The Astros acquired infielder Aledmys Diaz from the Blue Jays, as per announcements from both teams. In return, Triple-A right-hander Trent Thornton is headed to Toronto, per Chandler Rome of the Houston Chronicle (via Twitter).
After spending parts of two seasons with the St. Louis Cardinals, the Blue Jays acquired Diaz for minor-league outfielder J.B. Woodman prior to 2018. He is a career .275/.325/.458 hitter – good for a slightly above-average 108 wRC+. Diaz saw regular action in Toronto this season, slashing .263/.303/.453 with 18 home runs (1.6 fWAR) while keeping the seat warm for prospects Richard Urena and Lourdes Gurriel Jr.
Though primarily a shortstop, the Astros likely see Diaz, 28, as a more versatile contributor – potential insurance for likely-departed utility man Marwin Gonzalez. Defensive metrics, however, do not look kindly upon Diaz’s performance at short (-9 DRS, -2.2 UZR in 2018), as he has yet to record a positive rating in either defensive runs saved or ultimate zone rating in his three seasons at the big-league level. Yuli Gurriel stands to take on some of the extra responsibilities around the diamond as well, but Diaz represents a low-cost alternative – he will not be eligible for arbitration until after the 2019 season at the earliest.
Brian McTaggart of MLB.com quotes Astros GM Jeff Luhnow (via Twitter), who says of Diaz:
“He’s got some versatility, got some power and can do a lot of things. It seems like it’s an opportunity for us to improve our team. We’re dipping into prospect depth, but one area we probably have some surplus, it’s in the upper-level pitching area.”
The Blue Jays stand to benefit from that surplus with the acquisition of Thornton. Though not a top prospect by any means, the 25-year-old Thornton ranked 24th on MLB.com’s midseason rankings of Houston’s farm system. Since the Astros selected him in the 5th round of the 2015 draft, Thornton has steadily climbed the ranks of Houston’s minor league system, reaching their top affiliate in 2017. Over 124 1/3 innings, he had a 4.42 ERA (3.93 xFIP) with 8.83 K/9 and 2.24 BB/9 while pitching with Triple-A Fresno for the entirety of 2018.
With either Urena or Gurriel ready to take over at short, the Blue Jays did a nice job here of turning their middle infield depth into an MLB-ready arm. Thornton has not yet appeared in the majors, though the Jays will add him to their 40-man roster, per Sportsnet.ca’s Ben Nicholson-Smith (via Twitter). The rebuilding Blue Jays get all six years of Thornton’s team control in exchange for four years of Diaz.
Cistulli!
Love this trade for the Astros. Gives them a pretty solid utility infielder to help replace Marwin at a very cheap price.
Astros win this one. Thornton doesn’t really seem to be much of a prospect.
Sure, if you don’t mind him throwing the ball away whenever he makes an off-balance throw.
The tank is real in TOR. Diaz is a solid utility player who is under control for 3 more years. Honestly works out well for both parties involved. Diaz was just keeping the seat warm anyways. Thornton will likely get a shot at the opening day rotation for a team that has no intention of contention anyways. Kinda odd that they weren’t able to get more though. Marwin’s bat and utility role has been replaced at a fraction of the price. As a Dodger fan……damn. The Stros now have more money to spend elsewhere.
Actually “the tank” in Toronto has been going on for 3 years.
The first results of their rebuild are starting to come up next year. Their 2 top prospects are a 3B and SS. Those guys will get playing time. Diaz was simply not relevant insofar as where the Jays are headed.
And Diaz is not Marwin.
They haven’t been in tank mode. If so they would have at the minimum traded Donaldson before the season began.
Agreed. They should have been in tank mode 2 years ago as called by many in these pages. What did they get in exchange for Edwin, Bautista, Donaldson, Diaz?
New GM please for the Jays.
They got their payroll down.
Tank.
Solid player might surprise and be hidden gem….
Why??
Diaz is a decent player and I am not sure how Thorton helps the Jays
Gurriel, Travis, Tulo, Drury, Guerrero, and Urena will all be in camp fighting for spot already while Bichette and Biggio won’t be far off.
I noticed you included Tulo in that list…
Would be a good contest on here, though:
Who plays the most games in 2019:
Tulo
Ellsbury
Pedroia
Cespedes
I’d be shocked if those 4 guys COMBINE to play 162. Pedroia seems likely to play the most, but he could also just be done. If he comes back I believe he’ll play the most of those 4.
That contest turned depressing res quick
That’s actually a really good question, would like a poll please, MLBTR!
Great poll idea, but to make this a full-on prop bet we’d need odds.
Anyone care to handicap this?
Cespedes 2-1
Tulo 3-1
Pedroia 4-1
Ellsbury 5-1
You missed the joke.
Cespedes 0, Pedroia 5, Tulo 8, Els 22
I hope not ellsbury
My money would be on cespedes… barely.
I’d say Cespedes had a bad stretch but I think 2019 will be better.
Where is “ none of the above “??
Tulo was just injured putting on a pillow case, moved to 90 Day DL.
Yeah, but I feel like they definitely could have gotten a much better return
Urena? I hope not, he doesnt seem to bring much to the table as a full time MLBer…
How you would know that by the handful games he has played is beyond me
Can never have enough pitching. Plus more control over Thornton. Plus jays have a plethora of infield options.
Jays are re-building
that’s how I viewed the trade. they could have gotten something a little higher in the ranks…Thor has tanked in the minors.
Thornton is a super high spin rate guy with an above average fastball. his results haven’t really matched the stuff, but there’s definitely potential there.
Definitely has interesting spin rate numbers but the astros seem to be the team that takes best advantage of advanced stats like that. If he couldn’t produce with them I doubt the Jays can make him more than he really is. Plus the fastball only sits at 92-3 range. Not really a plus offering unless his breaking stuff is on.
It’s not that he couldn’t produce for the Astros, it’s that he didn’t get the opportunity. Astros had more quality pitching.
His high spin rate evidently spins toward the fence with that ERA.
lol. Under 6 feet tall, 170lbs. Sure, spin rate, yah that’s going to matter.
As a starter this guy is likely going to get lit up at the Rogers Centre. As a releiver he might be very good.
Good thing you gave up pretending to be a scout. By that logic Altuve should retire right?
He’s a cheap MLB ready arm that didn’t pitch bad in the PCL last year. TOR gets to pay him the league minimum for a few years and hope he does decent enough to eat some innings for them. They aren’t likely to contend for several years so Thornton is basically just a warm body for them.
IMO, they are still looking for an arm or 2 for the rotation, and Thornton will start the year ih Buffalo.
Thornton spent last year in the PCL, a notorious hitters’ league where the ball flies in the hot, dry air. His stats should look better pitching in Buffalo..
Damn I guess this means Marwin is gone for sure.
hopefully to the Braves
No. To the Jays in exchange for Thornton and Drury. Who will flip him to the Dodgers for cash considerations.
I liked Diaz when he was here. He played hard, and added versatility to the infield. A healthy Tulo and Donaldson would have been nice, but he was great as a plan B.
Well pretty much one of Drury or Diaz had to be moved so I guess they made their choice. Diaz had a nice bounce back last year and will be a very nice replacement for Gonzalez last year. I wasn’t expecting much, but he was pretty good with the bat and way better and versatile in the field than I could’ve imagined.
Good pick up for the Stros. Marwin is definitely gone imo
Trent Thornton has been very underwhleming through his short minor league career and has no opportunity to get a chance with Houston any time soon. Meanwhile aldemys diaz was not long ago close to being an all star caliber shortstop…sounds like a solid win for Houston
he was an allstar his rookie year
plenty of players have career years in their rookie years, like many of them do, diaz is most likely one of them.
Second time Diaz was moved for a lesser return than fans expected. Maybe there is a reason fans aren’t aware of? Maybe his glove just doesn’t provide major league defense at a position that requires it, to be a starter.
Great point. I know as a Cardinal fan, management literally took him out in the middle of the season and shipped him back to AAA. He got a very late September call up and only a couple at bats later that season. This was after being one of the top rookies in the NL in 2016. From what I remember being said about him was A.) the bad defense and B.) He was difficult to coach, which seems to be a pattern with Cuban players. (i.e. Puig, Hector Olivera, Yasmany Tomas, Rusney Castillo) With that being said, I think he will see a good deal of time DHing.
I wouldn’t sleep on Thornton, who should do better in Buffalo than he did in the PCL. As far as Diaz goes, he was a respectable replacement for an injured Tulo and Donaldson, and definitely better than Travis, who never really got it going last year. On a good team, though, Diaz may not even be a bench player.
Blue Jays need to start shipping out mid fielders. Alot of teams are looking for backups with multiple position eligibility. I don’t know enough about Thornton, I think both teams made out on this.
The Johns Hopkins Blue Jays?
Nice pickup for the Astros at a cheap cost. They likely weren’t going to pay Marwin and this is a solid replacement. Improves the defense and could match or even be better than Marwin’s production at the plate. I think he improves at the plate hitting in a better lineup.
Are you kidding?! Diaz’s defense absolutely sucks!
Could match marwins production at the plate? What on earth are you talking about?
4 years of control for a 28 yr old ss with a career .780 ops. First 400 at bats were Correaesque with a .880 ops. I’m amazed the Jay’s just gave him up for such a lowly ranked prospect. I know hes been trending downward since his rookie year but the guy still has plenty of value and control. I’m glad to see the nearly empty front office still knows how to churn out winning trade deals #winning
lmao someone really did just comp Aledmys Diaz with Carlos Correa – wild, calm all the way down champ, dont do that, it makes you look insane.
The comp was fine, it was very narrow and specific and about actual things.
He’s been trending down for very obvious and alarming reasons. Mostly suspect contact skills and bad defense. Both of which show no real sign of improvement at age 28.
Hence why he’s been traded at utility player value twice now, because there really isn’t much upside there.
Disagree. He showed a lot on defense last year. The horror stories were in fact stories and not actual facts.
The numbers (DRS and UZR) contradict your claim. They’re not just stories.
I watched every game of the jays last year some twice after attending them live. Diaz isn’t a wizard with the glove, he seemed average at best. For whatever reason people think way too highly of Diaz. He’s just a guy.
His first 400 at bats were 2 seasons ago….
We finally see some movement towards acquiring desperately needed pitching for the jays.
Diaz was a very good piece but only quality depth on championship team and someone had to go. I would have traded Travis instead.
This is the third near ready pitcher acquired by the Shapiro/Atkins regime. I don’t like the first two,[Pannone, Merryweather] so I wonder what Thornton will be like. Remember He is not good enough to crack the Houston lineup. He is a strike out machine but he is also less than 6ft tall and 170 lbs wihch doesn;t bode well for his long term major league success.
I guess this the best that could be done for Diaz. Yeesh.
The Jays need some 6’5″ 225lb power arms. Makes you wonder why the Jays wouldn’t bundle a few players in a package including Diaz and get some great return. Thornton is not great return.
“I guess this the best that could be done for Diaz. Yeesh.”
1.4 WAR players actually are a dime a dozen, sorry for your loss haha
To be fair, he was only a semi-regular player. He was a pretty valuable bench bat, and a nice fill in for Tulo/JD/Gurriel when they were injured.
Mediocre pitching prospects in AAA are much less than a dime a dozen though.
Where do you get that he’s a “strike out machine” from? He’s never even managed a strikeout per inning in any minor league season at any level.
They got Diaz for woodman.. now Thornton for Diaz.. maybe could have got A or AA player with more pedigree but he fits the bill as a minor league AAA depth piece.
Waiting for Xabial to say that he called this move.
Good one. He probably will say he called it
I’m waiting for someone to comment on why did Houston do this when Refsnyder is a FA and they wouldn’t lose a prospect = )
diaz will improve at the plate more and more each year, now that he is away from yadi molina.
What is that comment even supposed to mean? Diaz played for the Blue Jays in 2018. Aside from that, what would getting away from Molina have to do with his improvement or lack thereof at the plate. His hitting was never in question.
his batting sytle in 17 looked more and more like molina, in which he dropped of considerably. 18 season he got away from molina’s mouth and improved. i expect he will improve even more this coming season.
You ZERO evidence to back up that claim. Sounds like your problem is personal with Molina.
stats don’t lie
Somebody invented a ‘molina scale’ to measure batting approach? ‘cuz until then I’m not sure what stats you think you’re using here…
stats are clearly posted on baseball reference. care to look?
I did, still no ‘molina effect’ referenced there
The stats showing how many games the two of them played in together or were on the 25 man roster for together are indeed on the site and that was the guy’s point, that as that number of shared games increased Diaz’s numbers went down. Don’t know if it’s actually true but the stats to back it up if it is are indeed there.
The problem with his argument is he’s trying to defend a causality argument by referencing stats. He’s saying the stats prove the reason for a result, which is just not how that works
analogy, kinda like hanging out with the bad crowd. in most instances, you a dragged down from being a good person. get away from them, get new friends and be a better person.
That’s all well and good, but it’s not a statistical argument. You can’t isolate Yadi as the only contributing factor.
Batting style is a stat?
I like this trade for both sides. Diaz replaces Marwin, Jays get rotation depth. Doesn’t move the needle too much but it’s something!
Is Thornton really going to be a rotation option for the Jays this year? 5th starter on a rebuilding team? In that case, the Astros gave up nothing in exchange for Diaz.
He does have some nice strikeout numbers. There’s some open holes in the Jays bullpen that need to be filled and maybe he’d have more life and/or break on his pitches in that new role.
I’m happy with this trade, Diaz is ok. Hes was not going to be around in our contending phase. We needed pitching more then anything. Gives a touch of breathing room.
I’d have preferred Travis gone. But this works
Travis you will not be able to get anyone back. Not enough power and a long injury history. We FANS should give management a little more credit for what they are doing. How do you expect a SP to break into the Astros 2018 lineup when they have four ace pitchers ? The Osuna for Giles trade worked great for both teams. This would should as well.
This also clears a 40 man roster spot for the Jays
Thornton will be added to the 40 man roster, so no
If he’s not cracked the Majors yet does that mean he has all his options left?
If they don’t add him to the 40, he would be rule 5 eligible and someone would take him for sure
One of the main reasons why Houston dealt him is that he would likely be lost to rule 5.
Ta.
I expect more of this from jays. What really are these infielders worth in terms of pitching? Answer is not much.
Whelp. Time for Diaz to be really good again.
smart move by the jays, they are building a rotation, but you cant push young guys like Zeuch Reid-Foley or Borucki to far too fast. you need innings eaters out of the pen like A thornton to protect them, he’s started 20 games in 3 of his 4 minor league seasons
this move is all about protecting young arms for the Jays And Diaz is a flawed player, as his substandard obp attests, given their respective positions the Jays easily win this trade, because they traded a flawed utility at best player for something useful, a pitcher who can give them innings even if they arent partcularly good innings
Ahh, he might not pitch a successful inning in the big leagues. Better hold off a while on awarding the Jays the win on this trade.
Besides, he is likely going to end up in the pen.
I get trading Diaz, but the return doesn’t excite me
I don;t know why Diaz couldn’t be bundled with others players to increase the return. Doesn’t make a whole lotta sense to me.
Seems the Astros will look to DH Altuve and Correa more often in 2019. Otherwise they could have taken a run at Smoak.
No, they won’t. Will go after Nelson Cruz or trade for Kyle Schwarber type.
Schwarber type? Whatever that means. Cubs also won’t deal Schwarber to a World Series contender to help them.
Astros may as well deal for Goldschmidt for entertaining the idea of signing Cruz.
Jimmertree teams don’t bundle up a bunch of scrapes and get back better returns.
I dont see too much of Diaz, is he super streaky or just slightly above average offensively? His 1.4 WAR seems to be held down by his defensive metrics
Seems like a nice win for the Astros. They get a player they want and gave up a player they don’t.
I wonder if Diaz has any options left. The Astros now have six infielders plus a few spare parts.
I wonder what the Astros do about LF. I don’t see how the Astros can carry both Reddick and Kemp.
Nice win for the Blue Jays. They get a player they want, and gave up a player they don’t. Hey… wait a minute. Isn’t that what teams call a “trade”? Must mean that both teams always “win”, then?
Isn’t their top prospect taking over an OF spot?
Not a loss for the Blue Jays. They aren’t in the position where they have to win.
Jays can take a beating in 2019. Even 2020. Best of luck to Diaz. One less infielder which gives the rest of the guys a shot to make something happen. That’s a win.
great trade, happy to have him on the jays.
Jays have an infield depth. They needed pitching depth, especially with guys like Stroman and Sanchez looking for bounce back seasons. Estrada is gone, JA happy is gone, Borucki and Reid-Foley and maybe even Pannone will be on the big league roster, with no young upside guys much left inAAA
Felt like the Blue Jays could have gotten more.
Dear fellow jays fans. Please stop over valuing jays players. I know nothing of Thornton other than what we all have read and yeah he seems kind of underwhelming. But Diaz although steady for us in 2018 is not a valuable player. He’s a average hitter and below average fielder. We have better options that need playing time. Some people on this feed are talking about Diaz like he’s a stud. He’s a nice bench piece…plan and simple. He’s a great little bit of depth to play behind the all star infielders in Houston. Like the trade or not…let’s cool our jets on Diaz’s supposed value.
He does have some power, I will say that. But ya, low OBP, strikeouts, poor range and erratic arm. The Jays got him as a bench piece, and traded him as such.
Yup…a decent (short term) back up. he’s 28 and doesn’t have the athleticism to play SS into his 30’s. he doesn’t have enough pop to stick at 3b long term. In two years he’s basically a non switch hitting solarte.
I rarely say this, but this is the type of player the Pirates should have been in on.
On potential alone, Jays actually did okay on this:
They gave up a minor league outfielder (who was released by the Cards back in August) and got a guy who may make the back end of an admittedly weak ’19 rotation. Paid next to nothing for Diaz, got fair value out of him for the year, and changed his asset value into much-needed pitching.
Nice job, Shapkins …whichever one of you did this
We;ll have to agree to disagree. Diaz is a competent MLB level utlity player with power and below average defense. He was traded for Houston’s 24th best rated prospect in the Houston system, and that is way down the food chain. Thornton is under 6 ft tall, under 175lbs and is a righty.
There are a lot of competent major league GMs that wouldn’t even think about trading for Thornton becuase of the physical limitations.
Let’s hope he can hold up and stay in the pen to make this trade somewhat useful.
Remember when you said the Cardinals won the trade?
Remember when you typed an intelligent baseball comment?
Me either…
Ah the guy who everybody thinks is a burner account pipes up. Trolol
^Paraphrasing: “Please stop trolling me! I can’t handle it!” – JDGoat
You do remember crying about that, right? Yet once again you turn around and do it to Jimmer (and others). Hypocrisy at it’s finest.
It’s too bad you struggle with reading. The other Jays articles where I disagree with Jimmer on his points are in plain view for little people like yourself to observe.
This “burner account” burns you on the regular, and I’m not even trying.
Steal for the Astros
Yes.
This was a very smart move by the Astros, they trade a guy who would have had to be added to 40 man roster by Tuesday or have the fear of losing him in the rule 5 draft, for a true major league hitter.
Thornton pitched in the PCL last year, and his stats reflect that to some extent. His 4.42 ERA doesn’t look good, but he threw 124.1 innings, and struck out 122 (almost a strikeout an inning) and only walked 31. His 1.198 WHIP is pretty good for that league too. When you realize that Diaz probably doesn’t have a spot in this year’s lineup, not a bad move in an organization that’s knee deep in infield prospects and short on pitching depth.
I like pitchers that throw strikes, so he could be a long reliever/spot starter if he has a good Spring.
glut of infielders… need arms… done.