The Blue Jays announced tonight that they have claimed righty Oliver Drake off waivers from the Rays. To open a 40-man spot, the Toronto club designated fellow right-hander Mark Leiter Jr. for assignment.
This move continues a seemingly never-ending tour of the majors for Drake, a 31-year-old hurler with intriguing stuff who has seen many a 40-man roster but rarely stays in the same place for long. Since the start of the 2017 campaign, he has appeared with the Orioles, Brewers, Indians, Angels, Twins, and Blue Jays.
Indeed, Drake set a record last year by appearing with five teams. That did not include the Rays, who claimed him after the season concluded. This will be Drake’s second stop in Toronto; he stopped in for two appearances last season. Of course, it would hardly be surprising if Drake ends up being bumped from the Jays’ 40-man once again over the offseason.
So, what’s the fascination here? Drake has only a 4.50 career ERA through 137 1/3 innings. But he owns a 12.6% swinging-strike rate in the big leagues and has generally turned in much more promising peripherals. Last year, for example, he carried 9.6 K/9 and 3.2 BB/9 with a 44.9% groundball rate through 47 2/3 frames — though a .353 BABIP and 63.7% strand rate left him with a 5.29 ERA.
As for the 27-year-old Leiter, he has found success at times in the upper minors but struggled to transition to the major-league mound. He has thrown 114 frames of 5.53 ERA ball in the bigs, due in no small part to allowing home runs at a clip of 1.97 per nine innings. Leiter, too, has been better in the eyes of ERA estimators that presume the dingers are in part a reflection of poor fortune, as he owns a 4.37 xFIP and 4.23 SIERA in the majors. Teams in search of rotation depth will surely have interest.
His second time with the Jays, how fun.
Why bother
Maybe you want to look at his numbers with the Twins to answer your question. Not a lot of bother to claim him. 20.1 IP, 22/7 k/b, only 12 hits. Obviously guys from a number of teams have seen something they think may improve.
Jays don’t need 30-something jobbers to perform. They need to find out if their 23-25 year old minor league arms can handle the majors. Plus to have him in AAA? Like 92Jays said, why bother….
I have a question are any of these minor leaguers that are claimed or put on the 40 man roster, are they still available for the rule 5 draft?
No. Players on the 40 man roster are ineligible for the rule 5 draft
This guy finds a way on rosters and is so terrible. Baffles me
He was good with the Twins, I still don’t get why they designated him.
Like the first baseman that the Mets just claimed?
Once more into DFA purgatory for Oliver Drake.
MLBTR could start a pool and have readers guess where Drake will be on Opening Day. Maybe one to see who will claim Drake next.
How about a contest to see where he’ll be at 7 AM, Noon, and 5 PM on any given day.
I’d hate to be leiter. getting designated for that turd Drake
Maybe Mark is just good at giving up Homer’s. Not everything regresses to the mean. That probably is his mean…..
Maybe he talked to Mark Sr or Uncle Al at Thanksgiving and got his $hit straight.
The MLBTR posters took me to task for saying the Oliver Drake was a waste of time the first time around.
Reacquiring Drake is a stroke of genius I guess….
Mark Leiter doesn’t belong in the majors on any club that wants to compete. Glad to see him go.
Oliver Drake has upside if he can put it together that is why teams keep taking a shot at him. He’ll be much better than Leiter. It’s an upgrade.
Hate the Drake!