Blue Jays make late deal with Twins for reliever Louis Varland and first baseman Ty France

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It wasn’t a blockbuster, but it was a buzzer-beater.

Blue Jays general manager Ross Atkins made a late trade deadline day deal just before the 6 p.m. ET cutoff on Thursday, acquiring reliever Louis Varland and first baseman Ty France from the Twins while sending outfielder Alan Roden and lefty pitcher Kendrys Rojas to Minnesota.

While the swap won’t necessarily have as massive an impact on the Blue Jays’ playoff push as the acquisition of starter Shane Bieber earlier in the day is expected to, Varland at least offers some bullpen depth while France, primarily a first baseman, brings some potential power.

Pitching as a reliever for the first time in his career, Varland has been solid in the Twins bullpen this season, putting up a 2.02 ERA over 49 innings. In his fourth season in the major leagues, Varland has 47 strikeouts in 2025 while walking 13. There is some potential upside with the 27-year-old righty given that he will be under Blue Jays team control until 2030.

“He has been very effective this year as a reliever,” Atkins said of Varland. “He has as good a fastball as you can find, as good of a curveball as you can find. He’s extremely aggressive. He’s coming after you and that’s attractive to us.

“He immediately impacts our bullpen in a significant way.”

It’s unclear where France will fit in, but as recently as 2022, the 31-year-old infielder was an all-star with the Seattle Mariners. He was a regular with the Twins this season, appearing in 101 games at first base, hitting to a .251 average with six homers and 19 doubles.

“A very good offensive player who will get good, significant playing time against left-handed pitching,” was Atkins assessment of France. “(We’re) not going to limit him to that, but he can obviously cover us well at first base. We’re excited about adding that right-handed bat to our 26-man (roster.)”

In sending Roden to the Twin Cities, the Jays are easing some of the outfield glut. Roden had an uneven season with the Jays, making the team out of spring training, but shuffling between triple-A Buffalo and Toronto, for whom he saw action in 43 games.

Meanwhile, the 22-year-old Rojas was an intriguing prospect at double-A New Hampshire, where he had a 3.86 ERA while striking out 62 batters in 41.2 innings. The Jays thought enough of Rojas to recently promote him to Buffalo.

In another late swap, the Jays acquired catching prospect Brandon Valenzuela from San Diego in exchange for utility infielder Will Wagner.

When the deadline arrived, the Jays had four new acquisitions for the big-league team:  Bieber, Varland, France and reliever Seranthony Dominguez, acquired from the Orioles earlier in the week.