The Diamondbacks made a surprise trade this afternoon. Barely five minutes after Steve Gilbert tweeted that he was “Hearing that the #Dbacks and #Royals are nearing a trade,” came the official announcement:
The Arizona Diamondbacks acquired OF Jon Jay from the Kansas City Royals for LHP Gabe Speier and RHP Elvis Luciano. To make room on the D-backs’ 40-man roster, the club designated INF/OF Kristopher Negrón for assignment.
Jay, 33, has hit over .290 in 6 of his 8 full Major League seasons (2010-12, ’14, ’16-17), and is batting .307 (73-for-238) with 9 doubles, 2 triples, 1 home run, 18 RBI and 28 runs scored in 59 games with the Royals in 2018. He has made 27 starts in left field, 15 in center and 9 in right, and has not committed an error in his last 238 games in the outfield (450 total chances) since April 15, 2016. Jay has 67 games of postseason experience, fifth most among active players, and has appeared in 2 World Series (2011 and ’13).
Speier, 23, was 1-0 with 1 save and a 3.03 ERA (10 ER in 29.2 IP) in 20 appearances with Double-A Jackson in 2018. He was acquired from the Atlanta Braves as part of a 5-player trade on December 9, 2015. Luciano, 18, combined to go 4-1 with 1 save and a 2.84 ERA (21 ER in 66.2 IP) in 16 games (8 starts) with Dominican Summer League D-backs, Rookie AZL D-backs and Rookie-Advanced Missoula in 2017. He signed as a non-drafted free agent out of Boca Chica, D.R. on October 1, 2016.
Negrón, 32, appeared in 2 games with Arizona in 2018, going 1-for-3 (.333) with a RBI. His contract was selected from Triple-A Reno on June 4.
We’ll have full analysis of the move once we’ve done some. :)