The Blue Jays will select the contract of right-handed reliever Neil Ramírez, tweets Shi Davidi of Sportsnet. To clear 40-man space for Ramírez, the club has transferred left-hander Ryan Borucki to the 60-day injured list. Reliever Jason Adam was optioned to Triple-A Buffalo to clear active roster space.
While the club considered recalling outfielder Billy McKinney– to the point he was in the clubhouse before today’s game- he’ll remain off the roster for the time being, Davidi adds (via Twitter). The club had been contemplating an IL stint for reliever Ken Giles, but an encouraging game of catch today convinced the club to hold off shelving Giles for the time being.
Ramírez gets the call after pitching just one game for the Jays’ Triple-A affiliate in Buffalo. The 30 year-old signed a minor-league contract just last week after being cut loose by Cleveland. He pitched in 16 games for Cleveland earlier this season, giving up far too many home runs to hold a job in their strong bullpen. While he hasn’t been productive in either of the last two seasons, Ramírez was quite good with the 2014-15 Cubs and still boasts above-average velocity and fastball and curveball spin, so it’s easy to see why the Jays would give him a shot. He’ll make only the prorated portion of the league minimum (Cleveland remains on the hook for the rest of his $1M salary), and can be tendered in arbitration one final season if the Jays like what they see down the stretch.
Adam, a 28 year-old righty, was optioned after five appearances. While he allowed just one run in seven innings in Toronto, he only struck out five against three walks. Like Ramírez, Adam relies on a high-spin four-seam/curveball pairing.
Borucki’s transfer is just a formality. He’s out for the season after a recent bone spur surgery. Before his injury-plagued 2019, the 25 year-old looked like a potential back-end starter for Toronto. He’ll have ample opportunity to claim a job in a rotation in flux next spring.
Both former Cubs prospects
What?! Why would they say McKinley is getting called up when he actually isn’t.
The Red Sox changed their mind at the last minute.
How does being selected differ from being promoted? Is it from a special player list? Was he a player to be named later?
Being selected means he wasn’t on the 40 man roster yet
Why would they send down Adams he was looking decent
Putting Giles back on the IL wasn’t an option? Or was the initial report on Giles’ elbow completely false?
Call up a bat. This 2 man bench is beyond stupid.
Its not like Godley or Broshiers is lights out. Neither deserves a roster spot when you have bats in AAA that need to be evaluated.
Even 3-man benches are stupid. There’s no reason to have such big bullpens.