MLB Roundup 1/20: The Blue Jays get another outfielder

Blue Jays and Cardinals swing a trade

It wasn’t a true blockbuster like we’ve seen in recent days, or at least it didn’t involve a legitimate name-value star, but the Cardinals and Blue Jays made a fairly interesting trade on Friday. In it, Toronto got outfielder Randal Grichuk while St. Louis received reliever Dominic Leone and minor-league starter Conner Greene. Grichuk is obviously the biggest piece in this deal, and while he’s probably someone whose reputation is a little better than he actually is, this is a solid enough player who is only 26. He plays good defense all over the outfield and can hit the ball hard, though he also strikes out a ton without backing that up with many walks. He’ll be playing everyday for the Blue Jays. Leone was great last year and gives St. Louis some more depth at the back of their bullpen and Greene has a chance to stick as a starter though could really excel as a reliever. I can see the deal for both sides, particularly since St. Louis has three strong outfielders in Tommy Pham, Dexter Fowler and Marcell Ozuna. As far as how this affects the Red Sox, obviously they’ll be facing Grichuk on a regular basis now, so get used to that name. Furthermore, there was a small chance Toronto could still hop in on the J.D. Martinez market, but they now have about 17 outfielders on their active roster and one Kendrys Morales at DH, so they have no room for JDM.

• Eduardo Nuñez is starting to work out for teams after suffering a knee injury towards the end of last year and re-aggravating it at the start of the ALDS last year. The Red Sox were one of those teams. Jon Heyman reports that the infielder’s market is “heating up” and based on pure speculation I’d guess he’ll sign at some point next week.
• Tim Tebow is being invited back to major-league camp this spring because we live in hell. As much as I make fun of this whole circus, you can bet your ass I’ll be at Hadlock Field if/when Tebow makes the trip to Portland.