The Toronto Blue Jays have placed outfielder Kevin Kiermaier on revocable waivers, the New York Post’s Joel Sherman reported Thursday.
The move, Sherman reported, is to gauge interest in the veteran center fielder and an effort to get the Blue Jays under the $237-million luxury tax threshold, which the team is roughly $10-million over, he added.
Kiermaier, 34, signed a one-year, $10.5-million deal in the offseason but has had significant struggles at the plate this season, posting a .183/.232/.290 slash line for a career-low .522 OPS. Despite his offensive woes this season, he continues to remain incredibly effective in the outfield, posting 7 outs above average, a number that is in the 95th percentile, according to Baseball Savant.
The move is the first public signal of the team looking to be sellers at July 30th’s trade deadline. Kiermaier has roughly $4.5-million left on his deal, Sherman reported, adding that “It is highly doubtful any team would assume that kind of financial responsibility for a player struggling as much as Kiermaier.”
Revocable waivers mean that if a team were to place a claim on Kiermaier, the Blue Jays would have the ability to retain him.
Kiermaier is one of many players the Jays could look to trade ahead of the deadline. He, along with Justin Turner, Yusei Kikuchi, Yimi Garcia, Trevor Richards and Danny Jansen are all free agents this winter, with the latter two having arbitration rights.
There’s a number of other players the Jays could look to move this month, too. The likes of Chris Bassitt, Chad Green, Isiah Kiner-Falefa and Bo Bichette all have two years remaining on their deals, as do Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Jordan Romano, Erik Swanson and Genesis Cabrera. However, the latter four have arbitration rights.
The Blue Jays, however, might need to be willing to eat some salary in order to make a Kiermaier deal or any other kind of deal work for opposing teams.
Zach Laing is the Nation Network’s news director and senior columnist. He can be followed on Twitter at @zjlaing, or reached by email at zach@thenationnetwork.com.