Report: Eric Sogard Traded to Rays from Blue Jays Amid Cubs Rumors

The Tampa Bay Rays acquired veteran second baseman Eric Sogard from the Toronto Blue Jays, according to ESPN's Jeff Passan.

The Athletic's Andrew Stoeten noted the Chicago Cubs had been tracking Sogard ahead of Wednesday's trade deadline, while Jon Morosi of MLB Network reported the Atlanta Braves had discussed a possible deal with Toronto.

Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet noted how Sogard's landing spot was fortuitous:

A free agent at the end of the year, he was a natural candidate to move prior to the deadline as the Blue Jays sit fourth in the American League East at 40-66. Marcus Stroman is the team's most valuable trade asset, with The Athletic's Ken Rosenthal reporting the Houston Astros were pursuing him in lieu of a move for New York Mets starter Noah Syndergaard.

With a roster spot opening up, Toronto could potentially call up one of its top prospects:

Bo Bichette ranks eighth overall on MLB.com's list of the top 100 prospects. The 21-year-old has spent most of the season in Triple-A, where he boasts a .277/.336/.477 slash line along with eight homers and 32 RBI.

Sogard is batting .300 with 10 home runs and 30 RBI through 73 games this year. He's also slugging a career-high .477, which is more than 100 points better than his career average (.340).

The experienced middle infielder will provide some help to a Rays offense that's 17th in weighted on-base average (.318), per FanGraphs. Sitting a half-game out of the second wild-card spot, Tampa Bay needed to something to strengthen its lineup for the stretch run.

Sogard is a clear upgrade at second over Joey Wendle.