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Blue Jays begin midseason sell-off with Pearce deal

Steve Pearce is headed to the Boston Red Sox. (Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images)
Steve Pearce is headed to the Boston Red Sox. (Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images)

More than a month out from the non-waiver deadline, the Toronto Blue Jays have begun to sell, and outfielder Steve Pearce is the first man to go.

From the Blue Jays’ perspective, Pearce moving is hardly a surprise. Although he was swinging the bat well with a .291/.349/.519 line this season, he didn’t have much value for the club going forward.

The veteran’s contract expires at the end of the season and there wasn’t much playing time for him in the outfield with Randal Grichuk, Kevin Pillar, and Teoscar Hernandez all starting more or less everyday plus Curtis Granderson also soaking up some at-bats. At first base and designated hitter, he was blocked by Justin Smoak and Kendrys Morales.

Seeing as Pearce is 35, injury-prone, a defensive liability anywhere but first, and a pure rental, the Blue Jays ought to be rather happy with the return of shortstop Santiago Espinal.

Espinal is certainly a longshot as a 23-year-old who hasn’t reached Double-A yet, but he’s posting strong numbers this season with the High-A Salem Red Sox with a .314/.364/.478 line and seven home runs. You’re not going to find the former 10th round pick on any major prospects lists, but for what it’s worth, he cracked FanGraphs’ list of the most compelling fringe prospects in the game back in May.

Basically what we’ve got here is the Blue Jays trading a piece worth basically nothing to them for a player who will probably be worth nothing to them, but could conceivably be useful some time in the future. If that doesn’t sound exciting, it’s because it absolutely isn’t. That’s the world of low-profile rentals, though.

There are two things that make this minor deal slightly more interesting than it might be. The first is the timing. By making this deal the Blue Jays have demonstrated they’re open for business, even a ways out from the deadline. That means we could see more significant moves sooner than predicted, if the club feels there’s a premium to be had in selling three months of a player as opposed to two.

The second piece of intrigue – albeit very minor intrigue – is that the Blue Jays sent some cash in this deal. When a team adds money to a trade it is generally for the purpose of getting a better prospect back. The fact they did that in this one means that they prioritized getting Espinal to some degree as opposed to just dumping Pearce. That doesn’t make the young shortstop any more talented, but it does say something about how he’s valued by both parties.

There are far more, and bigger, trades to come for the Blue Jays in the next few weeks, but it’s clear the club is open for business – and they’ve opened a little early.

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