Blue Jays Trade Randall Grechuk for Rocky

The Blue Jays and the Rocky agreed to send a defensive player to trade Randall Grechuk From Toronto to Colorado vs. Defender Rimmel TapiaMLB.com’s Mark Finsand reports (Via Twitter). Jays will own the offside potential Adrien Pinto from the Rockies, they will also send money to Colorado to help cover Grichuk’s contract, Feinsand . adds.

Grichuk, 30, has been seen as a commercial candidate for over a year now as the Rockies have deepened their outdoor mix and Grichuk’s performance has fallen. Signed to a five-year contract covering the 2019-23 seasons, Grichuk still owes $9.33 million this season and the following, while Tapia and the Rox settled on a $3.95 million salary earlier this week. He is eligible to referee and dominated during the 2023 season by himself. The difference in salary between the players is about 14.7 million dollars.

Grichuk signed a five-year, $52 million contract on April 2, 2019 — fresh from the 2018 season hitting 0.245/.301/.502 with what was then 25 home runs at 462 board appearances. It was a very exciting deal even at the time, as Grichuk’s enduring struggles worked at OBP to make up for his strength and strong glove work on the field. Not that he wasn’t a useful player, but Jays actually dominated Grichuk for two seasons and were actually committing about $39-40 million plus what he would earn in refereeing to buy his first three seasons with a free agent. .

Since putting pen to paper, Grichuk has deployed the .242/.286/.448 hit line with 65 home runs in 1,414 plate appearances. Of the 159 players who have appeared at least 1,000 billboards in those three spanning years, he ranks 158 in the base percentage. To his credit, Grichuk curbed his strike rate from 26.4% in 2018 all the way to 20.9% in 2021, but contact gains haven’t yielded a better average and his gait rate has fallen to 5.0%. There’s clearly an above-average pop in his racket, but the defensive metrics have also strained Grichuk’s work at the center over the past two seasons. Meanwhile, the Guys signed George Springer hacks received from Lourdes Gurriel Jr. And the Tuscar Hernandez Since Grichuk signed this long-term agreement.

There have been reports even while the lockdown continues Tapia can be on the move when resuming transactions. adding Chris Bryant Being the new base left player, he definitely accelerated the efforts of the Rockies to move Tapia, who previously held the position. Grichuk could be a key center or right-back in Colorado, and he’ll bring Rox a bit more power than Tapia has ever provided – albeit at the cost of some speed, core percentage and (arguably) defensive value.

At Tapia, Jays will get a much-needed left-handed racket to help balance a perfectly right-leaning mix (and an overall right-leaning lineup). The 28-year-old has been Colorado’s primary left player since 2019, scoring a slash. ). Tapia has strong bat-to-ball skills, but his extreme ball style has resulted in only 16 passes on home from 1,186 appearances for the board since 2019. He can pass base when needed (37 steals with a success rate of 77.1% over the past three seasons, as Grichuk, he’s not been one to walk much (6.3% since ’19), but he’s also a solid strike, as evidenced by his career best 13.1% mark last year.

Tapia has received strong left-field marks from metrics like Defensive Runs Saved (4), Ultimate Zone Rating (6.0), and Outs Above Average (7) since making a regular appearance in the lineup at Coors Field. He is at least capable of playing a position in question, having scored 189 runs there in his career (15 last season, none in 2020, 83 in 2019). These ratings, plus his left-handed racket, make him a better fit on Toronto’s roster than right-handed Grechuk.

While Tapia may not be the star the Rockies envisioned when he was ranked among the sport’s top 50 players in the 2016-17 season, he emerged as a solid defensive player with better-than-average speed and ball-playing skills. Jays will likely be hoping to coax more volleys out of Tapia, and thus generate some extra power, but even if his volleyball profile remains unchanged, he could be a useful fourth player for a club deep in right-hand-handing options.

As for his 19-year-old Pinto, he will give Jays something of a potential wild card to connect to the lower levels of their farm system. American baseball rated Bento 19 In a fairly thin rocker system this spring, he described the 5’6-second baseman as a “breakthrough candidate” who could make big strides forward as he transitioned from the Dominican Summer League to a full-season affiliate.

Pinto had .360/.486/.543 in 224 DSL board appearances last season, making a whopping 17% clip for just an 8% strike rate while leading the league with 41 stolen bases. BA’s survey report praises “superb” hand-eye coordination, advanced pitch recognition skills and increased speed. Players of his size and stature will always have their share of skeptics, but perhaps Jays would feel better about pushing Grichuk to play elsewhere if they viewed part of the deal as an effective purchase of Pinto from the Rockies.