Blue Jays deem Adam Lind a luxury as roster reconfiguration begins

The Blue Jays kicked off the hot stove season by dealing first baseman/designated hitter Adam Lind to the Milwaukee Brewers, opening up a portal into the front office's plans in the months leading up to spring training next February.

Marco Estrada, the right-handed pitcher Toronto received from Milwaukee in exchange for Lind, has experience as a starter and reliever but the trade is less about who the Blue Jays are getting back and more to do with flexibility and having options when free agency opens.

"This deal is about reconfiguring the roster at this point. Adam was a very productive hitter against right-handers, he did an unbelievable job for us and had a lot of great years here," general manager Alex Anthopoulos said on Saturday. "There’s no question the offense and the bat will be missed, but we have some other areas of need on the club and sometimes you have to make some tough choices, tough decisions."

Rumours about Lind's availability surfaced after the season ended and ultimately the Jays deemed his services were a luxury the team couldn't afford. He had an option for $7.5 million for 2015 that Toronto picked up to enable the trade to Milwaukee. Lind has another option worth $8 million for 2016.

When healthy he's terrific against right-handed pitching (career slash line of .293/.349/.510) but he's ineffective against lefties (.212/.257/.331), continues to deal with a recurring back problem, and doesn't provide much value defensively.

Without Lind, the team has given itself the opportunity to move forward with the DH spot as a place that can see a rotation of players, like Edwin Encarnacion, Jose Reyes, Jose Bautista, and the newly acquired Justin Smoak while adding Estrada gives them starting pitching depth, making it easier to pull the trigger on a trade involving one of Toronto's veteran starters later in the offseason.

Even if Lind has become a platoon player because of his struggles against southpaws, he's still a player that can start around 75% of your games and is a very productive hitter in the middle of the order when he plays. The Blue Jays let him go because of the injury concerns and their desire to get away from a player that needs to get most of his at-bats at DH, especially when Encarnacion also fits that mold.

It didn't take long for the shuffle to get started in Toronto and get ready, because there's plenty more to come.

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