Blue Jays Trade: Steve Pearce to Red Sox

This is a surprise. The Blue Jays have sent Steve Pearce and cash to the Red Sox for Santiago Espinal.

We did have too many players for the DH spot. Or, if you consider Pearce a left fielder, we had too many outfielders too. So, dealing from a spot of over abundance is a good thing.

Pearce is hitting .291/.349/.519 with 4 home runs, in 26 games, this season. He’s played 4 games since returning from the DL, hitting .385/.429/.692 with 1 home run. He’s been hurt so much he doesn’t have much for trade value.

Espinal is a 23 year old middle infielder. A RHB, he was playing at Salem, High A ball for the Red Sox. He was hitting .314/.364/.478 with 7 home runs, 18 walks, 35 strikeouts and 9 steals in 64 games there. He’s old for the level.

He’s not listed in the Red Sox ‘top 30 prospects’ on MLB.com. John Sickels, at Minor League Ball listed him as a C prospect, putting him in his ‘others of note’ (along with about 20 others) when doing the Red Sox Top 20 Prospects.

He’s not big, 5’10”. He was a 10th round pick in the 2016 Draft.

The only scouting report I can find on him is from soxprospect.com.

Scouting Report: Undersized, athletic middle infielder. Right-handed hitter with a contact-oriented swing. Starts in a slight crouch with an open stance. Loud hands pre-pitch. Two-hand finish. Short swing, direct to the ball. Fringe power potential. Improving pitch recogniton and selection. Average speed. Fluid in the field with above-average range to both sides. Does a good job closing on the ball and plays angles well. Smooth actions, soft hands. Potential above-average defender. Average arm strength. Professional debut was delayed due to a left-hand injury. Signed for well below slot of $157,200. Participated in 2016 Fall Instructional League.

We could use a utility infielder, but I can’t see jumping him up from A ball to the majors. We have a number of better middle infield prospect in our system. I doubt we will be putting him on our Top 40 Prospect next year.

Worth noting, we now have 38 39 players (Pannone took Urshela’s spot with his suspension over) on our 40-man roster.