Blue Jays Acquire Yangervis Solarte In Trade With San Diego

Holy piss, something actually has happened!

Maybe I’ll change my tune once I see that cost, but on first blush, this is a very nice add. To wit:

Contract is very team friendly, too:

So the Jays’ middle infield situation has now gone from Tulo, Travis, Goins, and Barney, with Lourdes Gurriel and Richard Ureña a little too far away to help, to Tulo, Travis, Solarte, and Aldemys Diaz, with Ureña and Gurriel that much closer to knocking on the door (and Bo Bichette perhaps not all that far behind them). Assuming none of those players is in this deal, that is. (We can definitely assume Bichette isn’t, relax).

That is some very nice improvement in an area where the club’s top two players are unlikely to have full, healthy seasons.

There’s also this:

For those who would like that image a little marginally more readable:

Also of note here: while Nuñez is a right-handed batter, Solarte is a switch hitter, and was significantly better in 2017 as a lefty (108 wRC+ versus 54) — as he has been in every year of his career, save for his rookie season of 2014. (He’s not usually been as bad from the right side, it should be noted. But more importantly: this is a roster that needed some extra balance, and he give them a touch of that, at the very least. Hell, there’s a chance he steals some DH at-bats against right-handers from Kendrys).

What we think of this will ultimately depend on the cost, of course, but based on the assumption that it won’t be a top tier prospect (it isn’t, see below) I think the Jays have done really well for themselves. Nuñez may not get that much more than what Solarte’s deal will ultimately pay him, but he’ll get more, and having those option years instead of guaranteed ones is pretty nifty.

Aaaaand now we have a name:

And some details on Olivares as well:

The Jays system these days is better than Prime Time Sports would have you think (not that anyone under 50 listens to that now that Brunt’s gone anyway), so the 16th best guy certainly has value — obviously — but the Jays have some depth among tweener types who might not quite hit enough to play in a corner and might not defend enough to play centre (which may not be what Olivares is, but that seems to be what I see, with him having played some centre, but mostly right field, and having had a really nice career in the low minors as a hitter, though walking just 4.7% of the time in his breakout season this year in Lansing). Olivares is clearly much farther out, but there were guys like Teoscar, Alford, Pompey, Gurriel, (Pillar, obviously) and others ahead of him here, and the hope is that some of that group is actually going to stick here for a long time — and I know the Jays are very high on Alford.

Of course, that description is just me looking at numbers. Here’s someone far more knowledgeable weighing in:

On the other hand we have Jesse Goldberg-Strassler, who watched Olivares all year at Lansing, told our Ryan Di Francesco this about him back in July:

So, maybe a guy who can legitimately defend in centre — don’t scout the stat line, kids! Still, though, three years of Solarte at a nice price with club options is a very nice get. Now to take a sip from this big glass of water…

PFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFTTTTTSSSSHHHHHHHYYYYYSSHHHHH

Solarte’s primary position is third base. Drew’s primary position, of course, is fucking ghoul.

Moving on, here’s the other prospect going to the Padres here:

Sure, OK.

The deal is indeed official:

So… there’s that. I’ll offer some better structured and less of-the-moment thoughts on this, and how Solarte will fit on the Jays’ roster, in the coming days. But the short version of it is: nice move! The acquisition cost is very palatable, Solarte is a good and versatile player, can help especially from the left side (where he might steal at-bats from Morales — or even allow Devon Travis to spend some time at DH), and with Aledmys Diaz having options still left, the move doesn’t really create any sort of roster problems for the time being. He might not be a game-changer, but a valuable depth piece who certainly raises the floor — something the Jays desperately needed to do this winter, especially in the middle infield. Hard to find anything to dislike here.