Blue Jays: Looking at the players involved in the Matt Chapman trade

Kirby Snead

Left-hander Kirby Snead was also included in the Matt Chapman deal, as the Florida product appeared to be one pitcher to keep an eye on as he progressed in AA and AAA as a viable relief option for the Blue Jays down the line.

He made his MLB debut late into the 2021 season and finished the year with a 2.35 ERA through seven appearances and 7.2 innings, allowing seven hits while striking out seven compared to two walks. Snead was one player that had an outside chance of cracking the Jays Opening Day roster in the bullpen although he had some strict competition at the time from the likes of Julian Merryweather, Anthony Castro (prior to his trade), Nate Pearson (prior to mono), Trent Thornton, Jeremey Beasley, Tayler Saucedo, and Andrew Vasquez.

After the trade, Snead made the Athletics Opening Day roster and has spent a majority of the season in the MLB. He did miss 10 days on the IL in the middle of April and also spent a month in AAA from May 20th to June 21st, but in the A’s bullpen, the left-hander is sporting a 6.35 ERA through 31 appearances. His biggest issue this season has been the walks, as Snead currently owns a 6.0 BB/9 but opposing hitters also have been tagging him to a .308 batting average.

Another interesting thing to note about Snead is that when the Athletics visited Toronto in mid-April, he was placed on the restricted list, meaning the former Blue Jays reliever was not vaccinated against COVID-19 and would have been subjected to both Canadian and United States entry requirements and quarantine procedures.

Whether that had a hand into his involvement in the Chapman trade is not known at this time but  it is likely the Jays would have involved him in some sort of deal considering he likely would not have been able to be featured in the Blue Jays bullpen this season.