Blue Jays reportedly trade Randal Grichuk to Colorado

The Blue Jays reportedly made a late trade with the Rockies on Thursday, sending Randal Grichuk to Colorado in exchange for two players.

The news came down from Mark Feinstad of MLB.com, who reports that the Jays will send Grichuk and cash to Colorado in exchange for Raimel Tapia, and Adrian Pinto. As of this writing, the details about cash have not become public.

The trade ends a four-season run for Grichuk in Toronto, and will likely give him a much better opportunity with his next team. The Blue Jays have a full outfield already with George Springer, Teoscar Hernandez, and Lourdes Gurriel Jr., and Grichuk’s right-handed bat and similar skill set kind of left him on the outside looking in.

With Tapia the Blue Jays will get a left-handed hitter that could help bring some balance to the lineup. He slashed .273/.327/.372 last season with the Rockies, adding six home runs and 20 stolen bases. He’s primarily played as a left fielder, and likely could fill a role as a late-inning defensive replacement and/or pinch runner. He also has recent experience as all three outfield positions.

Adrian Pinto is a 19 year old prospect who performed very well at the Rookie-ball level in 2022. It’ll be quite a while before we see if his inclusion makes a difference in the deal, but he projects to be a talented hitter, and one that could bounce around the diamond a fair bit.

As for Grichuk, it’s unfortunate that he couldn’t put together more consistency as a Blue Jay. We often saw him start off as a very valuable contributor to the lineup, and would even be in early discussions as a potential All-Star. The frustrating part was that Grichuk has never been able to sustain that success as the season has wore on, but perhaps he’ll be able to do that in his new digs at Coors Field.