The exodus in Oakland continues, as the Athletics have now shipped Gold Glove third baseman Matt Chapman out of town as well. In exchange for the right handed bat, the Toronto Blue Jays are sending Kevin Smith, Gunnar Hoglund, Zach Logue & Kirby Snead to the A’s.
Chapman had a down year at the dish in 2021 batting .210 with 27HR, 72RBIs and 75 runs scored, but managed to snag the 3rd Gold Glove award of his 5 year career. The 28 year old provides the Blue Jays with an everyday player at 3rd base, a position they rotated 7 different players through in 2021.
Not since Toronto had Scott Rolen patrolling the hot corner back in 2008-09 has the club had a better player defensively at third base. However during his brief stint with the Jays, Rolen was at the tail end of his career, whereas Chapman is arguably just entering the prime of his.
The All-Star 3rd baseman is under team control for another two seasons, earning $9.5M in 2022, and becoming arbitration eligible in 2023. If the trade sounds familiar, that’s because it’s eerily reminiscent of another deal Toronto and Oakland cooked up several years earlier.
Back in 2015, the Jays acquired third baseman Josh Donaldson from the Oakland Athletics for a package centred around Brett Lawrie. Once in the hitter friendly confines of the Rogers Centre, Donaldson exploded offensively and earned AL MVP honours in the process.
While Chapman may not have the offensive upside of Donaldson, he’s certainly no slouch offensively either. Back in 2019 the Cal State Fullerton alum posted a .249BA, with 36HRs, 91RBIs, and 102 runs scored while finishing 6th in MVP voting. If Chapman provides anywhere near those numbers, in addition to his plus defense at third, then the Jays may be in line for another postseason run similar to the Donaldson/Bautista days.
-Kyle Skinner
Twitter: @JKyleSkinner