DUNEDIN, Fla. — The Toronto Blue Jays cleared a spot on their 40-man roster and started unclogging their middle-infield/super-utility player logjam Wednesday by trading Santiago Espinal to the Cincinnati Reds for minor-league righty Chris McElvain.
Moving the 2022 all-star likely solidifies Ernie Clement’s spot on the big-league club while clearing space for either Brian Serven or Payton Henry, both non-roster invitees, to start the season in the majors while fellow catcher Danny Jansen recovers from a fractured pisiform.
Additional 40-man roster decisions will be necessary if the Blue Jays decide to carry any of minor-league free agents Joey Votto, Daniel Vogelbach or Eduardo Escobar, so additional juggling may very well loom.
Trading Espinal also frees up $2.725 million and leaves the Blue Jays roughly $10 million clear of the second luxury tax threshold of $257 million, adding to their flexibility.
At the same time, the Blue Jays add a 23-year-old right-hander in McElvain that they liked out of Vanderbilt in the 2022 draft before the Reds picked him in the eighth round.
He features a fastball that sits 92-93 and gets up to 94 along with a slider, changeup and cutter-type offering, and logged 96 innings over 23 games, 19 starts, between low-A Daytona and advanced-A Dayton last season, with a cumulative 3.75 ERA, 1.313 WHIP and 87 strikeouts.
It’s an interesting mix of tools for the club’s player-development staff to work with.
Espinal was acquired by the Blue Jays in a June 28 trade with the Boston Red Sox for Steve Pearce, debuted in 2020 and blossomed into an all-star in 2022. But his grip on a full-time job began to loosen after Whit Merrifield was acquired at the deadline that summer and he spent last season wondering about his place on the club, batting .248/.310/.335 in 254 plate appearances over 93 games.
That uncertainty increased this spring between the emergence of Clement and Davis Schneider, the signing of Isiah Kiner-Falefa to a $15-million, two-year deal, the development of prospects Orelvis Martinez, Damiano Palmegiani, Addison Barger and Leo Jimenez and the option of the veteran Escobar.