TORONTO TRADES FOR YANGERVIS SOLARTE
The Toronto Blue Jays acquired infielder Yangervis Solarte from the San Diego Padres for outfielder Edward Olivares and pitcher Jared Carkuff.
What does it give the Toronto Blue Jays
This off-season, Blue Jays brass has quietly made several moves to re-tool the team's infield, and this is the latest. Solarte, 30, can play every infield position except catcher and brings a solid bat with good pop to the lineup. This is yet another move that will make Toronto fans wonder if management might be stockpiling stopgap options should they trade veteran stars such as Josh Donaldson and/or Troy Tulowitzki. Whatever the case, Solarte provides good veteran depth for 2018--at least.
What does it give the San Diego Padres
The young Padres seem to be in full-on rebuilding mode, so moving vet Solarte makes perfect sense--it both saves the team money and opens up at-bats for some of San Diego's promising infield prospects. Oliveras, 21, brings above-average power and speed so he has the potential to eventually push for a starting outfield spot with the big league club. Meanwhile reliever Carkuff, 24, has good strikeout stuff and may provide some back-of-the-bullpen depth for the Pads in the near future.
Fantasy impact
Solarte loses most of any fantasy value he had before this deal, since he is going from being a regular starter with San Diego to being a likely backup with Toronto. That said, if projected starting Blue Jays second baseman Devon Travis continues to struggle with injuries, look to snap up Solarte off the wire in most fantasy formats. On the San Diego side of things, neither of the two newcomers looks likely to have much fantasy value anytime soon. Regardless, keep an eye on Carlos Asuaje (who might inherit the Padres' starting second base job to start the 2018 season) and excellent prospect Luis Urias, with Urias the more promising batter of the two.
