July 30: Pompey cleared waivers and will remain in the organization after being outrighted to Triple-A, the Blue Jays announced.
July 23: The Blue Jays have designated outfielder Dalton Pompey for assignment, according to Shi Davidi of Sportsnet.ca (via Twitter). Pompey’s injury rehab was up, forcing the club to make a call on the out-of-options player.
Pompey, 26, has endured a series of rough injuries in recent seasons and ended up on the shelf again this year for a concussion. He has slashed .244/.327/.311 in 14 games worth of rehab work.
This isn’t how the Toronto organization expected things to turn out after watching the Canadian native launch into top-prospect status. He was particularly impressive in 2014, when he briefly debuted in the majors and seemed primed to become the Jays’ long-term center fielder.
Pompey wasn’t able to secure a big-league job in 2015 and had showed inconsistencies thereafter in the upper minors. The club remained hopeful that he’d rediscover his form, but Pompey has been significantly limited by a series of increasingly worrisome concussions.
Entering camp this year for a rebuilding Toronto outfit, Pompey was in a make-or-break situation with no options remaining and little in the way of recent MLB experience. He ended up suffering an unlucky head injury in the locker room, forcing him to the sidelines.
Now, Pompey will be available to any other organization in the league, though a claiming team will need to put him on both its active and 40-man roster. If Pompey clears waivers, he’d remain with the Jays but would still be in line for minor-league free agency at season’s end.
it’s a shame he didn’t work out better, the original hype around him was something else.
He’ll be the new Keon Broxton in Baltimore
Yeah. Don’t see why Baltimore or KC wouldn’t take a shot on him.
Thought the Jays would call him up after holding onto him for so long… but I guess not. Not much to lose by optioning another player for a few weeks until the deadline opens up a spot.
There’s more to it than that. The 25-man roster is not the problem. Someone would have to be removed from the 40-man roster in order to re-instate Pompey (he was taken off when placed on the 60-day IL).
Sure but they could have made it work if they wanted too. Derek Law, David Paulino, Wilmer Font. There’s a few guys that we likely wouldn’t miss.
They don’t think Pompey is worth keeping and unfortunately they’re likely right.
They probably could DFA Paulino for Pompey and send down McKinney, but with a guy who’s had multiple concussions maybe you don’t want to put him in the big leagues right away.
I hope things work out for him here or elsewhere, so long as “elsewhere” isn’t Baltimore.
Unfortunate. For so many reasons.
Good luck to Pompey.
Herculeneum too.
I got that….
Man this guy was hyped up. Sad to see.
Whenever I hear or read anything about popmey, all I can think of is him stealing 2nd and 3rd with nobody out in the 2015 ALCS,and then getting stranded there to end the series.up to this point that’s gotta be his best mlb memory.
The ump screwed them!
It was 3-1 not 2-2 damnit
God that hurt to read as a Jays fan. I remember being angry for awhile after that
Yep!
Agreed!
Something definitely changed between the offseason and now. I guess the missed development was the final straw. Should’ve been Law though off the 40.
agreed. if Socrates Brito can get an extended look then how the hell can they not give Pompay a shot. Losing Law is not an issue. He would have been unclaimed most likely.
And Alen Hansen too. I understand he probably isn’t seen as an ML player anymore but I would’ve like to have seen him get a shot
I feel for the guy but I’m not sorry to see him go. He’s been a reclamation project for his whole career. Hopefully he gets his health back and can contribute somewhere else.
I’d sign him up and put him on 60 Day DL. Rest those injuries, and give him a fresh start.
I don’t think he’ll ever stay healthy, but I always wanted the White Sox to give him a chance to play everyday instead of the Adam Engel’s of the world.
Stearns, sign this guy and groom him to replace LoCain!
Finally, designating Pompey was long overdue.
Should have traded him long ago [when he was healthy], as some said in these very pages.
I can hear it now from the Blue Jays front office:
Let’s give Brito a shot, let’s hang on to Pompey, wait let’s sign Grichuk to a 50M extension, lets use Davis in CF who can hit .,50, let’s let Dwight Smith Jr [11hr, 44 RBis, 4 SB, .702OPS] go, let’s trade Pillar for virtually nothing, lets, lets, lets. and that’s just the outfield.
How do these Blue Jay Mgmt guys keep their jobs?
I didnt see you blame Jays brass for Gurriel Jr.????? What gives??? Doesnt suit your narrative I suppose. Same. Old. Whining. Day in and day out. Just stop already.
Cold, obviously you do not read all my posts. I called Gurriel years ago to be a very good to elite player.
And it’s not whining when another person correctly calls out Atkin’s nonsense in advance and then when is happens takes credit. I don’t get them all correct but most I do if you read the entirety of all my posts. #scoutseyes
Pillar is getting paid $5.5mill this year while guys like Jarrod Dyson sign for $3.5mill annually. The fact we got a prospect ranking in our top 30 for a potential non-tender candidate is pretty good.
Pompey by not being in the field actually provided 0.4 more WAR than Smith Jr did so far this year.
Why not give Brito a shot. He’s AAA depth now because they did and hitting OK down there.
Davis probably isn’t a long term piece but why not see what you got.
The Grichuk extension surprised me and was unnecessary I think. They could have waited till next year for this unless they were getting a real team friendly deal…. which they didn’t.
Smith has been one of the worst players on one of the majors worst teams… some people just like to complain for the sake of complaining.
In case you hadn’t noticed, Dwight Smith Jr has been better than Brito, Pompey, Mckinney, Davis, T Hernandez. etc etc etc.
Offensively Smith Jr is about the same as Grichuk, BUt Smith Jr can’t run or throw as well though. And Smith Jr is not being paid 10m/yr for 5 years.
So what is wrong with Smith Jr again?
The Pillar $5.5-mil narrative is lost when Grichuk was signed to an unnecessary extension. Had Pillar still been in a Jays uniform with the current numbers, he fetches more of a return than the Jays received. Not by much, but better. Currently that young kid is struggling in A-ball. Mightily.
We can’t use the money to rationalize the move when the Jays turned around and gave more to Grichuk.
Biggest frustration over Pompey was the mental defensive lapses. Kid is a talent. Could not put it together for whatever reason.
I’m not sure he lands you any more now. Maybe… but his numbers aren’t really that good.
I guess the Jays did take on some salary too for zero value players (which I’ve never thought of before) so that mitigates some of the benefit of dumping his salary.
Don’t think the Grichuk extension was a great idea… but also don’t think you can tie the two decisions together. Making a potentially bad financial decision with one player shouldn’t impact your view of another completely separate transaction.
It shouldn’t, except it did. They turned around and literally extended Grichuk seconds after the Pillar deal. Then sold everyone on this absurd idea Grichuk can play CF with some people (who’s posted on this comment board) buying into the idea he can match Pillar’s D. Nooooope.
Pillar certainly fetches more than Hanson, Law and the kid who can’t throw strikes. Not much more, but more. Less is more, take Hanson and Law back. Please. And the Jays could have had buyers for Grichuk right now. Double loss for Atkins.
WOW, REALLY, do you ever check the facts first???? In DSJ’s last 30 games he is hitting a superb .155 Has an OBP of .206 and an OPS of .465 in 63 PA’s and a whopping total of 5 RBI’s 3 of which came last night!
Let us not forget DSJ’s 0 for 32 streak with 13 strikeouts to 4 walks, it is all about what have you done lately not 2 months ago
Both Pompey and Travis should have been cut in Spring Training. Bergen and Smith Jr could have stuck with the club.
Valid points except they should have been cut prior to the rule 5 deadline to ensure Bergen would be added to the 40-man.
No. Mark Leiter was protected instead of Bergen. That was an atrocity.
Yes it was.
Smith just would’ve been dfa’d when Brito did had he made the team I’d assume.
At this point, who knows. Smith Jr had fell out of favor with the Jays anyway.
I guess…. but those guys have provided -0.4 WAR between them. Literally have been less valuable then Pompey and Travis not playing at all.
Sure. Different decisions could have been made. Jays would certainly trade someone like Law for Bergen straight up right now. Pretty nit picky to criticize the decisions made for the 40th spot on the 40 man roster… especially when the guys lost have amounted to very very little so far.
Here’s the deal Dex; Bergen had a monster minor league season last year. He’s a lefty, can throw over 90, why not add him? Always a use for lefties like that, and especially a young dude performing. The type of add a rebuilding team can use. Especially based on the numbers he produced.
Jays fans come down on me for wanting to see the team allow performing players from within the organization given opportunities. Bergen is one of many examples. Would he have worked out? We do not know. This is what rebuilding is all about, in my opinion. Find out if what you have can work. If they work in your farm system, let them sink or swim.
I don’t disagree. Smith Jr., Bergen and Romano were the guys I didn’t want to lose. Jays gambled on Pompey’s upside and it didn’t pay off.
At the time I would have kept Smith Jr or Bergen likely instead. We’ll know in a few years which would have been the best decision.
Sad to see Pompey go, so much talent and so much more bad luck trying to stay on the field. I can still see him pinch running for the Jays, stealing second, then third, nobody out…and they couldn’t cash him in and beat the Royals!
Maybe they can resign Ricky Romero.
hardly surprising
I’m a bit surprised the Orioles or Marlins didn’t give him a shot.
Jays will happily stick him in AAA.
It’s amazing how long I’ve known that name and he’s had 13 AB in the last four years. Not even close to 200 career ABs.
The ball is back in Pompey’s court to show he can be a major leaguer. He needs to work his tail off and show the baseball world that he has more that just speed going for him. Best of luck to him.
Nice to see that they gave him one last chance. They could have just released him. If he wasn’t from the GTA, he would have been long ago.
I’m surprised no one took a chance on him
He’s hardly played this season and he is out of options, meaning, he’d have to be on someone’s 25-man roster. He isn’t ready for that yet.
Glad they didn’t outright release him which they could have done. One more chance but if he wasn’t from the GTA, he would have been gone long ago. The man is either made of glass or is milking the “paid while I’m Hurt” system.
This is actually good news, I’m still holding out faith that he will eventually find it and put it all together