Blue Jays infielder Isiah Kiner-Falefa has been on the 10-day injured record because the begin of July as a consequence of a a left knee sprain, however he began a rehab project yesterday and will maybe be traded previous to Tuesday’s deadline. Even when he’s not reinstated by then, trades of gamers on the IL are allowed and the Jays are keen to take heed to provides, per each Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet on X and Robert Murray of FanSided.
Kiner-Falefa, 29, has lengthy been a glove-first utility man. In his profession, he has acquired robust grades for his work on the three infield spots to the left of first base. He’s additionally performed all three outfield slots with some satisfactory marks on the market. By the tip of 2023, he had hit simply .261/.314/.346 for a wRC+ of 81 however had stolen 74 bases in 98 tries.
The Jays signed him within the offseason to a two-year deal that paid him $15MM plus $1MM in incentives and he was having the very best offensive displaying of his profession previous to the knee damage. He had seven house runs in 83 video games, which isn’t an enormous whole however a pleasant leap for IKF personally as his profession excessive is eight. He was solely drawing walks at a 4.6% clip but in addition restricted strikeouts to a 13.2% fee. His present .292/.338/.420 batting line interprets to a 116 wRC+ on this 12 months’s offensive setting.
Kiner-Falefa has shut to three,000 innings at shortstop in his profession with 27 Defensive Runs Saved in that point. Outs Above Common has him at -5, however most of that is because of a -6 tally again in 2021. In virtually 1500 innings at third base, he has 24 DRS and 24 OAA. His second base observe document is barely over 400 innings however has nonetheless translated to eight DRS and a couple of OAA, whereas his over 500 innings within the outfield have been only a bit beneath par.
The Blue Jays are clear sellers however have largely been targeted on shifting rental gamers. They’ve already traded Yimi García to the Mariners, Danny Jansen to the Crimson Sox and will look to flip Yusei Kikuchi, Justin Turner, Kevin Kiermaier and Trevor Richards within the coming days. Whereas they’re reportedly not making an attempt to maneuver core controllable guys like Bo Bichette or Vladimir Guerrero Jr., they’re clearly at the least keen to entertain shifting some non-rental guys. They just lately traded Nate Pearson to the Cubs regardless of Pearson having two further seasons of management past this one.
Kiner-Falefa may maybe garner curiosity because of the lack of different infielders which are out there, one thing that MLBTR’s Anthony Franco just lately examined in a chunk of Entrance Workplace subscribers. Jazz Chisholm Jr. is already off the board after being acquired by the Yankees. Brandon Drury and Paul DeJong are having underwhelming seasons.
There are a couple of guys on the market, reminiscent of Luis Rengifo of the Angels. The Rays have Amed Rosario and are in all probability open to provides on Brandon Lowe and Isaac Paredes, although the costs on the latter two must be fairly notable. The Reds may hear on Jonathan India but it surely’s unclear how out there he actually is. Ditto for Nico Hoerner of the Cubs.
Even after getting Chisholm, the Yankees are nonetheless searching for assist at third base. Golf equipment just like the Rangers, Astros, Dodgers, Crimson Sox, Mariners, Atlanta and the Pirates may very well be searching for infield upgrades within the coming days. Maybe the imbalance between provide and demand will result in the Jays getting some attention-grabbing calls. They might at all times maintain Kiner-Falefa for the second 12 months of his deal however their infield combine has additionally modified since they signed him.
Ernie Clement has primarily been performing the function IKF was introduced in for, offering high quality protection at a number of spots with a contact-based strategy on the plate. Spencer Horwitz moved from first base to second base as a consequence of Guerrero being locked in at first. Horwitz has been hitting nicely whereas seemingly performing succesful sufficient on the keystone. Leo Jiménez is overlaying shortstop with Bichette on the injured record. Orelvis Martinez shall be again within the combine after he serves his 80-game PED suspension. Guys like Addison Barger and Davis Schneider are additionally able to enjoying some infield. On the outfield, even with out Kiermaier subsequent 12 months, the Jays at the moment challenge to have George Springer and Daulton Varsho with Barger and Schneider in play, in addition to Jonatan Clase, just lately acquired within the Garcia commerce.
Maybe IKF is extra helpful to them at this level as a commerce chip than as part of their 2025 plans. IKF’s contract has a $7.5MM aggressive steadiness tax hit for the 12 months however an buying membership would solely be taking over a few third of that by buying and selling for him now. It’s additionally doable the Jays may look to eat among the cash owed to him to be able to facilitate a deal.
