Report: Blue Jays Trade For 3B Matt Chapman

The Blue Jays have acquired Oakland Athletics third basemen Matt Chapman for prospects, per reports

D. Ross Cameron-USA TODAY Sports

The Toronto Blue Jays got their infielder.

Addressing one of the longest-standing holes on their roster, the Blue Jays have acquired third baseman Matt Chapman from the Oakland Athletics, per Jon Morosi and Carlos Baerga. Toronto prospects Gunnar Hoglund and Kevin Smith headline the package going back to Oakland, per Sportsnet's Shi Davidi.

Chapman, 28, joins the Blue Jays coming off the worst offensive season of his five-year career. The right-handed hitter hit .210, knocked 27 homers, and posted a .716 OPS in 151 games. The former first-round pick has flashed a high offensive ceiling in the past though, posting three-straight seasons with an OPS over .800 from 2018 to 2020 and earning MVP votes in '18 and '19.

Chapman entered Oakland camp in Scottsdale, Arizona this year after putting on 10 pounds since last season, per MLB.com's Martin Gallegos. The weight, Chapman said, will help him keep offensive consistency throughout the year.

“I did what I’m capable of in spurts last year,” Chapman told Gallegos. “Beginning of the year, I wasn’t able to repeat my swing or feel like I could hold my load in my hip. Now I got that strength back."

Chapman's strongest on-field characteristic, however, is his defense. Per Baseball Savant, Chapman is a 99th percentile defender, he has three Gold Gloves at third base, and is a two-time winner of the Platinum Glove, awarded to the best defender in each league at any position.

"We want to make the team better," Blue Jays GM Ross Atkins told a group of reporters on Tuesday. "I think the most obvious way to do that is in our infield and complementing it somehow."

Chapman joins Toronto with two years of team control remaining. The hot corner enters 2022 with an arbitration estimate of $9.5 million and will be in his final arb year in 2023.

While Chapman does fill the needed infield hole and brings offensive upside he's the latest right-handed bat in a lineup almost exclusively built of them. The Blue Jays could be fits for left-handed outfield bats like Joc Pederson and Eddie Rosario to bring a needed complement, and could make another move to bolster an already scary lineup. 

H/T Carlos Baerga, Jon Morosi, Martin Gallegos, Shi Davidi