ST. LOUIS, Mo. - Paul DeJong time with the St. Louis Cardinals has come to an end as the team has traded DeJong to the Toronto Blue Jays, the Toronto Blue Jays announced.
The Cardinals will receive RHP Matt Svanson from the Blue Jays. The Cardinals will also send cash to the Jays.
MLB Network's Jon Paul Morosi was the first to break the news DeJong was traded to the Blue Jays.
This will be the third trade between both teams in the past 11 days. DeJong will join relief pitchers Genesis Cabrera and Jordan Hicks in Toronto. Hicks and Cabrera were traded to the Blue Jays in separate deals in July.
The move for DeJong by the Blue Jays comes one day after Blue Jays star SS Bo Bichette was injured in Monday's loss to the Baltimore Orioles. Bichette was designated with right knee discomfort. It is currently unknown how long Bichette could be sidelined but acquiring DeJong would help fill a gap at shortstop while Bichette heals.
The Blue Jays do have the likes of infielder Santiago Espinal and Cavan Biggio on their bench, but neither has much experience at shortshop. Espinal has only played 38 games in his MLB career at shortshop while Biggio has no experience at shortshop in the major league level at all.
DeJong pickup by the Blue Jays is very much likely only a two-month rental pickup. DeJong is in the final year of a six-year contract worth $26 million. While he does have a team option worth $12.5 million, it is all but likely that the option will be declined.
Over the season, DeJong has put respectable numbers, hitting a .223/.297/.412 slash with 13 home runs, while still playing terrific shortstop defensively, grabbing six outs above average defensively this season. Only Bobby Witt Jr, Wander Franco, Dansby Swanson, Ezequiel Tovar and Javier Baez have played better defensively at shortshop than DeJong.
Svanson was a 13th round draft pick by the Toronto Blue Jays out of Lehigh. The just recently promoted Double-A relief pitcher spent most of the season in the Jays High-A affiliate in Vancouver, where he pitched a 1.11 ERA in 26 appearances for the Canadians. Baseball America labeled Svanson as the best late-round draft pick back in 2021.