Blue Jays acquire Cliff Pennington from Diamondbacks

The Blue Jays have acquired infielder Cliff Pennington and cash considerations from the Diamondbacks, according to a major-league source. Minor-league infielder Dawel Lugo will head to Arizona in the deal.

Pennington, 31, has appeared at second base, shortstop, and third base throughout his major-league career and will provide a depth option for Toronto at second, where Ryan Goins and Munenori Kawasaki have been playing in place of the injured Devon Travis. Arizona has been shopping Pennington and Aaron Hill in order to give more playing time to young infielders Nick Ahmed and Chris Owings, with Pennington being linked to the Pirates and Nationals in trade talks.

Pennington has hit .237/.314/.281 with one home run on the season, and is a career .248/.315/.346 hitter in eight seasons with the Athletics (2008-2012) and Diamondbacks (2013-2015). He will hit free agency after the year, and is earning $3.28 million as a result of an arbitration deal with Arizona.

Lugo, 20, is a shortstop who has spent his season split between Single-A Lansing and High-A Dunedin. Lugo has hit .257/.287/.343 with four home runs in 98 games, but has struggled with Dunedin at the higher level.

Lugo was ranked by MLB.com as the Jays' twelfth-best prospect at the time of the deal, though that ranking is inflated due to Toronto's depleted farm system after the acquisitions of David Price and Troy Tulowitzki at the trade deadline. Lugo is known as an offense-first shortstop who is aggressive at the plate and may profile as a third baseman in the majors.

Robert Murray of Baseball Essential first noted that the teams were working on a trade.