With the trade deadline drawing closer and closer, the only teams that are making moves are the teams who are making small trades to round out their respective rosters. Joel Sherman and Jeff Passan have reported that the Toronto Blue Jays have shipped their utility man Eric Sogard to the Tampa Bay Rays. The deal is still pending a physical from Sogard, the return was originally labeled as a player to be named later (PTBNL) but that could be changed to a current player.
Infielder Eric Sogard has been traded to the Tampa Bay Rays, league sources tell ESPN. Multiple teams were on him but Toronto ultimately settled on a deal with Tampa Bay.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) July 28, 2019
I removed that #Bluejays are getting a player to be named later, it is still possible in final version that Tor gets the player now for Sogard from the #Rays
— Joel Sherman (@Joelsherman1) July 28, 2019
Sogard is currently on a one-year contract worth $555,000 with the Blue Jays which fits the Rays mold perfectly. The Rays are acquiring a “rental” who is plenty cheap for the small-market Rays team that is looking to make a push for the postseason in arguably the best division in baseball. Sogard is having the best season of his nine-year big league career, posting a .300/.363/.477 slash with 10 home runs and 30 RBI for the Blue Jays.
Over the nine-year career, Sogard has spent time with the Oakland Athletics who recently made a sneaky deal with the Texas Rangers for reliever Jake Diekman, the Milwaukee Brewers who are rumored to be buying at the deadline, and now the Blue Jays who are supposedly moving any assets that they can. The Athletics were not the only team to start adding bullpen help yesterday not named Shane Greene or Will Smith, the Minnesota Twins added reliever Sergio Romo from the Miami Marlins.
