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The Toronto Blue Jays apparently weren't done with their offseason moves yet.
On Friday, they swung a trade with the Houston Astros to acquire outfielder Jesus Sanchez.
According to ESPN's Jeff Passan, the return to Houston is also an outfielder, Joey Loperfido.
Sanchez is a 6-foot-4, lefty-hitting, righty-throwing outfielder who is 28 years old from the Dominican Republic.
He's coming off a 2025 season that he split between the Miami Marlins and the Astros. Across the entire 2025 campaign, Sanchez hit .237 with 14 home runs and 13 steals.
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His best MLB campaign was 2023, when he had a .777 OPS in 125 games (23 doubles, 14 homers), and he followed that up with a .731 OPS in 2024 in 149 games (25 doubles, 18 homers, 16 steals).
Sanchez likely wouldn't have been a target for Toronto if he didn't have a place to play, so it'll be interesting to see how the lineup might shake out.
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Blue Jays projected lineup with Jesus Sanchez
For the sake of this exercise, this is how the Blue Jays' lineup might look like against right-handed pitching with Sanchez:
- George Springer DH
- Kazuma Okamoto 3B
- Vladimir Guerrero Jr. 1B
- Addison Barger RF
- Alejandro Kirk C
- Daulton Varsho CF
- Ernie Clement 2B
- Jesus Sanchez LF
- Andres Gimenez SS
In this case, Sanchez takes the spot of Nathan Lukes.
The Blue Jays just lost Anthony Santander to a long-term injury, so Sanchez and Lukes will essentially battle to replace Santander in the lineup.
Against lefty pitchers, Davis Schneider is probably the starting left fielder.
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- Dominican Republic WBC roster is loaded with stars
- An Edwin Diaz nightmare looms for the Mets
- Buster Posey will change Hall of Fame voting forever
- We now know what the ABS challenge system strike zone will look like
- Spencer Strider's finish to 2025 changes everything for Braves
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