The Blue Jays announced, via press release, that they’ve designated outfielder Moises Sierra for assignment in order to clear a 40-man and 25-man roster spot for infielder Steven Tolleson. Toronto also announced that Jonathan Diaz has been optioned to Triple-A Buffalo, with outfielder Anthony Gose being recalled to take his place.
The 25-year-old Sierra struggled greatly in his time with the Jays this season, collecting just two hits and a walk against nine strikeouts in 35 plate appearances. Despite his lack of production in 2013, however, Sierra was a well-above-average bat in 2013, slashing .290/.369/.458 in 122 plate appearances at the Major League level. Sierra has posted an identical .782 OPS in his career at the Double-A and Triple-A levels.
Tolleson, 30, has a bit of Major League experience with the A’s and Orioles, having batted .225/.273/.350 with three homers in 129 plate appearances. He’s been highly versatile throughout his career, playing second base, shortstop, third base and all three outfield positions. At the Triple-A level, Tolleson is a .285/.368/.409 hitter in 2040 plate appearances.
I think he will get claimed by someone. Twins maybe? I think his bat will play given the chance
Yeah, this might be one of those “needs another organization” deals where he just needs to prove himself elsewhere.
Very true. I hope the best for the guy. He might be able to succeed with regular playing time, but he definitely does not fit into the current Jays 25 man roster setup (because they have a very good OF, and he is pretty useless to the current Jays team off the bench). Especially since Sierra can only play a highly unorthodox but passable LF/RF/1B (albeit with an excellent arm), and cannot run.
The Blue Jays front office has serious ADD issues. It seems every day they are DFA someone and/or making a waiver claim. Sometimes its best to let your 25 year olds get more than 35 PA a year before you give up on them.
What would you have liked them to do?
For starters, not DFA’d Moises Sierra.
He’s not going to get everyday at bats over Bautista, Rasmus, or Melky, and you can’t keep having him get 3-4 at bats a week and doing nothing with them. He didn’t offer anything from the bench either, Jays had to do it.
I won’t argue with his lack of production to start this season, albeit over 35 scattered plate appearances. But I would have stuck it out for at least another month to see if he could figure it out. Now, he’s gone. The Jays have managed to botch yet another prospect from our system.
To your point about everyday ABs while playing the outfield, no, of course he can’t play there everyday. But the odd day over Juan Francisco? Yes.
Sierra is not a botched prospect as he was hardly a prospect to begin with. In fact, I would argue he has been handled quite well and has been given ample time to succeed. Fact of the matter is he is not good enough.
Also Juan Francisco has proven that he can hit RHP on occasion (at the MLB level even), and has been mashing so far this year. On the other hand, Sierra has never proven that he can consistently hit RHP and is having a terrible start to the year. In short, Juan Francisco should definitely be starting the majority of games at DH over Sierra while Lind is injured.
Every team does this.
Sierra has been playing pro baseball for almost a decade now. 25 is not young. We know what we are getting from him, and there are plenty of guys like him available on the waiver wire/scrap heap always.
My point was more about the Blue Jays front office than Sierra in particular. Also NOT every team uses the waiver wire like the Blue Jays, 2013 waiver claims by team:
Alex Anthopoulos, Blue Jays: 22 claims
Brian Cashman, Yankees: 14 claims
Jed Hoyer, Cubs: 10 claims
Dan Duquette, Orioles: 8 claims
Billy Beane, Athletics: 8 claims
Chris Antonetti, Indians: 8 claims
Jeff Luhnow, Astros: 7 claims
Kevin Towers, Diamondbacks: 5 claims
Dayton Moore, Royals: 5 claims
Neal Huntington, Pirates: 5 claims
Josh Byrnes, Padres: 5 claims
Jon Daniels, Rangers: 5 claims
Doug Melvin, Brewers: 4 claims
Terry Ryan, Twins: 3 claims
Brian Sabean, Giants: 3 claims
Larry Beinfest, Marlins: 3 claims
Frank Wren, Braves: 2 claims
Ben Cherington, Red Sox: 2 claims
Rick Hahn/Kenny Williams, White Sox: 2 claims
Jerry Dipoto, Angels: 2 claims
Sandy Alderson, Mets: 2 claims
Ruben Amaro Jr., Phillies: 2 claims
Andrew Friedman, Rays: 2 claims
Dave Dombrowski, Tigers: 1 claim
Jack Zduriencik, Mariners: 1 claim
John Mozeliak, Cardinals: 1 claim
Mike Rizzo, Nationals: 1 claim
All this tells me is that the GM was trying to make the team better whenever possible. Is it a bad thing for your team to attempt to pick up a player that might be able to help the club out?
I’m confused?
Most of those player were not kept in the Jays organization for more than 10 days. AA DFA them right after claiming them and other teams claimed them. Toronto was nothing more than a 10 day stop for a lot of those players. It doesn’t benefit the organization or the players.
Umm… what? How does it not benefit the organization? And the player?
The organization gets the rights to the player’s contract, and is given an opportunity to see where that player might fit into the team’s depth charts.
The player, having just been DFA’d from its previous organization, is given another opportunity to remain on a 40 Man roster. Win Win. The only player that complained about this was Alex Burnett, and after the Jays DFA’d him, the Orioles DFA’d him a week after picking him up from the Jays….
There is nothing win win for a player who has to move every 10 days and an organization gains nothing from having the right to a player for all of 10 days before he is subject to another waiver claim.
Obviously it would be nice for the player to not have to wait ten days, but this is easily remedied by changing the DFA time frame to something more reasonable like 5 days.
But to say the players/owners dont share in the balance is a little much, or to say that a system similar to this shouldn’t exist at all is pushing it more. Suggesting that your team’s GM shouldn’t attempt to use the system as much as possible stretches past this already breaking point.
The Blue Jays front office has serious issues, period!
Rogers has some serious issues in that it did not allow team mgmt to spend money on a protected free agent this past offseason when the team had a protected first round pick (terrible strategy), but overall the Jays mgmt itself has been quite adequate.
Type A free agents don’t exist any more…
There are still multiple classes of free agents, and they all still have names….. this is highlighted in articles here on MLBTR, such as the piece about XX(B) free agents, a new type of free agent created under the most recent CBA.
Edited for clarity, but this doesn’t change the fact that all free agent classes still have names. Such as the newly created XX(B) free agent class under the most recent CBA.
Type A still has a nice ring to it anyhow, and everyone knows what is being referred to if they understand the reference in the first place.
Yet another prospect completely mismanaged by the Blue Jays.
Sierra was managed quite well, and he was hardly a prospect to begin with.
He was added to the 40 Man roster at the correct time in order to protect him from the Rule 5 draft, and then was given another full season in the minor leagues. On his second and third option years, he was only called up when the Jays had long term injuries to a corner outfielder. Then, when he was out of options, the Jays gave him a chance to break camp with the team on the 25 man roster.
I have been rooting for Sierra to succeed for almost 5 years now (and has been a pro for almost a decade), but he is simply not good enough.
Is it panic mode yet ?
Depends. Are we talking about Toronto fans?
Yes. Please run around the room screaming. If you are the ballpark do the same. Even if they are winning. Just don’t do the wave.
More stiffs from a really terrible farm system. Nice job A.A. You’ve done the team proud?
Sierra was in the system before AA….
Wasn’t necessarily talking about Sierra. It’s the guys coming up. Not hitting much in Buffalo so how are they expected to bolster an already weak batting order. Three regulars hitting under .200 and that doesn’t include the new 2nd baseman. So not complaining necessarily about Sierra
Yeah the jays have one of the best offenses in the world of baseball, and heading in to the year they were projected to score the second most runs in the MLB as per fangraphs…… They are currently 8th in the league. I think you need to read past some of those currently ugly BA’s, especially since the entire MLB is on pace to have one of the lowest BA’s in the history of the sport.
And developing hitters isn’t exactly an easy thing to do, nor is it a science. Some teams never develop players at all…
Welcome to baseball.
Must be difficult as they don’t seem to be able to do it. Even in the low minors from what I read, the batters are having problems. And as far as the rest of MLB, sorry but I’m only looking at the Jays and it doesn’t look very good. What happened to Reyes this year? Lawrie? Radmus? E.E. ?
Nothing happened to them. It is May 1. There are 5 months left in the season.
This is not hockey.
Was Sierra supposed to play over Melky or Bautista? He’s got the talent to run into 20 homers and hit 250, but every team has those guys. I hope he gets some playing time and gets to show off his arm
He was obviously never going to play over Melky or JBats, and you are correct in saying that pretty much every system has several guys capable of hitting LHP well, with 20HR 250AVG potential.
I also hope the best for the guy, and I hope he can land on a team that does not have as good of an OF as the Jays, such that Sierra can showcase his skills and continue to play at the highest level.
Steven Tolleson is not a bad little utility player, he could stick if he could hit a little. If anyone remembers his father, Wayne, from the 80s Rangers/White Sox/Yankees and maybe others, Steven looks like a better fielder, but not nearly as much speed as dad.
He looked rough in spring this year with the Jays, but as long as he can hit better than Goins/Diaz and play some passable infield defense, I think the Jays will be better off in the short term.
Well, at least the Jays were able to break the MLB record for most Dominicans started in a game while Sierra was in the fold.
I hope the Jays are able to retain him, but I definitely see another team taking a chance on him. I wish him the best of luck wherever he ends up (preferably in Buffalo so that he can come up in case of injury).