3:42PM: Blue Jays manager Charlie Montoyo told Kaitlyn McGrath and other reporters that the team will be cautious with Hernandez’s injury, but it doesn’t appear to be as severe as initially thought.
3:14PM: The Blue Jays have placed outfielder Teoscar Hernandez on the 10-day injured list due to a left oblique strain. Infielder Gosuke Katoh has been called up from Triple-A to take Hernandez’s spot on the active roster. The Athletic’s Kaitlyn McGrath reported earlier today that Katoh had joined the Jays in New York for tonight’s game with the Yankees, and The Toronto Sun’s Rob Longley also tweeted earlier that Hernandez was thought to have an oblique-related injury.
Hernandez suffered the injury during a sixth inning at-bat in last night’s game, as the outfielder looked pained after taking his first swing. Hernandez waved off a visit from the team trainer but then continued to show discomfort after grounding out to end the plate appearance. Hernandez didn’t take the field for the bottom of the sixth, replaced in the lineup by Bradley Zimmer.
As Longley noted, this isn’t the first time Hernandez has missed time with a left oblique strain, as a similar injury resulted in a 10-day IL stint in September 2020. That proved to be a mild strain that resulted in Hernandez missing only the minimum 10 days, but oblique strains are notoriously tricky injuries that can often lead to weeks or even months on the IL, depending on the severity. It was just three days ago that the Jays lost another regular to an oblique strain, as catcher Danny Jansen is expected to miss several weeks of action.
Losing Hernandez for any length of time is a blow to Toronto’s lineup, as the 29-year-old slugger has hit 49 home runs and slashed .295/.347/.538 in 825 PA since the start of the 2020 season. Even for a Blue Jays team that has plenty of hitting, this type of production can’t be easily replicated, especially since the Jays already lost some depth when Jansen went down.
Raimel Tapia and Zimmer (both acquired in offseason trades) figure to get the bulk of outfield work in Hernandez’s absence, and Cavan Biggio also has some experience as an outfielder. In the minors, Mallex Smith and Nathan Lukes are potential options, though neither are on the 40-man roster. The same is true of veteran Dexter Fowler, but Fowler only signed with the Jays at the end of Spring Training and is still participating only in sim games as he works his way back from a torn ACL.
The Blue Jays are being tested early. AL East could very well be a four-headed monster this season.
They’re all predicted to have 88 wins
As a Yankee fan our offense is atrocious
@higgy5220
We knew that in the off-season. Too many 3 true outcome players. Time to dump Gallo, Judge and Stanton.
Yes, because dumping great players makes your team better
Stanton isn’t TTO though. He’s one of the best offensive players in the team & our RF next year when Judge leaves.
That said, it doesn’t take a genius to realize our offensive weaknesses have been exploited repeatedly, especially in the postseason against top-tier pitching. Stanton, however, has been one of the only consistent positive offensive forces in the postseason.
11 men were left in base in the 1-run loss against the Red Sox – 11!!!! That’s how you lose games.
@Cosmo2
How many championships have the Yankees won with those players? You can have all the offense you want but if their 3-true outcomes are the reason they falter in the playoffs, clearly, they’re not that valuable to the team’s success for a championship.
Are you seriously saying this? I don’t think you understand how stats work or how player evaluation works. How many World Series have the Angels won? According to your logic, Trout stinks. I’m sorry but it’s purely infantile.
Could be a way to get Biggio and Espinal into the same lineup more often. But I suspect they’ll prioritize defense and give Zimmer most of the outfield time.
Hot take: Biggio hasn’t really added much when I’m the lineup (all time). If his last name were different, I think he’d be as popular with fansas Billy McKinney, Kevin Smith, or other non-performing Blue Jays we’ve been indifferent about losing.
Completely disagree.
Cavan probably won’t be a super star but his few 2 years he’s shown he can be a high obp, decent fielding 2b, roughly a 2.5-3 WAR player.
Injuries derailed him last year and he’s played 2 games so far this year. Hard to put him in the billy McKinney or Kevin smith bucket when neither of those guys have had any level of MLB success.
Biggio just isn’t a crowd pleaser. I think it’s the passive nature at the plate. When Biggio is doing well and being a big contributor, a good portion of the fan base doesn’t see it. I really like him and think his skill set is a really important complement to the team. It has been hard to watch him struggle over the past year. Partly because I want him to do well but also because I’m getting tired of the dominant narrative around him that refuses to acknowledge his strengths.
Biggio has a higher career OBP than Bo Bichette.
Does that mean he’s better? Of course not. But he gets on base at greater than .350 and that’s not bad for a guy with power and defense.
Biggio needs to show that last year’s numbers were due to being hurt. But he deserves the chance to show that. And 8 games certainly isn’t enough to evaluate.
Lukes was a hell of a hitter in Durham
As a Yankees fan I’m glad this makes their offence less potent (not that I like to see player hurt). Without Hernandez behind Vlad this give pitchers more leeway to walk him without making the damage worse.
Ah yes, being glad a player can’t play because it makes your opponent’s team worse – in other words, you’re glad he’s hurt. Don’t worry, we all know it won’t be long before Judge and/or Stanton are back on the IL too.
@GB85 I can’t speak for Nihilus (and neither could the other Sith Lords), but I’m not sure that’s what he was saying.
To me, it sounded more like ‘if Teo is going to miss time, I’m glad it was during a Yankee series’.
That’s not wishing ill on anyone, just acknowledging that some opponent has to benefit from a weakened Jays offense.
So,it might as well be his team.
I mean, I’m sure non-Yankee fans don’t HOPE for Jusge or Stanton to get hurt, but would (if they did) rather face NY at that time than when they were at full strength.
I could be wrong, but that’s how I read it…
The reports sound good about the seriousness of Hernandez’s injury, even if obliques are typically pretty tricky. I do wonder though if maybe this is something that a guy like Conforto would be waiting for. If Hernandez were to miss significant time, this would be about as ideal as a match that Conforto could find.
Conforto isn’t vaccinated, so he will not play for Toronto, lest he be barred from playing in all away games.
Wonder if collecting a pay check would change his mind to get it done
Presumably he wouldn’t be considered fully-vaccinated for ~40 days still.
If this injury looks like it will be extended (I.e. 5-6 weeks or more), then I wouldn’t be surprised if the Blue Jays go and sign Conforto. Not to be a wet blanket, but one look at tonight’s lineup (Raimel Tapia batting fifth!) and it’s obvious that the Blue Jays would be forfeiting a lot not to fill that hole (doubly so when there is an obvious piece out there like Conforto).
#MissingGrichuk
Perfect reason why I thought trading Grichuk was a mistake. Sure he was a little expensive but he would be an incredible 4th OF for this team. He has a great power swing and the Blue Jays rely on the HR ball a lot. Tapia is more of a slap hitter with a better eye at the plate of course.
If Grichuk was still here alongside all of the other players they have to fill the vacancy, he would likely only be the weak side of a platoon. Biggio, Zimmer, and Tapia are all options in the OF that are better in one way or another than Grichuk. Grichuk might be preferable against LHP than any of these guys but that’s kind of it. He’s a terrible 4th outfielder for the Jays because he doesn’t do anything differently or better than the starting 3 OFs. That’s why they went out and got a 4th and 5th outfielder down the stretch last year and relegated Grichuk to 6th OF duty.
I agree. It’s unfortunate that two depth pieces (McGuire and grichuk) came back to bite them in the first week but it doesn’t change they though process around having different looks around the edges.
Only really issue I have is the Palacios dfa as he could have been useful right about now
Yeah, Palacios is fine but there aren’t a lot of fringe of the 40 guys left to push out the door when you have a major league need and need to make room. In Teo’s absence, they can ride Espinal’s hot hand and get Biggio in there more regularly. Or they can go with outfield defense and let Zimmer have opportunity.
It’s also kind of funny that they are almost too left handed all of a sudden with most of the part timers being lefties. Grichuk’s only advantage in this situation would have been the right handed bat.
Oh no a crises north of the border that doesn’t involve 18 Wheelers????. And that Mask Maruder Trudeau E I A U O !!!! Will the Jays survive? Will Bichette cut his curly locks and stop staring at him self in the mirror?
Only time will tell.
Tune in next week. Jay fans Same Jay Channel. Same Jay time.
There’s help available for drug addiction, maybe look into it.
I’ve got a crush on Bo, and I’m a straight dude. Guys got hair for days.
That’s not straight, dude lol
Despicable- His father Dante was rockin the mullet