The Toronto Blue Jays were one of the most active teams at the trade deadline, which included a last-minute transaction with a common trade partner. In the deal, the Jays are sending utilityman Isiah Kiner-Falefa and cash considerations in exchange for third baseman/outfielder Charles McAdoo from the Pirates. The amount of cash moving in the deal has not been announced.

Kiner-Falefa, who was down in Buffalo on a rehab assignment at the time of the trade, has put together a solid campaign in his first season North of the border.

Signing a two-year pact this past winter with a $7.5 million AAV, the right-handed hitter owns a .292/.338/.420 slash line with eight doubles, two triples, and seven home runs through 257 at-bats. His seven knocks sit just one shy of tying his single-season career high he set back in 2021 and the seven-year veteran has amassed a .758 OPS this season, which if he can hold, would best his career-high .682 mark that he set back in his rookie season.

While Kiner-Falefa won’t boast the highest exit velocity rates or hit double-digit home runs year after year, the former Yankee and Ranger bat makes up for it with his bat-to-ball ability – authoring a .128 ISO to go with his .316 BAbip this season – putting the ball in play while striking out at a 13.2% rate (94th percentile).

Known for his glove and fielding ability, the Hawaiian product has been exactly as advertised. He owns a 12 bDRS on the year while splitting time at second base, third base, and shortstop and has made just three errors all season long – good enough for a +3 fielding run value.

With the Jays in seller mode, the club was reportedly not shopping the utilityman at the trade deadline but the Pirates were able to tempt the front office with McAdoo, a third baseman by trade who can handle himself in right field and has solid power from the right side of the plate.

A 13th-round pick of the Pirates last summer, McAdoo started the campaign in high-A Greensboro before being promoted to double-A in mid-June. Collectively, the 22-year-old owns a .315/.394/.538 slash line with 14 home runs and 63 RBIs to the tune of a .932 OPS. He does have some swing-and-miss to his game, rocking a 23.2% strikeout rate through 87 games, but his plus power can change the outcome of a game when he connects and he has plus wheels on the base paths – boasting 17 stolen bases on the year.

This season isn’t just an outlier so far in his early professional career, as McAdoo authored a similar .302/.412/.510 slash line and a .922 OPS rounding out the 2023 campaign in single-A. He added three doubles and five home runs with 17 walks through 28 games and started the season ranked at #29 on the Pirates MLB Pipeline top prospects list but was going to be relisted at #15 following the trade deadline. He now sits at #14 in the Jays organization.

In what was a seller’s market this summer, the Blue Jays traded away a utilityman in IKF who was playing above his career numbers and turned him into a controllable outfielder who doesn’t fit the norm of a Blue Jays offensive prospect when it comes to favouring power over contact (although one can easily argue that he can do both).

At first, the deal this winter was chastised considering the front office was signing a historically defensive-minded player with a bat that lacked consistency after a season that saw the Blue Jays struggle to produce at the plate (and committing $15 million to do so).

Kiner-Falefa returned the favour by putting forth a career year at the plate while still playing superb defence and has now turned into prospect capital for a once-struggling farm system that has received its fair share of endorsements after a busy deadline. The club sold high on his value at a trade deadline that favoured the organization’s lacklustre record and seller’s position and walked away with a prospect that should have Jays fans who value the long ball happy at the end of the day.

McAdoo is a welcome addition to the Blue Jays system and can easily be a power bat that could be knocking on the big league door late next season if he continues to put the barrel to the ball and can cut down on the strikeouts. For Kiner-Falefa, he was a bright spot on a dreary Blue Jays squad and easily earned the label of ‘the best offseason signing’ this past winter for Ross Atkins.

All the best to Kiner-Falefa as the Pirates look to make a postseason run.