Blue Jays right-hander Clay Buchholz went to the injured list May 10 with a shoulder injury, but a back problem could keep him out for a while longer. Buchholz is dealing with a Grade 2 strain of his teres major, per MLB.com’s Gregor Chisholm, who adds that the hurler will see famed orthopedist Dr. James Andrews early next week for a second opinion. Assuming the initial diagnosis holds up, Buchholz could stay on the shelf for a “significant” amount of time, Chisholm writes.
This is the latest negative turn in what has been a forgettable Blue Jays tenure for Buchholz, who parlayed a bounce-back 2018 with Arizona into a $3MM guarantee from Toronto this past March. An elbow issue kept Buchholz from making his season debut until April 13, however, and though he performed well in his first start with the Jays, his overall production has left plenty to be desired. Buchholz has averaged fewer than five innings during his five appearances and logged a disastrous 6.57 ERA/5.51 FIP with a career-low 4.38 K/9 and personal-worst velocity.
The 34-year-old Buchholz hasn’t been the picture of durability throughout his career, nor has teammate Devon Travis. The oft-injured second baseman, who underwent left knee surgery March 17 and hasn’t played this year, has suffered a setback and is without a timetable to return, Chisholm reports. Travis’ knee doesn’t have any structural damage, but he did undergo a platelet-rich plasma injection to tamp down inflammation.
Travis, 28, looked like a legitimate building block for Toronto during an excellent rookie showing in 2015. However, a series of lower body injuries and a decline in production have torpedoed Travis’ career since then and limited him to 254 of a possible 531 games.
In further unfortunate news for Toronto, injured lefty Ryan Borucki may not make his 2019 debut until mid- to late June, Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet tweets. Borucki has recovered slowly from an elbow ailment that surfaced toward the end of March and was only supposed to keep him out for a small amount of regular-season time. Two months later, though, the 25-year-old Borucki hasn’t yet gotten the opportunity to build on a solid rookie campaign in which he managed a 3.87 ERA/3.80 FIP with 1.6 fWAR over 97 2/3 innings and 17 starts.
Had great stuff when he was on, but way too fragile. So glad the Red Sox let him go!
Every time he gets on a roll something major gets hurt.
Cut Buckholz and Travis now. Wait that was said in spring training too….
I think the Jays tanking is going rather well, even if it was created by the incompetence of Ross Atkins…
Travis will almost definitely be non-tendered next year.
Spring Training was probably the right time to cut Travis. It’s a bit of a bad look if you do it now.
There’s really no reason not to keep him and give him one more chance this season. Not like they are trying to compete
Bro, they are suppose to tank, they need to tank. This isn’t a championship team… Yet and it won’t be without the grind of the rebuild. Ross Atkins has made some bad moves, ie DSJ which is funny how you hated the guy then loved him the second he left, but he is building the team that will be competitive in a few years. Whatever little league team you were a scout for should really hire you back cause man, idk how they ever let you go
Franx, There is never any reason to insult someone personally in these pages. Everyone has the right to their own opinion. Please be professional in your future contributions.
A grind of a rebuild is totally unecessary. Look at Boston and the Yankees. No grind of a rebuild. That takes an elite general manager which atkins is not, and Cashman and Dombrowski are. They have lots more WS rings and Pennants that Shapiro and Atkins.
There will be no competative BlueJays team that can win in a few years unless the budget goes to 200M every year and Atkins is fired. .
And if you weere reading all my posts, I didn’t hate DSJ at all. I said I liked his bat but he was a weak outfielder and not someone you can build a team around. I said that he could be a top of the order bat.
I will add that You don’t give away players like that for nothing and then look to the britos of the world. Yeeeesh.
Franx it’s one thing to tank but it’s another to pick and choose your guys (Brito) when the guys you have wouldn’t have hurt you if you gave them a legit chance (DSJ). Shelley Duncan was high on Brito, and he’s part of the process to help groom players.
I’d rather see Urena play every day. I’d rather see Biggio up, growing and being humbled. I’d like to see Davis play CF because he’s the only player who can handle the position defensively. Sink or swim with the young guys. They might lose but a good coaching staff will teach, help them learn and demand they play hard. Too many vets are poor examples with their mental lapses (Galvis, Grichuk, Sogard, Drury). I’d rather see it from the young.
That is how you tank. Otherwise just add an extra year to the rebuild process.
With an influx of infielders the Blue Jays decided against non-tendering Travis. Meanwhile after announcing Gurriel would play some OF he has yet to play OF since the announcement. Good stuff.
The Borucki updates are concerning. Wouldn’t be shocked to hear he misses the entire season.