Ha-Seong Kim deal package to the Blue Jays is offered by the Padres blog. Could it function?
A competitive trade deal for utility infielder Ha-Seong Kim might be offered by the Toronto Blue Jays, according to a recent post on FanSided’s San Diego Padres blog. This is how the agreement would work:
Could the Jays pull off such a trade? After all, they have a massive void in their infield to cover after losing standout third baseman Matt Chapman to free agency this summer. What’s more concerning is that General Manager Ross Atkins has stated that they feel comfortable moving forward with a committee method, where Isiah Kiner-Falefa, Santiago Espinal, and Cavan Biggio split responsibilities in the hot corner.
That seems like a significant step down from what Chapman gave the club the previous two seasons, just on paper. Moreover, Schneider may be added to the rotation at second base, where the player who doesn’t wind up starting at third base will probably earn a decent percentage of starts.
Which returns us to the Kim swap that was suggested. Will he thus be that much better than the committee that was previously mentioned?
Considering what Kim can provide the Jays
Three years ago, Kim joined the Padres, and she has improved statistically every season since. He had his finest season to date in 2023, slugging a strong.260 and.351 OBP, driving in sixty runs, scoring eighty-four runs, and stealing a remarkable thirty-eight bases.
In addition, he possesses the ability to consistently reach base and create opportunities, eventually captivating the opponent with his bat and speed. Kim is also rather good defensively; with his lightning glove, he recorded 16 DRS and a.988 fielding % last year on his way to winning his first-ever Gold Glove. The Jays would thus be acquiring a player that is faster and has a higher hitting average than Chapman.
More significantly, Kim can provide the Jays with versatility because he can play shortstop, second base, and third base, among other infield positions. Specifically, his statistical strengths are as a third baseman and second baseman, which are the two spots where the Jays are currently thin-married into the 2024 campaign.
Moreover, Kim’s excellent 2023 season surpassed all of Biggio’s, Espinal’s, and Kiner-Falefa’s greatest seasons to that point. If the price is right, Kim seems like the perfect match for the ballclub.
Considering what the Jays would forfeit by not having these three talented young guys
Still, it’s unclear if Kim is worth three talented young Jays players. To begin with, Schneider is well remembered for providing the Jays with a significant offensive lift in the latter part of 2023. Although he slowed pace significantly by the conclusion of the season, he still compiled an outstanding .In just 35 games during his Major League debut, he scored 23 runs, hit 8 home runs, and collected 20 RBI with a 276 average, 1.008 OPS, and 175 OPS+. Schneider appears to be a formidable foe to take the Jays’ starting second base job in 2024.
Alan Roden had a fantastic season last year at two minor league levels, making him one of the Jays system’s fastest developing prospects. In addition to scoring 92 runs, hitting 10 home runs, driving in 68 runs, and stealing 24 bases, he had an incredible.317 OPS. Even more impressively, he demonstrated excellent plate discipline by continuing to walk to strike out ratios of 1:1, something he has done with much success thus far in his baseball career.
In addition, he played outstanding defense and only made two mistakes the whole season, totaling six outfield assists. He is the organization’s best outfield prospect and is presently ranked seventh by MLB Pipeline, thus it looks like he will make his main league debut in the next year or two.
Lastly, there’s Orelvis Martinez, the Jays’ second-best prospect overall and their top positional prospect. Martinez swiftly turned things around by making the required changes to get back on track after the 2023 year got off to a terrible start. As a result, he had a strong minor league season and was promoted to Triple-A at the conclusion of it.
Between Buffalo and New Hampshire in 2023, he recorded a.243 average, a.835 OPS, 70 runs scored, 28 home runs, and 94 RBI. More importantly, he will soon be prepared to take the huge step into the major leagues.
The Decision
If the Jays were serious in signing Kim, they would have to pay a colossal price to give away all three of these youngsters who had shown so much promise in the previous campaign.
First of all, Kim cannot match Martinez’s raw power and bat readiness for the Major Leagues. Second, a cursory glance at Roden’s stats reveals that they pretty well match Kim’s offensive production from the previous campaign. While it is obviously impossible to compare a player in the minors to a player in the majors, Roden appears to have a far higher potential than Kim, who has most likely already attained it, given that he is already routinely demonstrating a solid plate approach at such a young age.
Lastly, it would irritate the Jays supporters to acquire Schneider, a player with unrealized power potential and a longtime fan favorite. In conclusion, it is the second and seventh-ranked prospect for the Jays, and for one season, a strong and dependable Kim who is also a power-hitting fan favorite. That is definitely asking for much too much. To be honest, it would be better for the Jays to give them playing time and watch what the ballclub can do with them in the majors.
In light of this, our ultimate assessment of the trade proposal is that it should be thrown in the trash and kept as far away from the Jays as feasible.