TORONTO — Industry-wide, this was a shock-and-awe trade deadline, headlined as always by the gasp-inducing audacity of San Diego Padres GM A.J. Preller, but also by the ambitions of the New York Yankees, Seattle Mariners, Houston Astros, Philadelphia Phillies and New York Mets, among others. The National League clubs loaded up to try and escape their stacked loop, while the American League teams beefed up in an attempt to capitalize on their wide-open circuit.

And it’s within that wider context that the Toronto Blue Jays executed four trades this week — counting the roster housekeeping move which made Will Wagner part of Preller’s madcap Thursday haul, returning triple-A-bound catcher Brandon Valenzuela — that were, by comparison, measured, pragmatic and responsible, about as on-brand as they can be.

They upgraded the bullpen with power-armed righties Seranthony Dominguez, a pending free agent, and Louis Varland, under contractual control for five more seasons and with whom the Blue Jays will explore a possible return to starting down the road. They added a right-handed bat in Ty France, a 2022 all-star who hasn’t produced the same way since, but will get some run against left-handed pitchers. And finally, they landed a potential post-season starter in Shane Bieber, the 2020 AL Cy Young Award winner, whose addition in a scarce segment of the market is a bet on his ability to emerge from his Tommy John surgery in time to pitch in meaningful games.

Whether he does or not will, to a large degree, determine how successful a deadline this was for the Blue Jays, because of how much upside the 30-year-old, if healthy, offers.

Either way, accomplishing the above for pitching prospects Khal Stephen, Juaron Watts-Brown and Kendry Rojas, plus bubble big-leaguers Alan Roden and Wagner, was the Blue Jays keeping within their valuations in a hyper-charged market, one that prompted so many others to set their farm systems ablaze.

“You have to prepare for that beforehand,” GM Ross Atkins said of the way the Blue Jays handled prices that seemed higher than in years past. “You have to understand your system and understand what you’re willing to do and work through all of those scenarios to be prepared for what the market’s going to do. We were. We weren’t surprised by the asks, and we felt like our work was indicative of where the market took things and allowed us to be agile.”

In that way, the Blue Jays were the anti-Preller, who pulled off a bombshell stunner in the morning by acquiring laser-armed closer Mason Miller and J.P. Sears from the Athletics for a massive package headlined by teenage shortstop Leodalis De Vries, one of the game’s top prospects. The Padres later added Ryan O’Hearn, Ramon Laureano, Freddy Fermin, Nestor Cortes and Wagner, who was optioned to triple-A El Paso, as they take aim at the powerhouse Los Angeles Dodgers.

More immediately pressing for the Blue Jays are the New York Yankees, who are four games back in the AL East and, after having already added Ryan McMahon, Amed Rosario and Austin Slater, loaded up their bullpen Thursday with David Bednar, Camilo Doval and Jake Bird while further bolstering their defence by getting infielder Jose Caballero from Tampa. 

The Mariners made two major additions in Eugenio Suarez and Canadian Josh Naylor, giving them a lineup worthy of their fearsome pitching staff, while the Astros, seeking to fend off Seattle in the AL West, reacquired Carlos Correa and added outfielder Jesus Sanchez after earlier getting infielder Ramon Urias.

The Mets and Phillies did their heavy lifting earlier this week, New York remaking its bullpen with Ryan Helsley, Gregory Soto and Tyler Rogers while adding Cedric Mullins on Thursday, while Philadelphia added Jhoan Duran to their bullpen and Harrison Bader to their outfield.

There were loads of other moves, too, including the Red Sox showing Blue Jays-like discipline in picking up Dustin May from the Dodgers and Steven Matz from St. Louis, to cap a wild stretch of talent redistribution.

The Blue Jays “feel that we were very aggressive at the deadline,” said Atkins, who later added, “as it relates to our competition, we feel like we made our team better and that’s what we were focused on.”

Sure, although the flow of their trades showed they were very aware of how their competition was proceeding, too.

Their first deal Tuesday afternoon was for Dominguez, following the industry’s initial volley of deals last weekend. To that point, only two notable relievers had moved, both also traded by the Orioles — righty Bryan Baker to the Rays for a competitive balance round draft pick on July 10, and Soto to the Mets for hard-throwing A-ball righty Wellington Aracena and 26-year-old double-A righty Cameron Foster last Friday. 

Acting when they did essentially pushed the Blue Jays out in front of the relief market, before prices climbed progressively higher for Rogers, Helsley, Duran and Miller, with strong returns for Bednar, Doval and Griffin Jax, part of Minnesota’s wild sell-off.

The Blue Jays acted somewhat similarly on the slow-to-develop-and-thin starter market. The Detroit Tigers picked up Chris Paddack from the Twins for Enrique Jimenez, a complex-league catcher who switch-hits with power, and things picked up Wednesday, when the Reds surrendered two prospects as part of a three-team trade to get Zack Littell, while the Cubs added Michael Soroka from the Nationals for prospects. Just before the 6 p.m. ET buzzer Thursday, rental starter Merrill Kelly returned Arizona three pitching prospects from Texas, including Canadian Mitch Bratt.

With Dylan Cease, Joe Ryan, Mackenzie Gore, Sandy Alcantara and Edward Cabrera each staying put, the Blue Jays acted fast and could end up with the most impactful starter in Bieber, caveats and all.

“Obviously, the guy has been elite and has performed very well on really big stages, has been the best pitcher in the game at certain points, so that was important to us, just raising our potential, raising our bar,” said Atkins, who added that Bieber’s next steps will be set once he arrives Friday. “He just made a rehab start (Tuesday with double-A Akron), he’ll make another one in the coming days, and we’ll go one start at a time as we come together and make that plan with him.”

Getting Bieber done Thursday morning gave the Blue Jays the flexibility to play out the rest of the day, testing their valuations for various players, having already deepened their pitching staff. At roughly 5:15 p.m., Atkins said, they had the deal for the intriguing Varland and France finalized with the Twins, not long after Jax, Doval and Bednar had come off the table.

“We were in a position to trade from areas of depth, and we had the top-end talent to access almost anything that we wanted to access,” said Atkins. “So it just comes down to lining up in terms of what the exchange is going to be relative to what they’re able to acquire elsewhere. And it was an extremely competitive year where we felt like we could compete in every level of the market.”

There’s a difference in competing and closing, of course, and through some combination of selling teams wanting other players and the Blue Jays refusing to move their very best prospects, many of the bigger names in play came and went. 

They still added impact, though, in a way so very true to themselves and the way they operate. During a deadline where the rivals around them went further and flashier, the Blue Jays better hope it will be enough.