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The Toronto Blue Jays have traded Joey Loperfido to get an elite hitter.
After hearing about Anthony Santander’s injury, the Blue Jays made a move to strengthen their roster.
On Friday morning, the team announced via social media that they’ve acquired outfielder Jesus Sanchez from the Houston Astros in exchange for Joey Loperfido. The Blue Jays had brought Loperfido over from the Astros back in 2024.
OFFICIAL: We’ve acquired OF Jesús Sánchez from the Astros in exchange for OF Joey Loperfido.
Welcome to our #Blue Jays family!
Sanchez brings more experience in the MLB, but he’s only under team control for two more years, while Loperfido can stay through 2030.
According to Blue Jays insider Ben Nicholson-Smith, Sanchez possesses ‘elite bat speed’.
“Sánchez, 28, has elite bat speed from the left side. He’s a career.253/.324/.450 hitter against RHP for a 111 w RC+. Would expect to see him against lots of RHP. Has typically been best used as a platoon bat who struggles vs. LHP. Two more years of team control remaining,” Nicholson-Smith wrote on X.
Last season, Sanchez batted.237 with 14 home runs and 48 RBIs while playing for both the Miami Marlins and Astros.
Loperfido played just 41 games with Toronto, hitting.333 with 4 home runs and 14 RBIs during that time.
Santander’s Injury Sparks Trade
The news about Santander’s injury wasn’t great as spring training began; he’ll be out for 5-to-6 months after having labrum surgery.
With Santander likely sidelined for most or all of the season, Nicholson-Smith thinks this trade was prompted by his injury.
“By swapping Joey Loperfido for Jesús Sánchez, the Blue Jays lose some long-term upside in exchange for a player with a clear present-day role: mashing RHP. Probably not a trade the Blue Jays make with a healthy Santander, but this gives them a bit more offensive depth,” Nicholson-Smith added.
Meanwhile, Mitch Bannon from The Athletic expressed some concerns about this deal since he feels Sanchez is quite similar to Nathan Lukes.
“Sanchez is clearly a starting-caliber OF (vs RHP). It is a bit of an interesting move though as he’s kind of in the same range as Lukes and Loperfido (but without options and making $),” Bannon wrote on X.
Nevertheless, adding Sanchez brings some extra power to the lineup that Toronto could really use after losing Santander to injury.
Toronto Had High Expectations for Santander
Santander missed much of last season due to an injury and there was hope he would return strong in 2026.
However, facing another setback has been disappointing since there were high hopes pinned on him this year too.
“Tony is going to be huge for us,” said Schneider. “Speaking to him at the end of the year and in the postseason, he battled to get back… He wanted to be part of it so bad. He wanted to get off on the right foot. It didn’t happen…”
“He is motivated. He is hungry to get back to the player we know he is. He’s a big part of what we’re doing. Again, I don’t want him. I’ve told him this: ‘I don’t want you to think you have to do anything you don’t do well. You don’t have to come back and hit.300 with 50 homers to make up for last year.’ We need Tony to fit in the way we know he can when we signed him.”
Santander will now face his second consecutive season plagued by injuries during his first two years with Toronto.
Cole Shelton Cole Shelton covers the NHL, MLB and Cleveland Browns for Heavy. com. He has covered pro and college sports since 2016, including bylines at BJ Penn, USA Today, SB Nation, Rotowire, Canadian Baseball Network and more. More about Cole Shelton
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