The Pirates and Blue Jays have agreed to a trade that will send utilityman Isiah Kiner-Falefa to Pittsburgh. The Bucs will also get some cash considerations as part of the deal, while the Jays will receive outfield prospect Charles McAdoo in return. The trade has been officially announced by both clubs.
Kiner-Falefa hasn’t played a big league game since June 30 due to a left knee sprain, but he is two games into a minor league rehab assignment and is expected to be activated within the next few days, assuming no setbacks. The 29-year-old now looks to be making his return in a new uniform, and joining a playoff race, with the Pirates two games back of an NL wild card slot.
Toronto signed Kiner-Falefa to a two-year, $15MM free agent deal this winter, and both the size of the contract and IKF’s landing spot surprised many pundits at the time. Kiner-Falefa has a history as a glove-first player and was coming off a rough year at the plate with the 2023 Yankees, and the Jays seemingly had little need for a utility infielder given their number of infield options already on hand. As it turned out, however, Kiner-Falefa ended up being an all-around bright spot in an otherwise disappointment Blue Jays season.
Over 281 plate appearances, Kiner-Falefa has hit .292/.338/.420 with seven home runs in a Jays uniform. His 116 wRC+ far outclasses the 81 wRC+ he posted in his first six MLB seasons, even if a fair amount of good fortune has been involved. Kiner-Falefa’s .331 wOBA is well above his .291 xwOBA, he has a .316 BABIP, and he ranks in the bottom tenth percentile of all hitters in walk rate, hard-hit ball rate, and barrel rate. While the hard contact hasn’t been there, Kiner-Falefa has made a lot of contact in general, with an excellent 13.2% strikeout rate.
This unexpected offense has been paired with IKF’s customary strong defense, as he has helped the Jays at second base, third base, and shortstop this year. Pittsburgh already has an elite defensive third baseman in Ke’Bryan Hayes and Oneil Cruz is locked into the shortstop role, so with Nick Gonzales now facing a lengthy stint on the 10-day IL, Kiner-Falefa figures to slide right into the Pirates’ second base role once he himself returns to good health.
After five straight losing seasons, the Pirates appear eager to mark the end of their rebuild with a postseason berth. Kiner-Falefa, Bryan De La Cruz, Jalen Beeks, and Josh Walker have all been added in trades in the last few days, and another deal or two might be squeezed in before the deadline. While none of these moves are exactly blockbusters, the sum total is a set of modest but needed upgrades to bolster some weaker links on the roster.
The financial element of the IKF deal shouldn’t be overlooked, as Kiner-Falefa is owed roughly $2.5MM for the rest of this season and then $7.5MM in 2025. The Blue Jays will be covering an unspecified portion of that remaining amount, which aided in the team’s side quest of resetting its luxury tax status. RosterResource estimates that Toronto’s current tax number after all of the team’s deadline moves is around $235.4MM — even with some cash considerations yet to be revealed, it would appear the Jays should be under the $237MM tax threshold.
McAdoo ranked 12th in Baseball America’s most recent evaluation of the Pirates’ minor league system, and the 22-year-old has hit .315/.394/.538 with 14 home runs over 376 total PA at high-A and Double-A this season. A 13th-round pick out of San Jose State in the 2023 draft, McAdoo has done nothing but hit in his brief pro career, and has already shown a lot of polish in his approach at the plate. BA notes that McAdoo has shown elite bat speed and exit velocities to back up his impressive bottom-line numbers.
Defensively, McAdoo has played mostly third base in the minors, but with a good chunk of time at first base, second base, and in both corner outfield spots. BA hasn’t been wowed by his defense and feels the corner outfield might ultimately be his defensive home, though for now, McAdoo looks like the kind of versatile multi-position type the Blue Jays have prioritized in recent years.
ESPN’s Jeff Passan (X link) was the first to report that IKF was headed to the Pirates, while MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand wrote (via X) about McAdoo’s inclusion.