The Blue Jays have had a busy offseason, in the running for some of the top players this offseason. They just fell short in the Shohei Ohtani sweepstakes and as a result, couldn’t land Yoshinobu Yamamoto. That hasn’t stopped them from making deals. Over the past two days they have signed Kevin Kiermaier and now Isiah Kiner-Falefa, according to Fansided’s Robert Murray and NY Post’s Jon Heyman.
The deal will become official once Kiner-Falefa passes his physical. He won a gold glove with the Rangers as their regular third baseman in 2020. Since then, he hasn’t seen much time at the hot corner. Over the past two years, he has seen more time at Shortstop with the Rangers (2021) and Yankees (2022). Once, Anthony Volpe had taken over as the everyday SS this season, Isiah Kiner-Falefa had been used in a utility role, playing all over the diamond.
The Blue Jays could install Kiner-Falefa as their new everyday third baseman with Matt Chapman on the market. Although, he’s probably going to replace Whit Merrifield, who played a lot at second base and in the outfield. Kiner-Falefa adds more versatility than Merrifield did because he can play both third base and shortstop. Those were the only two positions, outside of pitcher and catcher, that the Merrifield didn’t play.
While he is a great defensive fit for the Blue Jays, there are some concerns on the offensive side for IKF. Last season, he hit .242/.306/.340 over 361 plate appearances with the Yankees. Just below his career averages of .261/.314/.346 slash line over 2415 PA at the big league level. This translates to an 81 wRC+ — tied for the fourth-lowest total of any player with more than 2000 PA since the start of the 2018 season.
Still, Kiner-Falefa has been valuable with a 3.8 fWAR over his six seasons. He makes a lot of contact with little power and little strikeouts. At two years, $15 million it’s a nice score for the Blue Jays.
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