Blue Jays get creative dealing Liriano to Astros

The first trade the Toronto Blue Jays made on Monday showed a willingness of the front office to get a little creative.

When the club dealt Francisco Liriano to the Houston Astros the return came in the rather unexpected form of Nori Aoki and Teoscar Hernandez. Prior to that news coming down the assumption was that a Liriano deal would go one of two ways:

Blue Jays trade Liriano for a mildly-interesting prospect and eat his salary

This looked like the best-case scenario for the Blue Jays. They need young talent far more than they need money, so it seemed like perhaps they could market Liriano as a lefty bullpen arm to a team willing to part with something to avoid his pro-rated $13 million salary.

Blue Jays trade Liriano and his whole salary to a deep-pocketed team for a nothing prospect

Toronto is more in the business of acquiring talent than dumping salary, but a contender with money to burn might have preferred to take Liriano’s relatively hefty contract off the Blue Jays’ hands, but give little in return. This wouldn’t have been an ideal situation for the club, but keeping the veteran southpaw would have made no sense, so it was the “better than nothing” choice.

As it happens the Blue Jays devised a Door 3. They don’t pay Liriano’s salary, but they get an intriguing prospect in return by taking on an under-performing veteran as a salary counterbalance.

The main attraction is Hernandez, a 24-year-old outfielder who ranks as Houston’s eighth-best prospect according to Baseball America and ninth-best per MLB Pipeline. He has managed a .279/.369/.485 line at Triple-A this season – his second at the level.

Hernandez did see some action in the big leagues last year. He hit a respectable .230/.304/.420, but posted a negative WAR (-0.3) in 41 games thanks to poor base running and fielding numbers. For a team with some serious outfield questions Hernandez could play a role in the near future. At the very least, he could come off the bench when rosters expand as a guy with speed (two seasons of 30+ steals in the minors) and the ability to play all three outfield positions.

In Aoki, the Blue Jays get a veteran who’s both arbitration eligible in 2018 and has been an above-average offensive contributor for five straight seasons prior to 2017. That’s the good news.

On the other hand, Aoki is a 35-year-old in the midst of a very tough year where he’s posted a negative WAR. His .272/.323/.371 isn’t disastrous, but combined with below-average defence and base running, the complete package has been unimpressive.

The Blue Jays can give Aoki some time down the stretch and non-tender him in 2018 if they aren’t impressed. Hernandez is more of a lottery ticket than a blue chipper, but he fits into the club’s competitive window and shows they are serious about getting players who can help as soon as 2018 instead of kicking the can down the road.

From the Astros perspective, it’s easy to see the upside here even though Liriano is in the midst of a rough season with a 5.88 ERA and 4.72 FIP. Although the southpaw has scuffled as a starter, he looks like an interesting bullpen piece because of his dramatic left/right splits.

Opposing left-handers have managed to hit just .230/.254/.361 against him while righties have clobbered him to the tune of a .286/.387/.492 line. His K/BB against lefties is a sterling 17.00, against right-handers it’s a miserable 1.36.

If the Astros deploy him as a lefty specialist he’s likely to be successful as he’ll see a velocity boost from a move to the bullpen and his slider could be a devastating late-game weapon. Because he’s been stretched out, Houston could also deploy him for multi-inning stints if need be. He’s not going to be Andrew Miller – or even Brad Hand necessarily – but he will be useful.

More Blue Jays Coverage from Yahoo Canada Sports