Blue Jays infielder Isiah Kiner-Falefa has been on the 10-day injured list since the start of July due to a a left knee sprain, but he started a rehab assignment yesterday and could perhaps be traded prior to Tuesday’s deadline. Even if he’s not reinstated by then, trades of players on the IL are allowed and the Jays are willing to listen to offers, per both Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet on X and Robert Murray of FanSided.
Kiner-Falefa, 29, has long been a glove-first utility man. In his career, he has received strong grades for his work at the three infield spots to the left of first base. He’s also played all three outfield slots with some passable marks out there. Through the end of 2023, he had hit just .261/.314/.346 for a wRC+ of 81 but had stolen 74 bases in 98 tries.
The Jays signed him in the offseason to a two-year deal that paid him $15MM plus $1MM in incentives and he was having the best offensive showing of his career prior to the knee injury. He had seven home runs in 83 games, which isn’t a massive total but a nice jump for IKF personally as his career high is eight. He was only drawing walks at a 4.6% clip but also limited strikeouts to a 13.2% rate. His current .292/.338/.420 batting line translates to a 116 wRC+ in this year’s offensive environment.
Kiner-Falefa has close to 3,000 innings at shortstop in his career with 27 Defensive Runs Saved in that time. Outs Above Average has him at -5, but most of that is due to a -6 tally back in 2021. In almost 1500 innings at third base, he has 24 DRS and 24 OAA. His second base track record is barely over 400 innings but has nonetheless translated to 8 DRS and 2 OAA, while his over 500 innings in the outfield have been just a bit below par.
The Blue Jays are clear sellers but have mostly been focused on moving rental players. They’ve already traded Yimi García to the Mariners, Danny Jansen to the Red Sox and could look to flip Yusei Kikuchi, Justin Turner, Kevin Kiermaier and Trevor Richards in the coming days. While they are reportedly not trying to move core controllable guys like Bo Bichette or Vladimir Guerrero Jr., they are clearly at least willing to entertain moving some non-rental guys. They recently traded Nate Pearson to the Cubs despite Pearson having two extra seasons of control beyond this one.
Kiner-Falefa could perhaps garner interest due to the lack of other infielders that are available, something that MLBTR’s Anthony Franco recently examined in a piece of Front Office subscribers. Jazz Chisholm Jr. is already off the board after being acquired by the Yankees. Brandon Drury and Paul DeJong are having underwhelming seasons.
There are a few guys out there, such as Luis Rengifo of the Angels. The Rays have Amed Rosario and are probably open to offers on Brandon Lowe and Isaac Paredes, though the prices on the latter two should be pretty notable. The Reds might listen on Jonathan India but it’s unclear how available he really is. Ditto for Nico Hoerner of the Cubs.
Even after getting Chisholm, the Yankees are still looking for help at third base. Clubs like the Rangers, Astros, Dodgers, Red Sox, Mariners, Atlanta and the Pirates could be looking for infield upgrades in the coming days. Perhaps the imbalance between supply and demand will lead to the Jays getting some interesting calls. They could always keep Kiner-Falefa for the second year of his deal but their infield mix has also changed since they signed him.
Ernie Clement has essentially been performing the role IKF was brought in for, providing quality defense at multiple spots with a contact-based approach at the plate. Spencer Horwitz moved from first base to second base due to Guerrero being locked in at first. Horwitz has been hitting well while seemingly performing capable enough at the keystone. Leo Jiménez is covering shortstop with Bichette on the injured list. Orelvis Martinez will be back in the mix after he serves his 80-game PED suspension. Guys like Addison Barger and Davis Schneider are also capable of playing some infield. On the outfield, even without Kiermaier next year, the Jays currently project to have George Springer and Daulton Varsho with Barger and Schneider in play, as well as Jonatan Clase, recently acquired in the Garcia trade.
Perhaps IKF is more useful to them at this point as a trade chip than as a part of their 2025 plans. IKF’s contract has a $7.5MM competitive balance tax hit for the year but an acquiring club would only be taking on about a third of that by trading for him now. It’s also possible the Jays could look to eat some of the money owed to him in order to facilitate a deal.
Willing to listen? If he’s a Blue Jay by next week & they don’t turn his career outlier season into something useful prospect wise this front office is worse than we already thought.
Other teams are aware he’s having a career outlier season.
Other teams are aware
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That’s one of the true memes about any opinion board. Fans are always thinking that no one else will notice a poor K/W, or a drop in velocity, and think other GMs never notice these things.
They should be trading damn near everyone. Team needs a reset before vlad, bichette etc don’t have trade value.
If they trade IKF now, they’ll be selling high. Package him and Trevor Richards together and get a decent return.
Tinkered with his swing in the offseason and it payed off. Has been probably the second best player on the team up to his injury.
Braves desperately need him but their GM doesn’t really make moves.
What? Anthopoulis made his name and won his first GM of the year trophy by making big trade deadline deals. He just does not make deals to look like he is doing something.
Braves “desperately need” a utility infielder who’s hitting a little above average in his career year? They could find that dude on just about any team in baseball.
If he were to get traded to the Braves, he’d become the second most productive player for them by this seasons numbers.
IKF has a bWAR of 3.1. Only Ozuna among Braves position players is better at 3.6
IKF has a 116 wRC+, again, only Ozuna’s 170 is better for the Braves.
Even if IKF reverts to his offensive career norm, he’d still be a notable upgrade to Arcia, and can play all over the infield as needed.
Exactly. I’m guessing seamaholic isn’t familiar with ATLs offensive woes and having the worst SS in baseball.
@Seam There are plenty of teams who don’t even have one 3 bWAR player on their roster and a few which will end their season that way. Don’t underestimate the roster flexibility that IKF can bring to a contender.
their GM doesn’t really make moves.
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LOL!
AA doesn’t make moves? Are you serious? Has any GM made more moves this year?
3rd straight deadline he’s done nothing.
Sell high on IKF. Many teams can use his services.
He makes a ton of sense for Seattle. But so does Brandon Lowe and Yandy Díaz.
My guess is the Braves are flirting a little with this to replace Arcia. They have a completely insane loyalty for Arcia and generally terribleness at the plate. Dude is hitting so bad that it negates all value he provides with the glove.
I feel like we match up really well with the Dodgers. After seeing their starting lineup today, they could definitely use a versatile piece like IKF as an upgrade at a few positions and they probably would take Kikuchi as well to slot into the back of their rotation.
Royals! Come on JJ!
He makes huge sense for the Dodgers.
If he is available, it takes all the excuses away from those who justify the Mariners having Dylan Moore in their starting line-up. Kiner-Falefa basically does all the same things defensively but is a better hitter than Moore
Any update on Joey Votto who was expected back in June, but has practically been memory holed for the season?
lol… Jays fans finding out what Yankees fans tried to warn them about. IKF is a negative impact player. Makes teams worse. Bats .250-.260 on 3 pitch abs, doesn’t walk, and plays below average defense at every position. Riding that one gold glove in a shortened season to an overextended career. So glad I don’t have to watch him play anymore…
IKF has been supplanted by players who are just as good if not better, and cheaper, in the form of Clement, Horowitz, Barger and Schneider . Sounds like a lot of contending teams could use him. Package with a reliever or starter should fetch some decent prospects, especially with another year of control.
He wasn’t an inexpensive signing. Many fans pointed this out at the time. Any trade would have some $$ attached going with him. At this time, Jays are trying to shed payroll.
They could shed salary from his contact next year I’m sure. Maybe shed it all this year and try and get under CBT