The Rays made three separate trades on Sunday, including a deal in which the club acquired Blue Jays infielder/outfielder Eric Sogard from the opposing dugout in Toronto. Of all the deals Tampa Bay has made so far in advance of the July 31 trade deadline, this acquisition offers the most immediate impact, while Toronto will receive two players to be named later.
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Let’s analyze the deal.
What are the Rays getting in Eric Sogard?
First and foremost, the Rays are getting #NerdPower in this deal.
But Sogard is more than just a hashtag. An excellent defender whose versatility the Blue Jays showcased in the weeks leading up to the deal, Sogard’s light bat has generally been the biggest obstacle to his becoming a more established big leaguer. He is, however, no stranger to success at the highest level. In 94 games with the Brewers in 2017, he slashed an impressive, if light, .273/.393/.378.
An abysmal 2018 made him available as a minor-league free agent last winter — he slashed just .134/.241/.165 in 55 big-league games last year and .225/.227/.270 in 27 more at Triple A — and in the days following the trade of Aledmys Díaz, the non-tender of Yangervis Solarte and the release of Troy Tulowitzki, the Jays snapped him up as minor-league depth. What he became instead was a revelation.
That was partly because of the fortuitous opportunity afforded him by the demotion of Lourdes Gurriel Jr. in mid-April after a series of defensive miscues at second base. Sogard was pressed into big-league action sooner than the Blue Jays probably would have liked, but he made the most of his chance and forced his way into the team’s plans for the rest of the summer.
That likely had at least a little something to do with the current “juiced” state of the baseball, and the fact that home runs are flying out of ballparks at a record rate. Sogard came into this season with 11 career home runs in 584 big league games. This season, he’s hit 10 despite producing one of the lowest average exit velocities and having one of the worst barrels-per-plate-appearance rates in the game.
He’s about as far from a Statcast darling as you can get, but he makes up for it with excellent contact skills and his eye at the plate. He sports a 9.0 percent walk rate this season, slightly ahead of his career mark, and among big-leaguers with at least 300 plate appearances this season his 94.7 percent contact rate on pitches in the zone ranks third. He will take his walks and put the ball in play.
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He’s also been praised for his value as a teammate. In a radio hit this week, rookie Cavan Biggio singled out Sogard, who he played with briefly in Buffalo at the start of the year, as somebody who’d helped him a lot by taking him under his wing when he was first promoted.
Why would the Rays make this deal?
The biggest question that surfaced when the Rays acquired Sogard on Sunday was how he’ll fit in an already crowded Tampa Bay infield.
The Rays love having versatility with all of their position players, and that’s exactly what Sogard provides. In 2019, he’s appeared at second base (43 games), right field (seven), third base (six), shortstop (four), left field (once) and designated hitter (15) for the Blue Jays. While he has mainly played second, Sogard has no shortage of willingness to move around and contribute wherever he’s needed. He joins players like rookies Mike Brosseau and Brandon Lowe, who have also appeared in both the infield and outfield this year.
Sogard’s ability to patrol the outfield further widens manager Kevin Cash’s ability to be creative with the lineup. Cash can slot him anywhere on the field and know he’ll get decent production. Sogard will also help during periods when the Rays are down an outfielder, like with Kevin Kiermaier’s recent thumb injury.
Sogard is eligible for free agency after this season, which means he isn’t tied to Tampa Bay for a long period of time. The left-handed-hitting Sogard has been more consistent than Joey Wendle this season — his batting average has floated around .300 since mid-June — and he provides immediate depth with Brandon Lowe still out with a foot injury. It wouldn’t be surprising if Cash inserted Sogard right into the middle of the lineup during this week’s crucial series against the Red Sox, which begins Tuesday at Fenway.
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Why would the Blue Jays make this deal?
The reason that the Jays would trade Sogard is a simple one: The team is going nowhere, and he’ll be a free agent at the end of the season. They’re going to be trading anybody who isn’t part of the future — and that includes Marcus Stroman, who still has another year left on his deal and was also dealt on Sunday.
As for why the Jays chose this particular package, rather than whatever else was out there, that’s obviously a much, much harder question to answer. Until we know what specifically is coming back, there’s not a whole lot we can say about this.
The positive for Toronto is that the Rays boast the No. 1 farm system in baseball according to Baseball America — with multiple studs contributing at each level — so they could have lots of potential coming in if one or both PsTBNL are prospects. But the fact that Sogard was found money for the Blue Jays means that it’s ultimately going to be a win for them no matter what the final shape of the deal looks like.
(Photo: Dan Hamilton / USA Today)