The Jays traded for Myles Straw (and some international trade money) for….Well, I don’t know, it was listed as a player to be named, but I don’t think we ever learned the name. The idea was to gain international money in an, unfortunately, doomed attempt to sign Roki Sasaki.
Straw is being paid a fair bit of money to be a fourth outfielder on a team with several outfield prospects. He gets $6.4 million this year, $7.4 million next year and has team options for the next two seasons (with a $1.75 million buyout). The Guardians sent $3.75 million along with Straw.
So what are they getting for all that money?
| WAR | G | PA | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | SB | CS | BB | SO | BA | OBP | SLG | OPS | OPS+ | TB | GIDP | HBP | SH | SF |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1.2 | 65 | 154 | 141 | 21 | 37 | 7 | 0 | 1 | 15 | 6 | 1 | 6 | 18 | .262 | .291 | .333 | .624 | 74 | 47 | 4 | 0 | 6 | 1 |
Baseball Reference has him at a 1.2 WAR. FanGraphs 0.6.
His value to the team is his defense, and it is good. Outs Above Average has him at a +5 in 355 innings in the outfield (he also played two innings at second base). Baseball Savant has him in the 91st percentile for fielding value.
Straw has good speed, runs the bases well, and has six steals, caught once.
He doesn’t walk much (3.9% walk rate this year), and he doesn’t strike out much (11.7%). However, he’s also near the bottom of the league in hard-hit percentage.