The Blue Jays announced that veteran reliever Jason Grilli has been designated for assignment. Righty Chris Smith has been called up to take his spot in the pen, as Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet.ca reported earlier today.
While Grilli proved to be an excellent reclamation project for Toronto last year, he fell off badly in 2017. The 40-year-old veteran has allowed 16 earned runs in his 20 2/3 frames. While he carries a respectable 23:9 K/BB ratio, Grilli has been touched for nine long balls already.
Teams weighing a move on the veteran will likely be deterred from a waiver claim by his $3MM salary. Despite the solid strikeout numbers, Grilli’s swinging-strike rate has dropped to 10.1% — well below his typical figure — though he is still sitting at 93 with his fastball.
Smith, meanwhile, will make his MLB debut as he nears his 29th birthday. He had pitched to a 3.93 ERA over 18 1/3 innings on the year at Tripe-A, where he recorded 7.4 K/9 against just 1.0 BB/9.
I’m not surprised but wow
I think you are surprised.
Sadly. We all saw it coming.
What a fine career he had.
Took them long enough. Dude has a nearly 7 ERA and its almost July.
Finally
Sad for Jason, he has had a good career, but good for the Jays. I have been calling for this move for months. I guess the Jays mgmt was hoping he could turn it around. Howell should be next to go.
Nationals bout to hop right on this lol
K Rod style!
Easy guy to root for….but numbers just weren’t there.
But what happens to the food stand at Rogers Centre named after him?
They creat new food stands like the stro show burger or the bringer of Rain slerpy… also missing out on some bat flipped themed fries
The name gets replaced, just like Rogers Center replaced Skydome. It will always be Skydome to me.
JAson Grilli/Clippard need to go back to the NL where those long balls stay in those big ballparks..AL east is the hardest place to pitch and NL guys like this will do better back in the NL..Needs to go back to the Nationals who are desperate or maybe the Mets.
But he struggled last year for the braves and then was excellent in Toronto. I think he’s just inconsistent due to his age at this point
Nice to see you have..see below..
Not sure cause u cherry picked 2 Ps from AL East rosters u can blanket statement NL RPs suck…..I do believe Aroldis, Kimbrel, Brach, Kelly, all having very good yrs r NL guys…? I agree AL East is a different animal, very competitive, high payrolls for the most part, both Ps u picked out have had nice long careers, Grillii might be outta gas, age, n Clippard did start yr off strong until recent funk where he was exposed more by NYY’s missing Chapman in BP. Can’t base that statement off 2 players.
Grilli’s slider has gone from great to getting hammered. His release point is way off from what it used to be prior to 2017 too.
I expect another team to sign him and try to work out what appear to be mechanical issues. He could be trying to pitch through some discomfort too.
If the wear and tear of 17 years in the big leagues was to blame, you’d think his velocity would be down.
Whatever the case, hope this isn’t the end for him. Wonderful guy and a great pitcher.
So many former great relievers have fallen off sharply this year.
Why would teams be deterred? Wouldn’t the Jay’s be on the hook for everything except a prorated portion of the minimum salary if they signed him?
Deterred from making a waiver claim, then once he clears waivers if a team signs him pays the prorated minimum and the Jays pay the salary.
Why does this character JDGOAT(who’s supposedly a Jays fan) troll on everyone’s posts in all other teams articles,but never on a Blue Jays articles?
Can I have an example?
You constantly comment on mikeyank55
I am the example you are asking for. JDGoat has trolled me and my Jays comments more than once.
Bahahaha this is gold. The trolls are PISSED.
Lol its funny because TGCF is one of the worst commenters on this website yet he calls out other people. Why dont you go investigate Cespedes for the PED’s that he clearly does a little more?
Great..you’ve seen the light on Cespedes. Oh and by the way that’s my original posting,as I didn’t troll that as a reply to anyone
*like you now
So your definition of trolling is replying to something false and saying you shouldn’t make claims without evidence?
No this is an open forum for opinions and not the end of the world. Most certainly not a court of law and anything I post won’t convict and suspend said player.
There’s enough disharmony in the world fellas, this site is our adult playground, were all just playing n rooting 4 our teams, let’s just have fun w/our verbal jabs n just agree that the Yankees suck!
I actually find them pretty likeable this year since they made some additions by subtraction. The fans on the other hand…
Sam such a sweet comment from a very frustrated LA fan. If you put out too many negative vibes, Puig will infect your
Clubhouse.
Luv it ! Playball…..
Probably the end for Grilli. Remarkable career. Didn’t become a “good” pitcher until he was in his early 30s, was never great, but had a few nice seasons. Not quite what you’d expect from the fourth overall pick in a draft, I suppose, but the MLB draft is a crapshoot. He’ll finish his career with about 5 WAR in 665 innings over 15 seasons.
But he also made about 21 million dollars in that time, so, good for him.
I think this is the beginning of many personnel changes for the Jays. Oldest, slowest team in the majors that cant stay healthy and has many players under-achieving. DFA, trades and the rising of players in the minors is just beginning.
They would have kept him but the mid 80s Grilli Meatball wasn’t as marketable.
He became my favourite Jay last year but obviously second time thru the order in the AL East and they had his number
Grilli is a great guy & he handled his release with class by tweeting a thank you to Toronto’s fans. He was good for the Jays last season, but just doesn’t have it this season. He isn’t alone. There are a lot of players on the Blue Jays roster who aren’t carrying their weight. JP Howell has been worse than Grilli. He’s on the DL right now, but he has to be worried about his roster spot when he gets healthy.