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It was still the right move. Playing time for the youngsters is the single most important thing for the Blue Jays over the final month and a half of the season, and there was little point in burying Galvis on the bench until October, which would then have forced the team to either pick up his contract option for next year or buy him out.

Photo by THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette

To be more precise, it was the right move at this particular time, because once the trade deadline passed on July 31, there was no way to get anything back for Galvis. The better move would have been to get something for him before that point, and it’s there where the anguish from Toronto fans is particularly justified. The Jays acquired two of the always-exciting Players To Be Named Later from the Tampa Bay Rays for utility nerd Eric Sogard in the days before the deadline. Sogard had better all-around numbers than Galvis in Toronto, although in far fewer games, but if the return for him was a couple of lottery-ticket prospects, it’s fair to assume that at some point, the Jays must have had a team willing to part with at least one small piece for a strong defensive shortstop in the middle of a career offensive year. That the Jays ended up holding on to a player they dumped two weeks later for nary a PTBNL is not a sparkling case of asset management.

And if the market for Galvis was close to non-existent, which is possible given the general lack of activity at the deadline and the fact that several contenders did not add the usual veteran pieces because the asking prices were too high, then that signals something that Shapiro, Atkins, and Jays ownership are going to have to come to terms with: there are not many dumb teams left. But there are also not many willing to spend freely. The Blue Jays, beginning in a few months, will have every chance to supplement their young core by flexing financial muscle. That just also happens to be the one thing its leaders have so far been most reticent to do.