Blue Jays trade 1-time All-Star Santiago Espinal to Reds for minor league pitcher
Espinal is a former All-Star who played second base for Schneider’s team last season and hit .248 with two home runs and 25 RBI in 2023. Espinal has played four seasons in the Majors thus far, all four of them with the Blue Jays. His most complete season came in 2022 when Espinal hit 2.67 with 120 hits including 25 doubles.
On Wednesday, former MLB reporter John Paul Morosi shared news of the trade. Right-hander Chris McElvain is heading for the Great White North while Espinal is on his way out of town.
McElvain ranked as the 41st best Cincinnati Reds prospect according to Fangraphs last season. He is known for his plus-slider and solid fastball as well as his solid command of his pitches overall. A product of Vanderbilt University, McElvain is six feet tall and 205 pounds and was born in Tennessee.
Clement, Lukes Impress in Spring Training
The Blue Jays got big performances from left-fielder Ernie Clement and right fielder Nathan Lukes, with two and three hits respectively in a losing spring training effort on Wednesday.
Superstar Vladimir Guerrero, Jr. hit a home run in his only at-bat. His stat line so far in spring training suggests that he could be primed for an amazing season for Schneider’s team.
Guerrero Jr. is expected to bat third in the Jays’ lineup behind table setters Bo Bichette and George Springer this season according to a recent starting lineup projection.
The Jays are 11-13 in spring training so far as they prepare for what could be an exciting 2024 campaign in an AL East that appears to be stacked with talent yet again.
I’ve been slow to warm up to the Cincinnati Reds this spring. There were things going on in my personal life. A new dog joined our household. Some medical issues had to be attended (everything is fine now, thank you). I fired my cable/internet provider and had to get the replacements up and running. The college football team based up I-71 from Cincinnati held my attention beyond the start of spring training by having the kind of off season I wish the Reds front office would have. Every time a person would think there was nothing more to be added, there was something else added.
However, as the last week of spring training starts, the comments here at Redleg Nation have picked up intensity. Some folks are expressing a mix of impatience and boredom as the final days of spring training count down. Debates are spawning about how the Reds will fare when the games count. The recent injury to TJ Friedl has elevated the level of anxiety for many about the team’s performance. This activity got the juices flowing for me but I felt a bit out of touch and behind the curve.
To remedy my situation, I decided to check in on how the Reds hitters have been doing this spring. Yes, I know, never believe any baseball thing that happens in September or spring training. However a guy has to start somewhere. Baseball Reference provides the players’ spring training lines; and, I started there.
Warning! Data Ahead….
Below is a table of the 14 position players who seem to be in the mix for a spot on the Reds opening day roster as I am writing with TJ Fiedl added in at the bottom for good measure.
Note: The column “Opp Quality” reflects the estimated average quality of pitching the player has faced in the spring based on the pitchers’ level in 2023. What you need to know to make sense of the table is that a “full time” MLB pitcher ranks as 10, an AAA pitcher is an 8 and an AA pitcher is 7 (and on down by levels from there to a floor of 1.5-3 for rookie leaguers.
|
Player |
PA |
OPS |
Opp Quality |
|
EDLC |
38 |
.997 |
7.5 |
|
CES |
34 |
.992 |
7.3 |
|
India |
17 |
1.162 |
7.5 |
|
McLain |
14 |
.071 |
7.7 |
|
Candelario |
33 |
.484 |
7.5 |
|
Steer |
37 |
.847 |
7.6 |
|
Benson |
34 |
.892 |
7.8 |
|
Fraley |
32 |
.692 |
7.6 |
|
Fairchild |
26 |
1.160 |
7.2 |
|
Stephenson |
29 |
.853 |
7.5 |
|
Maile |
26 |
.577 |
7.9 |
|
Martini |
30 |
.942 |
7.7 |
|
Ford |
23 |
.980 |
7.0 |
|
Thompson |
19 |
.892 |
6.1 |
|
Friedl |
35 |
.668 |
7.7 |
Crunching The Data
The first data to catch my eye was the opposition quality column. Nobody listed on the table has faced on average even AAA quality pitching. I’m guessing (hoping) the Reds have much more granular data about this. Nevertheless, at the level of data presented, there isn’t much disparity in opposition quality level faced by the various players. So, maybe it wouldn’t be that far off to make some comparisons among the Reds players with the proviso that we may not know much about how any of them will do against higher level pitching when the season starts. However given the sample size just, 1 PA versus a Low A or rookie league pitcher could really skew the data. And Wow! This puts us pretty much back where we started, not trusting anything which happens in the spring 😉
Chew away as I know you will. Tell us why we should believe your favorite is real or is being shortchanged by his data.
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