Blue Jays Sign Patrick Corbin
The Blue Jays announced that they have signed left-hander Patrick Corbin to a one-year deal and optioned him to Low-A Dunedin. It’s worth $1MM, per Mitch Bannon of The Athletic. There are also incentives worth $1MM, per Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet. The Jays had 40-man vacancies and don’t need to make a corresponding move. Corbin has enough service time where he can’t be optioned without his consent, so he has presumably agreed to be sent down to get built up.
The signing is a response to the injury woes that have befallen the Toronto rotation in recent weeks. Shane Bieber is being built up slowly due to some offseason forearm fatigue. Trey Yesavage was slowed by a shoulder impingement. José Berríos was diagnosed with some elbow inflammation late in camp.
Those three started the season on the injured list, which left the Jays with a season-opening rotation of Kevin Gausman, Dylan Cease, Eric Lauer, Cody Ponce and Max Scherzer. Unfortunately, Ponce sprained the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee in his first start. His timeline isn’t exactly clear but he seems to be slated for a lengthy absence.
Though Corbin missed spring training, he may be able to help the Jays relatively soon. Per Nicholson-Smith, he has been working out while unsigned and has gotten himself up to 80 pitches. He has agreed to head to Dunedin but it’s possible he may not need a full spring-style ramp-up of six weeks or so.
Corbin is a few years removed from his peak but is coming off a solid season with the Rangers. He made 30 starts and one relief appearance, logging 155 1/3 innings with a 4.40 earned run average. His 19.8% strikeout rate and 39.6% ground ball rate were both a couple of ticks below average but his 7.7% walk rate was a bit better than par.
At some point in the near future, Corbin could give the Jays a veteran back-end guy or could perhaps work as a long reliever. His role will presumably depend on how things develop with the other arms in the mix. Yesavage is making a rehab appearance in Dunedin tonight and doesn’t seem to be too far off. Berríos and Bieber are both throwing and could be back in the mix a bit later.
That could lead to some awkward decisions for the Jays, with perhaps Corbin or Lauer eventually getting pushed to the bullpen, but that’s a scenario they would presumably welcome at this point. They are planning a bullpen game started by Mason Fluharty tomorrow. Lauer was originally scheduled to take the ball for that game but he was pushed to Sunday by an illness. They then face the Dodgers for three, with Scherzer, Gausman and Cease likely to start those.
They may be able to breathe a bit easier after that, with off-days on both April 9th and 13th. But they then play nine straight followed by an off-day and then 13 straight, meaning they play 22 times in 23 days from April 14th to May 6th. Getting through that with a four-man rotation would put a strain on the staff so perhaps they could get Corbin and/or Yesavage into the mix by then.
Photo courtesy of Ken Blaze, Imagn Images
Blue Jays Return Rule 5 Pick Angel Bastardo To Red Sox
The Blue Jays have returned Rule 5 pick Angel Bastardo to the Red Sox, according to announcements from both clubs. Toronto designated him for assignment a week ago when setting their Opening Day roster. This announcement indicates the other 28 clubs passed on grabbing Bastardo via waivers. The Sox do not need to put Bastardo on their 40-man roster.
Bastardo, 24 in June, was an international signing of the Red Sox out of Venezuela in 2018. He reached Double-A in 2023 and was still at that level in 2024 when he required Tommy John surgery. Since he was likely going to miss the 2025 season, the Sox left Bastardo off their roster in the fall of 2024, therefore leaving him exposed in the Rule 5 draft. The Blue Jays grabbed him in that draft and kept him on the injured list all throughout the 2025 season, hoping that Bastardo could perhaps earn a spot on their 2026 club.
Though he had already been on the roster for a whole year, a Rule 5 pick is still bound by the restrictions of that draft until he spends 90 days on the active roster. That meant the Jays would need to keep him in the big leagues for at least the first three months of the schedule.
Bastardo is now recovered from his surgery but showed some rust in camp. He faced 33 batters in spring training and walked seven of them, a 21.2% clip which is close to three times the regular season league average. He also threw four wild pitches in there. The Jays decided it couldn’t work and designated Bastardo for assignment. Another club could have grabbed him off waivers and absorbed the same Rule 5 situation but they all decided against it.
The Red Sox will now get to plug him back into their system, so Bastardo could be back at the Double-A level soon or perhaps get bumped up to Triple-A. It may have been strange for Bastardo to switch organizations for a year while rehabbing but he benefited by earning a year of big league pay and service time while on the IL in 2025.
Photo courtesy of Jim Rassol, Imagn Images
Cody Ponce Diagnosed With ACL Sprain
5:22pm: The Jays have officially placed Ponce on the 15-day IL and recalled Estrada, per a club announcement.
3:25pm: Blue Jays manager John Schneider provided an update on right-hander Cody Ponce, who departed yesterday’s game with an injury. Ponce has a sprain of the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee. He has avoided a full tear and it’s still to be determined whether surgery will be necessary. Even if he does avoid surgery, he will miss “significant time” regardless, though the Jays are holding out hope he can pitch later in the year. Hazel Mae of Sportsnet and Mitch Bannon of The Athletic were among those to relay the information.
Time will tell exactly how it plays out as the Jays are still gathering medical opinions but it seems like Ponce is likely to miss a few months even in a best-case scenario. It’s a brutal blow for Ponce and the team. Ponce had spent the past few years overseas. He had an excellent 2025 season in Korea, giving the Hanwha Eagles 180 2/3 innings with a 1.89 ERA.
He parlayed that into a three-year, $30MM deal with the Blue Jays but that deal has begun in one of the most agonizing ways possible. Ponce was making his team debut last night when he tried to field a grounder in the third inning. He fell to the ground in obvious pain and was later carted off the field. The team initially announced his injury as right knee discomfort. It now appears he will miss the majority of the 2026 campaign, meaning his triumphant return to the majors will have to wait.
For the Jays, this adds another layer to the challenges they have been facing with their rotation depth. Each of Trey Yesavage, Shane Bieber and José Berríos began the season on the injured list. The Jays were able to start the season in decent shape even without those guys, having a five-man group consisting of Kevin Gausman, Dylan Cease, Eric Lauer, Ponce and Max Scherzer.
Now that Ponce is out, the Jays will have an opening, at least for the short term. Yesavage, Bieber and Berríos are all throwing and could potentially be back in the mix in the near future. Yesavage seems to perhaps be the closest, as he is expected to throw 45 innings over three innings in a simulated game this week.
Until one of those three is ready to return, the Jays will need a fifth starter. Per Keegan Matheson of MLB.com, the Jays don’t plan to use their off-days to run a four-man rotation, so they’ll need someone to take Ponce’s spot on Sunday. Ricky Tiedemann won’t be an option since he is also injured at the moment. The same goes for Bowden Francis, who will miss all of 2026 due to Tommy John surgery. Jake Bloss is recovering from last year’s surgery. Schneider listed Lazaro Estrada, Adam Macko, CJ Van Eyk and Chad Dallas as possibilities to start Sunday’s game.
Estrada seems likely to be recalled today, as Francys Romero of BeisbolFR reported last night. Multiple reporters, including Bannon, noted today that Estrada has a locker in the clubhouse. Ponce hasn’t been officially placed on the IL but it seems like Estrada will be recalled when that does happen. Whether Estrada is available to pitch on Sunday perhaps depends on if he is needed to log any innings between now and then. He made two appearances for the Jays last year, allowing seven earned runs in 7 1/3 innings. He also posted a 5.73 ERA in Triple-A last year.
Macko is another option already on the 40-man, although he hasn’t yet made his major league debut. He had a 5.06 ERA at Triple-A last year, pitching in a swing role. He pitched two innings of relief for Buffalo on Friday.
Van Eyk and Dallas are not on the 40-man roster, though that shouldn’t be an issue. The Jays already have two vacancies with Leo Jiménez and Angel Bastardo getting designated for assignment last week. They effectively have two more open spots since Anthony Santander and now Ponce are candidates to be moved to the 60-day injured list. Van Eyk had a 4.79 ERA in 126 Triple-A innings last year. Dallas had a strong 2023 on the farm, posting a 3.65 ERA. However, his ERA spiked to 6.21 in 2024 in a season that was cut short by injury, ultimately requiring Tommy John surgery. He just pitched three innings on Sunday, his first official game action since July of 2024.
The Jays will hope that whoever takes the spot in the coming days will be bumped out after a few turns, making it a short-term issue. The Ponce injury could also impact them in the long term. Each of Gausman, Bieber, Scherzer and Lauer are slated for free agency after this season. Berríos can opt out of his deal, though that seems unlikely at the moment. That means the 2027 rotation currently projects to include Cease, Yesavage, Ponce and Berríos, with some of the aforementioned young guys potentially stepping up.
In a perfect world, Ponce would have had a strong 2026 and established himself as a legit MLB arm going into 2027. If he ends up missing most or all of the remainder of the schedule, he will still be a question mark going into next season.
Photo courtesy of Kevin Sousa, Imagn Images
Cody Ponce Going For Imaging With Knee Discomfort
9:36pm: Ponce is going for an MRI tonight, manager John Schneider said postgame (relayed by Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet). Francys Romero reports that the Jays are recalling Estrada from Triple-A Buffalo. That seems likely to be the corresponding move for a Ponce injured list placement, though it’s possible they’re simply looking for a fresh arm in the bullpen after Brendon Little and Rule 5 pick Spencer Miles logged 30+ pitches in tough outings tonight.
8:20pm: Blue Jays starter Cody Ponce left tonight’s season debut on a cart in the third inning. The team has only announced the injury as right knee discomfort.
Ponce stumbled while trying to field a chopper off the bat of Rockies center fielder Jake McCarthy (video provided by Shi Davidi of Sportsnet). The big righty was unable to field the ball cleanly, then tried stopping abruptly to pick it up. He tweaked his right leg, took a few more steps, then went down on the dirt a little to the left of first base.
After spending some time on the ground in clear discomfort, Ponce was able to get to his feet with help from trainers and teammate Vladimir Guerrero Jr. He walked gingerly but under his own power to a cart and was taken off the field at Rogers Centre. Louis Varland was called upon from the bullpen.
The Jays will provide more details after Ponce goes for testing. He’ll surely be sent for imaging to determine whether there are any ligament issues. A timetable won’t be known until then. At the very least, it’s tough to see Ponce avoiding a stint on the 15-day injured list.
Toronto has one of the deeper rotations in MLB, as they arguably have eight viable starters. They’ve needed it with season-opening injured list stints for Shane Bieber, Trey Yesavage and José Berríos. None of those are expected to be long-term absences. Yesavage, who is behind with a shoulder impingement, is set for a 45-pitch simulated game later this week. Bieber will progress to throwing off a mound on Friday, while Berríos is scheduled for a bullpen session tomorrow (all updates courtesy of the MLB.com injury tracker).
Even if he avoids serious injury, it’s a brutal break for Ponce. The 31-year-old was making his first big league start since 2021. Ponce pitched three seasons in Japan and had a dominant ’25 season with the Hanwha Eagles in Korea. He leveraged the numbers and improved stuff into a three-year, $30MM free agent deal with Toronto. Ponce had fanned three hitters across 2 1/3 innings of one-run ball before the injury.
Kevin Gausman, Dylan Cease, Max Scherzer and swingman Eric Lauer are penciled into the rotation. Toronto has off days on April 3rd, 9th, and 14th. They could get by using a four-man rotation and just one bullpen game into the middle of April. They’d probably prefer to stay on a five-man starting staff and take advantage of the extra days of rest early in the season.
Toronto doesn’t have much rotation depth in the upper minors. Jake Bloss and Ricky Tiedemann are also injured. Prospects Lázaro Estrada and Adam Macko are the other options on the 40-man roster. They each worked a couple innings out of the bullpen in their Triple-A season debuts over the weekend. Grant Rogers, Chad Dallas, CJ Van Eyk and recent minor league signee Austin Voth are non-roster possibilities for a spot start.
Blue Jays Sign Austin Voth To Minor League Deal
The Blue Jays signed righty Austin Voth to a minor league contract after he was released by the White Sox at the end of camp. Toronto never formally announced anything, but Voth pitched three innings for their Triple-A club yesterday. He picked up a pair of strikeouts and didn’t walk anyone, but he was tagged for a pair of solo homers. Voth is represented by The·Team agency.
Voth, 33, spent the 2025 season in Japan pitching for Nippon Professional Baseball’s Chiba Lotte Marines. He logged 125 innings with a 3.96 earned run average, below-average strikeout rates and good command.
Voth has picked up more than five years of major league service time, dating back to his 2018 MLB debut. He’s a former fifth-round pick who’s pitched in part of seven big league seasons. In 360 1/3 innings as a major leaguer, Voth has a 4.70 ERA, a 22.1% strikeout rate and an 8.3% walk rate. Those are roughly league-average rate stats, and it bears mentioning that a good portion of Voth’s most prominent struggles came early in his career with the Nats. He has a 4.29 ERA over his past three big league seasons, including a tidy 3.69 ERA in 61 innings with the 2024 Mariners, for whom he set down one quarter of his opponents on strikes with a walk rate just north of 7%.
Though Voth has pitched more in relief than as a starter during his recent MLB stints, he has more experience in the rotation than in the bullpen. Last year in Japan, all 22 of his appearances were starts. He started yesterday for Buffalo, and while he only pitched three innings, that was surely in part to pretty limited usage in camp with the ChiSox. Given that the Jays currently have Shane Bieber, Trey Yesavage and José Berríos on the injured list, it’s likely that Voth will continue to stretch out to serve as some experienced starting depth with the Jays’ top affiliate.
Marlins Acquire Leo Jimenez
7:23PM: The trade has been officially announced by both teams, and the Marlins announced that right-hander Garrett Acton was designated for assignment to create 40-man roster space for Jimenez. Acton has a 10.80 ERA over 6 2/3 innings and seven career big league games — six with the Athletics in 2023 and one with the Rays in 2025, with the 2024 season a wash due to a Tommy John surgery.
Acton is no stranger to DFA limbo, as he has now been designated three times in less than six months. The Rockies claimed the righty after the Rays designated Acton after the season, and Miami then claimed Acton off waivers in Januray following another DFA.
5:30PM: The Marlins are set to acquire infielder Leo Jimenez in a trade with the Blue Jays, according to Sportsnet’s Ben Nicholson-Smith. Francys Romero reports that the Jays will receive minor league infielder Dub Gleed and $250K in international bonus pool money in return. Miami’s 40-man roster is full, so some sort of corresponding move will have to create room for Jimenez before the trade is officially announced.
Jimenez is out of minor league options, so the Jays had to designate the infielder for assignment when he wasn’t included on the Opening Day roster. It didn’t seem likely that Jimenez was going to sneak through waivers and remain with the Blue Jays via an outright assignment, and the Marlins indeed stepped up with a trade offer to bring the 24-year-old into their organization.
Making his MLB debut in 2024, Jimenez posted a respectable 101 wRC+ over his first 210 plate appearances, hitting .229/.329/.358 with four home runs. Bo Bichette‘s injury woes that season opened the door for Jimenez to receive a good chunk of playing time, but with Bichette back in 2025 and other players (i.e. Andres Gimenez, Ernie Clement, Addison Barger) all becoming bigger parts of the infield picture, Jimenez became the odd man out.
Injuries also didn’t help Jimenez’s case, as he played in only 44 total games between the majors and minors in 2025. Over 18 games with the Blue Jays, Jimenez had just a .301 OPS to show for 32 trips to the plate, though he hit better in the minors. Jimenez has a .260/.404/.380 slash line and seven homers over 374 career PA at the Triple-A level.
While it seems like power will never be a big part of Jimenez’s game, his ability to collect hits and draw walks against big league pitching will determine whether or not he can be a regular in the majors. Defensively, there seems to be little question that Jimenez’s glove is ready for primetime, whether as a shortstop or as a second baseman. Jimenez’s arm strength has been seen as a potential barrier to sticking at shortstop, and the Jays used him more regularly at second base over the last couple of years, though that could’ve been more due to Bichette’s presence at shortstop.
Jimenez now gets a fresh start on a new team, playing behind Xavier Edwards at second base and Otto Lopez at shortstop. Miami’s incumbent middle infield duo are both strong defenders and good speed threats, though both Edwards (95 wRC+) and Lopez (86 wRC+) had subpar offensive numbers overall. There’s room for Jimenez to potentially earn himself some playing time, though for now he’ll join a position-player mix that has been depleted by IL stints for Christopher Morel and Kyle Stowers.
Miami already signed Austin Slater to help fill in for Stowers in the outfield, and now Jimenez will bolster the infield depth chart. With Morel out, the Marlins have used Connor Norby and newly-recalled Deyvison De Los Santos at first base, with Graham Pauley and super-utilityman Javier Sanoja at third base. The Fish are expected to mix and match at least until Stowers is back in a few weeks’ time, giving Jimenez some opportunity to play in the field as others are rotated into the DH spot.
The 23-year-old Gleed was a ninth-round pick for the Marlins in the 2024 draft, and his first season of pro ball saw Gleed make it all the way to Triple-A, albeit for just one game. Gleed hit .252/.391/.347 over 275 plate appearances at four different Marlins affiliates, with most of his playing time coming at the A-ball and Double-A levels. Gleed primarily split time between the two corner infield positions, and also appeared in a game apiece as a second basema and as a catcher.
Jorge Alcala Triggers Assignment Clause In Blue Jays Deal
Right-hander Jorge Alcala has triggered an assignment clause in his minor league deal with the Blue Jays, reports Ari Alexander of 7News Boston. Alexander writes that Alcala will now be available to all 29 teams, so it sounds like this is an upward mobility clause.
Alcala, 30, signed a minor league deal with the Jays in the offseason. He tossed 7 1/3 innings in Grapefruit League action but allowed seven earned runs via 12 hits and three walks while striking out six. He didn’t break camp with the club.
The upward mobility clause is a potential way for him to get to the big leagues with another team. The way such clauses usually work is that the player is offered up to the 29 other teams. If one of them wants to give the player a roster spot, the signing team then has to either give him a spot or trade him to another club that will. Alcala has enough service time where he can’t be optioned to the minors without his consent, so he should only get claimed if a club is willing to put him directly onto its active roster. If no team claims him, the Jays can send him to Triple-A.
Alcala has a power arm, with both his four-seamer and sinker having averaged around 97 miles per hour in his career. However, his results have been up and down over the years. He had a 3.92 earned run average with the Twins back in 2021. He hardly pitched in 2022 and 2023 due to various injuries. He got back on track in 2024 by posting a 3.24 ERA, but then that spiked to 6.22 last year as he bounced to the Red Sox and Cardinals. He was non-tendered by St. Louis at the end of the year.
On the whole, Alcala has a 4.29 ERA in 218 1/3 innings. His 9.3% walk rate is around average for a reliever. Despite the big velocity, his 24.9% strikeout rate is only a bit above par for a bullpen arm. Typically, a player will know in about 48 hours if someone claimed him via his upward mobility clause, so Alcala should be able to head towards his destination at some point before the weekend is through.
Photo courtesy of Nathan Ray Seebeck, Imagn Images
Blue Jays Notes: Yesavage, Berrios, Bieber
Blue Jays personnel met with the media ahead of tomorrow’s season opener and provided updates on their injured starting pitchers. General manager Ross Atkins said that both Shane Bieber and José Berríos will be throwing from a mound this week, per Shi Davidi of Sportsnet, while Trey Yesavage had an encouraging showing in a minor league game recently. “Very encouraging in terms of stuff, velocity, recovery today, location,” manager John Schneider said of Yesavage, per Arden Zwelling of Sportsnet. Zwelling adds that Yesavage’s next outing could get to 45 pitches over three innings.
For the short term, the Jays appear light on rotation depth. They are beginning the season with a solid quintet of Kevin Gausman, Dylan Cease, Max Scherzer, Cody Ponce and Eric Lauer but things could get dicey if anyone in that group gets hurt.
Their optionable depth starters are Ricky Tiedemann, Adam Macko and Lazaro Estrada. Tiedemann has been batting injuries for years, including during this year’s spring training. Macko has no big league experience yet. He was recently with the Canadian team in the World Baseball Classic and isn’t stretched out at the moment since that club used him as a reliever. Estrada has just two big league appearances and posted a 5.73 ERA at Triple-A last year. Bowden Francis will miss 2026 due to Tommy John surgery.
Thankfully for the Jays, it seems like their three injured guys aren’t too far off. Yesavage had a shoulder impingement a few weeks ago but is healthy now. He is just a bit behind schedule. The fact that he could soon get up to three innings and 45 pitches suggests that he could be in line for a fairly minimal stay on the IL.
The situations with the other two are a bit more murky. Bieber was back on the mound in 2025 after his 2024 Tommy John surgery. He experienced some forearm fatigue in the playoffs last year and in the offseason, so the Jays decided to slow-play his build-up in 2026. Now that he’s getting on a mound, he’s effectively at the beginning stages of a typical spring training ramp-up. Perhaps he’ll be in game shape in a month or so, though the team hasn’t put a specific timeline on him.
Berríos finished 2025 on the injured list due to elbow inflammation. He appeared to be healthy in spring training, tossing 10 2/3 innings over three appearances. But an issue then came up in an unusual way. He was planning to join the Puerto Rican team in the WBC and underwent a physical for insurance purposes. Though Berríos wasn’t experiencing any discomfort, that physical found some inflammation. Further testing revealed a stress fracture in his elbow about a week ago. Despite that ominous-sounding diagnosis, the club’s hope was that Berríos could start building back up after a bit of rest. That still seems to be the plan, based on this update.
The overall picture will be a situation to monitor in the coming weeks. As mentioned, the rotation feels a bit thin for now. If Yesavage, Bieber and Berríos can all get healthy in a month or two, it would theoretically lead to some tough decisions. Presumably, Lauer would get bumped to the bullpen, as that was the plan until it was clear Yesavage would start the season on the IL. Beyond that, it’s unclear how the Jays would handle it if they had more than six healthy starters, though that would be a good problem to have considering where things stand right now.
Photo courtesy of Kirby Lee, Imagn Images
Blue Jays DFA Leo Jimenez; Rule 5 Pick Spencer Miles To Break Camp
3:05pm: The Jays have officially announced their roster, with both Jiménez and Bastardo designated for assignment.
1:04pm: The Blue Jays are designating infielder Leo Jiménez for assignment, reports Shi Davidi of Sportsnet. He’s out of options and evidently did not win the final spot on Toronto’s bench, which is likely to go to Davis Schneider.
Toronto will carry Rule 5 pick Spencer Miles on the Opening Day roster, reports Mitch Bannon of The Athletic. He won the final spot in the middle relief group, which had seemingly been down to him and sidewinding righty Chase Lee. The Jays announced over the weekend that they would not carry their other Rule 5 selection Angel Bastardo, who’ll therefore be designated for assignment this afternoon if he’s not already on waivers.
Jiménez will probably land with another organization, as it seems likely he’ll attract trade or waiver interest. The Panama native has spent eight seasons in the Toronto system. His bat-to-ball skills and ability to play either middle infield position made him one of the organization’s better prospects. Jiménez has been a good minor league player but hasn’t hit in a limited look at the big league level.
Toronto gave the righty-hitting Jiménez 210 plate appearances as a rookie two seasons ago. He hit .229/.329/.358 while striking out in 28% of his trips. A deeper Jays infield and a handful of injuries kept Jiménez to 18 big league games last season. He didn’t play much in Triple-A either but hit .271/.416/.431 with nearly as many walks as strikeouts at that level in 2024.
Myles Straw, Nathan Lukes and backup catcher Tyler Heineman were locked into bench spots. The Jays were left to decide whether to carry Jiménez because he can play shortstop and couldn’t be optioned, or to turn to a more proven right-handed power bat in Schneider. They’re opting for the latter. Ernie Clement can slide to shortstop with Schneider at second base when Andrés Giménez needs a rest day. The Jays have five days to see if they can flip Jiménez for a marginal prospect return. They’d otherwise need to place him on waivers.
Miles was the final borderline Rule 5 decision around the league. The 25-year-old righty has barely pitched since being drafted by the Giants in the fourth round in 2022. A back injury preceded a Tommy John procedure that has kept him to a grand total of 14 2/3 minor league innings. The Giants left him off their 40-man roster, doubtful that another club would be willing to carry him on the MLB roster with such little professional experience.
It’s particularly surprising that an all-in Toronto team is taking that flier. That speaks to how strongly they feel about the caliber of his stuff, as they’re not in position to burn a bullpen spot on a pure development flier. Miles struck out 11 hitters over 9 2/3 innings this spring, allowing four runs on 11 hits and five walks. Baseball America credits him with a mid-90s fastball and plus curveball and ranked him the #22 prospect in the Jays’ system over the offseason.
Breaking camp certainly doesn’t guarantee that Miles will spend the entire season on the roster. He’ll need to pitch well enough to hold an MLB job. The Jays would otherwise need to run him through waivers and offer him back to San Francisco.
Bastardo was a Rule 5 pick out of the Boston organization in 2024. He was recovering from Tommy John surgery and spent the entire ’25 season on the injured list. Teams need to carry a Rule 5 pick on the active roster for at least 90 days as soon as they’re healthy if they miss their entire first season due to injury. The Jays were never going to carry two Rule 5 draftees in the bullpen.
The 23-year-old Bastardo has far more minor league experience than Miles, but he showed signs of rust this spring. He walked seven batters and uncorked four wild pitches in 7 2/3 innings. He’ll go on waivers and will be offered back to the Red Sox if he clears. The selection still worked to the righty’s benefit financially, as he was paid the $760K major league minimum salary for his time on the injured list.
MLBTR Podcast: The PCA and Sanchez Extensions, And Prospect Promotions And Reassignments
The latest episode of the MLB Trade Rumors Podcast is now live on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts! Make sure you subscribe as well! You can also use the player at this link to listen, if you don’t use Spotify or Apple for podcasts.
This week, host Darragh McDonald is joined by Anthony Franco of MLB Trade Rumors to discuss…
- The extension between the Cubs and Pete Crow-Armstrong (recorded prior to the numbers being reported) (2:20)
- The extension between the Phillies and Cristopher Sánchez (7:00)
- The Braves losing Spencer Strider to the injured list (14:00)
- Is there a trend of starting pitcher prospects being used in major league bullpens? (18:15)
- The Nationals optioning Dylan Crews and Harry Ford, with Josiah Gray landing on the 60-day IL (23:35)
- Carson Benge making the Mets‘ Opening Day roster (30:30)
- JJ Wetherholt making the Cardinals‘ Opening Day roster (35:40)
- The Pirates not breaking camp with Konnor Griffin (39:15)
- The Guardians not breaking camp with Travis Bazzana (44:40)
- The Blue Jays starting the season with José Berríos and Trey Yesavage on the injured list (49:20)
- The Marlins optioning Braxton Garrett (55:55)
Check out our past episodes!
- Banged-Up Reds And Braves, Kevin McGonigle, And Spring Breakouts – listen here
- Jesús Luzardo’s Extension, Atlanta’s Depth, And Zack Littell – listen here
- Max Scherzer, The Red Sox’ Lineup, Spring Extension Candidates, And More! – listen here
The podcast intro and outro song “So Long” is provided courtesy of the band Showoff. Check out their Facebook page here!
Photo courtesy of Kyle Ross, Imagn Images