The Mariners have acquired southpaw Wade LeBlanc from the Blue Jays, per an official announcement from Seattle. A player to be named later or cash will head back in return.
LeBlanc isn’t going directly onto the 40-man, per Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times (via Twitter). But he is expected to be activated to take a start on Friday, Bob Dutton of the Tacoma News Tribune tweets.
[Related: Updated Mariners depth chart]
The 31-year-old lefty didn’t crack the majors last year, ending a seven-year run in which he spent at least some time in the bigs. Instead, he pitched in Japan — an experience that he was kind enough to share with me on the MLBTR Podcast.
LeBlanc returned to affiliated ball this year with the Blue Jays organization, signing a minor league deal. He has shown quite well thus far at Triple-A, spinning 89 2/3 innings of 1.71 ERA ball with 8.5 K/9 against 2.1 BB/9.
Surprised the Jays moved him. He’s pitched really well at AAA this year and the Jays rotation has not been stellar. I thought they would give him a chance at some point.
Lol, u dumb? Jays roatation has been solid asside from stromans strugles.
Don’t know which is better; your initial response or horrible grammar after calling someone dumb. Thank you.
Struggles*
*Aside
Stroman’s*
Rotation*
The rotations not the problem, if anything, he should’ve replaced loup or venditte in the bullpen
I agree. Loup and Venditte have been horribly inconsistent (even though being called back up and sent down like a yo-yo probably doesn’t help). LeBlanc might be yet another stabilizer in the pen, kinda like Grilli.
Overall, the rotation has been solid. Stroman is the weak link right now. Estrada has been the ace of the staff so far. Happ has been great this year and proved his time in Pittsburgh was no fluke. Sanchez proved he has what it takes to be an effective starter. Dickey might be getting tired just from age, but he has been generally pretty good.
If Stroman gets demoted to Buffalo to work on himself, Hutchison can take his place. Or the Jays might acquire a starter since they are apparently moving Sanchez to the pen. I would not like the thought of Floyd and/or Chavez in the rotation during what is hopefully a playoff push.
Agree. This is baffling. Is Toronto really so pressed on their 40-man?
Very smart move by the Mariners. If they keep acquiring bullpen depth this way, they’re gonna get the Wildcard by sheer force of will.
They must be planning to stretch out Chavez and/or Floyd soon, as the bullpen becomes more crowded with Morales and Cecil returning. Could be they would rather use one or both of them as starters than Leblanc, despite his good numbers in AAA, and need his spot down there. Otherwise it’s definitely a curious move when you have 2 SP on innings limits and not much depth.
Great analysis, Stormie.
But after hutch takes Sanchez spot in the rotation Leblanc would have been first in line of defence
They must be just opening a spot on there 90 man ( Latos still free )
Not to mention the jays are a world class organization that would be more willing to give the veteran a better opportunity to start in the majors far sooner than the jays could