HOUSTON — In a confounding season with muddled standings and a highly unlikely, but not totally impossible, pathway to the post-season, this trade deadline promised to be fraught for the Toronto Blue Jays. 

They weren’t ready to fully concede to their daunting playoff odds by selling off their pending free agents, but also couldn’t afford to hold for a low-probability run at October and risk no return for their expiring assets. They needed worthwhile value back to diminish the on-field product at their sold-out stadium, but teams are better than ever at identifying their very best prospects and keeping them out of deals. They wanted to, at worst, move laterally in the present while also moving forward substantially in the future. Yet even as they talked about remaining in the race, some of the teams they are, or could be, competing against for the final wild-card berth emerged as top trade partners, within a conflicted wider market. 

And then there was the emotional toll on players, coaches, staffers and, of course, fans, of tearing apart the heart of the team that came within inches of winning the World Series last fall.

The only way to balance those competing, even contradictory forces was to drive in opposite lanes at the same time, and that’s the approach the Blue Jays took in adding 10 players through six trades, highlighted by Jose Soriano’s acquisition ahead of Monday’s 6 p.m. ET deadline.

Joining Soriano are Spencer Arrighetti and Jameson Taillon to help bolster the rotation; John Klein and Josh Stephan to add upper-level pitching depth; Josh Smith to add versatility in a dice roll he can recapture past form at the plate; Brett Bateman for a near-term centre field option; and Ty Southisene, Dasan Hill and Dameury Pena for longer-level upside. 

Gone are Kevin Gausman, Jeff Hoffman, Daulton Varsho, Adam Macko and three........

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