Arrighetti, reports Mitch Bannon of The Athletic. The two teams are reviewing the medical records of both players.
Varsho, 30, will give Houston the left-handed bat they’ve spent months pursuing. He’s a free agent at season’s end, however, so the ‘Stros could be on the lookout for more left-handed bats in the outfield just a few months from now. In the meantime, they’ll get a productive veteran who’s been one of the top outfield defenders of the past several seasons.
Flashy glovework notwithstanding, Varsho is more than just a Gold Glove-caliber defender. He’s sitting on a tepid .243/.307/.375 batting line this season (91 wRC+) but ripped 20 homers in 71 big league games as recently as last season. Dating back to 2021, Varsho is a .230/.297/.425 hitter. That’s league-average production right on the dot, and Varsho is typically a quality presence on the basepaths each season, too. He’s 62-for-78 in career stolen base attempts, including a perfect 9-for-9 this year.
Prior to acquiring Varsho, MVP candidate Yordan Alvarez was the only left-handed fixture in Houston’s lineup. The ‘Stros have gotten some lefty plate appearances this year from young outfielders like Joey Loperfido and Zach Cole, as well as journeymen like Taylor Trammell, LaMonte Wade Jr. and Braden Shewmake. Alvarez, Trammell and Loperfido are the only Astros to log more than 100 plate appearances as left-handed hitters, however, and only Alvarez has reached even 200 plate appearances on the year. Houston’s combined 1142 plate appearances from lefties are the fourth-fewest in MLB.
With Varsho sliding into center field on an everyday basis, the Astros can use Cam Smith in right field and plug either Wade, Trammell or another forthcoming acquisition into left field. The Astros talked to the Twins about Trevor Larnach recently, but owner Jim Crane reportedly stepped in to quash a deal that would’ve sent righty Bryan Abreu to Minnesota in return for Larnach. It’s not entirely clear whether Houston will continue to try to add another outfield bat, but they could certainly use some more stability to help upgrade over the rotating cast of characters they’ve used in the outfield this year.
Varsho is playing the season on a one-year, $10.75MM contract. As of today, there’s about $3.294MM of that sum yet to be paid out. Per MLBTR’s Payroll Tracker, Houston entered the day with a luxury tax payroll of $235,766,794. They’re only about $7.5MM from reaching the tax threshold, which doesn’t give them a lot of breathing room, but does give them enough to shoehorn Varsho into the budget — even if the Jays aren’t paying any of his salary.
The Blue Jays, as they did earlier today when acquiring José Soriano from the Angels, add a nice arm to their rest-of-season rotation mix — one they can control multiple years beyond the current season. Arrighetti, 26, is currently on the injured list due to a nerve issue in his foot. The team hasn’t previously specified a length for his potential absence.
A sixth-round pick back in 2021, Arrighetti has at times been an unexpected boon for the Houston staff but has also been prone to extended slumps on the mound. He debuted back in 2024 out of necessity amid a rash of pitching injuries and got out to a brutal start, working to a 6.13 ERA through his first 15 big league starts. He then closed out the year with a 3.08 ERA and plus strikeout/walk ratios over his final 13 starts (76 innings).
A broken thumb and elbow inflammation limited Arrighetti to only seven starts in 2025. They didn’t go especially well, but he bounced back early this year with a 2.21 ERA over 57 innings through his first 10 starts. He’s since coughed up 31 runs in 31 innings and been placed on the IL due to his current foot issue.
There’s little doubt that Arrighetti has MLB-quality stuff. His late run in ’24 and early run in ’26 have shown that off in spades. What’s less clear is whether Arrighetti has the consistency and durability to carve out a firm role in a major league rotation. Houston seemed like a good place for him to do that, but repeated injuries have instead prompted the Astros to move on as they look to capitalize on summer swoons from the Mariners and Rangers which (combined with better play from the ‘Stros themselves) have thrust Houston right back into the playoff picture.
The Jays will be able to control Arrighetti for three years after the current season. He’s not yet arbitration-eligible but will be for the first time this winter. The right-hander still has a minor league option year remaining beyond the current season, so if Toronto adds more potential names to the 2027 depth chart — whether via trade today or free agency in the offseason — Arrighetti can be kept as depth without needing to pass him through waivers (which he certainly would not clear).
The Blue Jays entered the weekend with only Dylan Cease and Trey Yesavage locked into 2027 rotation spots. There’s surely hope that Cody Ponce, Bowden Francis and José Berríos can return to help the group next year, hopefully with an assist from younger arms like Ricky Tiedemann and Jake Bloss, but there’s minimal certainty among that group. Today, they’ve added Soriano and Arrighetti to that list, raising both the floor and ceiling of a group that now has a chance to be quite formidable … assuming someone doesn’t overwhelm them for Soriano in the next hour-plus.
