{"id":571150,"date":"2026-02-14T00:01:38","date_gmt":"2026-02-14T00:01:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/571150\/"},"modified":"2026-02-14T00:01:38","modified_gmt":"2026-02-14T00:01:38","slug":"astros-trade-jesus-sanchez-to-blue-jays-to-reunite-with-joey-loperfido","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/571150\/","title":{"rendered":"Astros trade Jesus Sanchez to Blue Jays to reunite with Joey Loperfido"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Astros are bringing back a familiar face.<\/p>\n<p>Houston and the Blue Jays struck a deal Friday that will send Jes\u00fas S\u00e1nchez to Toronto in exchange for Joey Loperfido, the former Astro, <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/JeffPassan\/status\/2022314476767191478\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">per ESPN<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Houston acquired S\u00e1nchez last year at the trade deadline from the Marlins for right-handed pitcher Ryan Gusto, infielder Chase Jaworsky and outfielder Esmil Valencia. <\/p>\n<p>However, his stay in Texas won\u2019t even last half a season.<\/p>\n<p><img style=\"aspect-ratio:1.49926794;display:block\" fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" data-modal-image=\"38486534\" width=\"885\" height=\"590\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/AP_Baseball_Blue_Jays_Astros_50127-82a18-0.jpg\" alt=\"A baseball player in a blue &quot;Blue Jays Baseball&quot; shirt and hat, holding a bat.\" class=\"wp-image-38486534\"  \/>Joey Loperfido has never hit more than four homers in any of his two seasons at the MLB level. AP<\/p>\n<p>Loperfido, on the other hand, was originally <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2024\/07\/29\/sports\/astros-acquire-yusei-kikuchi-from-blue-jays-at-mlb-trade-deadline\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">shipped off to Toronto<\/a> for Yusei Kikuchi in 2024.<\/p>\n<p>Over six MLB seasons split between Miami and Houston, S\u00e1nchez has never truly lived up to the hype he had as a prospect. <\/p>\n<p>He topped out at 18 homers and 64 RBIs in 2024 and has never hit a batting average over .260 or an on-base percentage above .330.<\/p>\n<p>He does offer solid defensive abilities in the outfield.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" style=\"aspect-ratio:1.49926794;display:block\" decoding=\"async\" data-modal-image=\"38486527\" width=\"885\" height=\"590\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/AP_Baseball_Blue_Jays_Astros_60881-52559-0.jpg\" alt=\"A Houston Astros player in an orange jersey with &quot;Los Astros&quot; and the number 4, wearing a dark blue helmet and gloves, looking to his right during a baseball game.\" class=\"wp-image-38486527\"  \/>Jesus Sanchez\u2019s recent success in Miami was never replicated after his trade to the Astros last season. AP<\/p>\n<p>With the Blue Jays \u2014 last year\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2025\/10\/20\/sports\/george-springers-homer-sends-blue-jays-to-world-series-with-game-7-win-over-mariners\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">American League champions<\/a> \u2014 returning George Springer, Nathan Lukas, Addison Barger and Daulton Varsho, he\u2019ll likely play a role off the bench. <\/p>\n<p>He does add a necessary bat after Anthony Santander\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/02\/10\/sports\/anthony-santander-out-5-6-months-as-blue-jays-face-deluge-of-injuries\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">preseason shoulder injury<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Last season, after getting traded to the Astros, Sanchez hit four home runs with 12 RBIs and batted .199.<\/p>\n<p>However, they still decided to sign him to a $6.8 million deal for 2026, all of which Toronto will now pay.<\/p>\n<p>Loperfido has had much less success at the MLB level and may not even make the Astros\u2019 Opening Day roster.<\/p>\n<p>In 104 plate appearances last year, Loperfido slashed .333\/.379\/.500 with four homers and 14 RBIs.<\/p>\n<p>Those numbers are a bit deceiving, though, considering his 26 percent strikeout rate to measly 3.8 percent walk rate.<\/p>\n<p>Both the Blue Jays and Astros are coming off completely different seasons in 2025. <\/p>\n<p>Toronto made the World Series, taking the Dodgers to Game 7 before ultimately <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2025\/11\/02\/sports\/jeff-hoffmans-gut-wrenching-reaction-to-blowing-world-series\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">choking away the title<\/a> in the last inning.<\/p>\n<p>Houston, despite all its dominance in the past decade, missed the playoffs for the first time since 2016.<\/p>\n<p>From 2017-23, the Astros pieced together a seven-year streak of reaching the American League Championship Series before it was snapped in 2024.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s unlikely Friday\u2019s trade will have much of an effect on their 2026 campaign. <\/p>\n<p>But maybe it can be a game-changer for the up-and-coming Blue Jays.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Astros are bringing back a familiar face. Houston and the Blue Jays struck a deal Friday that&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":571151,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2389],"tags":[42,5,139,54,3211,4,185,70,4164],"class_list":{"0":"post-571150","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-houston-astros","8":"tag-astros","9":"tag-baseball","10":"tag-houston","11":"tag-houston-astros","12":"tag-houstonastros","13":"tag-mlb","14":"tag-sports","15":"tag-toronto-blue-jays","16":"tag-trade"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116066052849647588","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/571150","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=571150"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/571150\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/571151"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=571150"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=571150"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=571150"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}