TORONTO – Here we go.
Speculation finally gave way to action Sunday as the Toronto Blue Jays agreed to send Eric Sogard to the visiting Tampa Bay Rays in an intra-divisional trade. Yet even before Sogard left the Blue Jays’ home dugout and started packing his bags for Tampa, a whole new set of questions arose.
Among them: what are the Blue Jays getting back for Sogard? Will Bo Bichette replace him on the big-league roster? If not, why? And who will be the next player the front office trades? By Wednesday at 4 p.m. ET, we’ll have conclusive answers to all of those questions.
In the meantime, here’s where things stand after a 10-9 loss to the Rays in which Aaron Sanchez flashed dominant stuff on his way to 10 strikeouts before the Blue Jays blew a seven-run lead.
It wasn’t immediately clear what the Blue Jays would get back for Sogard, as the sides were still finalizing the deal Sunday afternoon, according to a person familiar with the talks. Toronto wasn’t in position to get a top prospect back for Sogard, a 33-year-old on the brink of free agency, but the team’s better off adding some young talent for a player who wasn’t part of its future.
Considering the Blue Jays signed Sogard to a minor-league deal over the winter, they have to be pleased with his tenure in Toronto. In 73 games, he batted .300 with 10 homers and an .840 OPS while playing five defensive positions. Behind the scenes, he also helped young players such as Cavan Biggio and Billy McKinney before being traded.
As for Bichette, the Blue Jays have a decision ahead. They could choose to promote the 21-year-old, who now ranks sixth among all MLB prospects, according to Baseball America. In 55 triple-A games, Bichette has 15 stolen bases with a .277 average and .813 OPS.
But the Blue Jays are deliberate when it comes to the promotion of their prospects, and Bichette has struggled over the last week, batting .097 with 12 strikeouts in his last 13 at-bats. It’s possible the front office would prefer to promote him at a time that he’s not slumping, in which case Richard Urena could get the call (Urena’s already on the 40-man roster, so it’s easy to promote him if needed).
Regardless, Bichette’s definitely on the major-league radar. His chances of arriving in the majors in the coming weeks still seem good.
Relatively speaking, the Sogard trade was small in scale even though he generated plenty of interest from contenders. The Blue Jays are positioned to make a couple more moves like this before Wednesday with Freddy Galvis and Daniel Hudson among those drawing interest.
And on a larger scale, the Blue Jays are actively discussing trades involving Marcus Stroman and Ken Giles. Toronto is interested in Deivi Garcia, a 20-year-old Yankees right-hander who ranked 69th among all prospects on Baseball America’s latest top 100 list. Garcia, who’s smaller than most pitchers at 5’9″, has a 3.38 ERA with 128 strikeouts in 82.2 innings split between high-A, double-A and triple-A. In theory, he makes sense for the Blue Jays.
(By the way, the Blue Jays did not ask the Yankees for Gleyber Torres as MLB.com reported; his name has not come up in talks between the two teams.)
Even Sanchez has boosted his trade value in recent weeks. After battling command issues for most of the season, he has cut down on walks dramatically of late. He walked two in his first start after the all-star break and just one in the start after that. In the two starts since? No walks at all.
Better still, Sanchez has been striking hitters out. He struck out 10 Rays Sunday, including the first six hitters he faced, a franchise record. That will presumably intrigue contending teams, even though the Rays eventually scored four runs off him on their way to a comeback win.
Yet another reason the Blue Jays are a team to watch as the deadline approaches. The Sogard trade should simply be the beginning for a team with a need for young talent and many more big-leaguers on the trade block.
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