11:06am: The Blue Jays have now formally announced the series of roster moves.
9:35am: The Blue Jays are set to recall infielder Lourdes Gurriel Jr. from Double-A New Hampshire, according to Shi Davidi and Hazel Mae of Sportsnet. The younger brother of Astros first baseman Yuli Gurriel, Lourdes will be making his Major League debut upon arriving. The Jays will option fellow infielder Gift Ngoepe and lefty Tim Mayza to Triple-A in order to open roster spots for Gurriel and the returning Kendrys Morales, per the report. That also means that surging young outfielder Teoscar Hernandez will stick with the big league club.
Gurriel, 24, was signed by the Blue Jays shortly after his 23rd birthday. Under the previous iteration of the collective bargaining agreement, his age and five-plus years of professional experience in the Cuban National Series qualified him to sign a Major League contract, which he did — a seven-year, $22MM pact. (Under the current CBA, he’d still be considered an amateur, as the the age criteria was bumped up to 25.)
While his first season in the Blue Jays organization didn’t go well (.229/.268/.339 between Class-A Advanced and Double-A), the younger Gurriel played much better in the Arizona Fall League last year. In 2018, he’s exploded out of the gates with a .347/.382/.510 slash in his first 55 Double-A plate appearances. Baseball America rated him as the game’s No. 73 prospect prior to the 2017 season, and while his poor showing last year knocked him off their rankings, he’s gotten himself back on track to open the year, it seems. Gurriel played all over the diamond in Cuba, but he’s been exclusively a second baseman and shortstop thus far in the Blue Jays organization, splitting his time evenly between the two spots.
As for Hernandez, while the move to recall him initially may have been looked at as a short-term option, he’s announced his presence in the Toronto lineup by hitting .375/.400/.708 with a homer, three doubles and a triple through five games and 25 plate appearances. It’s a small sample, to be sure, but Hernandez demonstrated huge power potential with eight home runs in a September call-up last season, and he’s among the leaders in barreled balls since that time, per Statcast. No hitter who has put at least 10 balls into play thus far in 2018 has averaged better than Hernandez’s 99.3 mph exit velocity.
Oh Lourdes, that is fascernating. Did not expect this.
I know, calling him up based on that sample size could Gurriel good or bad for the Jays…
For a split second, I thought they had promoted Vlad Guerrero Jr.
they’re both good friends and it wouldn’t be too ridiculous to expect to see him by the fall
Idk I’d be shocked if we see him before 2019
You could see him by going to a minor league game. Not very shocking if you aksk me.
Haha same here. Wishful thinking I guess
Lets hope that he isn’t a racist like his bro
Funny thing is, you’re probably a racist too.
He did a unwise thing in last years playoffs. Having grown up in Hispanic culture, that culture is STILL behind America’s in tolerance. I hope he learns from his mistake. We all make mistakes, maturity comes from learning from those mistakes. I am not excusing his awful gesture, just explaining he’s not evil. He learned bad behavior in a different culture and he needs to unlearn it quick. Namaste!
I concur. These athletes are role models for kids all around the world. They should act like it
Athletes aren’t and shouldn’t be role models…
Yeah, because millions of people, many being children, aren’t watching them almost every day for 6 months
That doesn’t mean they’re role models. Do these same kids you speak of really know how these athletes truly are? The brilliant and astute Charles Barkley sad “I am not a role model,I’m not paid to be a role model,Parents should be the role models”!!
As much as kids watch athletes and look up to them people must also remember that a lot of these athletes are kids too and prone to mistakes. Mistakes are part of growing up and if you think just because they’re professional athletes they should act and be perfect don be surprised to get disappointed. If you, as a parent aren’t educating your children about this, that’s your failure, not the athlete’s.
yeah i agree. athletes should not be role models for kids unless the kid personally knows them. its ok to want to emmulate them but we have no idea what kind of person an athlete is. maybe a womanizer or child abuser or animal abuser you name it. your not doing your job as a parent if your kid has an athlete as an idol instead of you or a family member
When this kind of conversation comes up I’m always reminded of something Mark McGwire said. During spring training one year, a fan and his son came up to Mark and asked for his autograph…the man said to Mark (paraphrasing) “you’ve always been his hero”, Mark looked and at the guy and said “You’re his father, you should be his hero”…regardless of how you view this statement or your perceptions of McGwire,, he was right..
Whyyyy haven’t the Yankees done this with Torres yet
they will within the next week
Torres is going to b rookie scale. Lordes is already signed 7 years. The Yanks wait for a couple more weeks with Torres to get the extra year of control
That date passed this past Wednesday my friend
They might be waiting for Super Two deadline to pass
About time Ngoepe gets sent down… Watching him and Grichuk swing the bat is very frustrating
It is a shame that Gift can’t get better with the bat. He is has a hall of fame glove but a indy league bat.
You know what go ahead and bring up Vlad Jr and Bichette and let the young guys go at at least they will make it fun to watch
Who would they replace? There’s simply no need for them to be up yet, let’s not get irrational here.
They aren’t fun enough to watch as it is? They’re 12-6.
Depends on which Blue Jays team comes to play. Yanks and Boston are a good test for them.
It’s good. We need help at second. Leaving aside the offence for this year, his poor defence cost us the game last night.
Making some good moves !!
Should have sent Loup down, 3years ago !
Grichuk and Morales…take a seat and enjoy !!
how can you be recalled, when he’s set for his major league debut?
Because he signed a major league contract.
About time to send Ngoepe down. As I said in spring training, elite glove but AAA bat. Good job in calling up Gurriel. Hope he sticks. Next step is to send down Grichuk, he doesn’t blowng in the big leagues either.
Jays management is learning the hard way, by experience.
They can’t send down Grichuk, out of options
Then trade or release Grichuk. He doesn’t belong in the major leaguies at this time. The Jays got fleeced bigtime in the trade with St Louis.
Baseball makes great conversation, esp impact trades such as the Torres dealings.
Wonder who the Jays would offer to the O’s for a half season of Machado?
The Jays’ drive up in the standings, even though it is early, could only be shored up by the presence of Manny at SS, and esp against lhp … their old Achilles ( as it seems to be Boston’s this year).
The Jyas won’t trade for Machado. Not gonna happen ever. Not part of the DNA of Shaprio and Atkins unless it is giving up low level c prospects. Sad but true.