The Blue Jays have acquired right-hander Zach Thompson from the Pirates in exchange for minor league outfielder Chavez Young, per a team announcement. Toronto has designated right-hander Junior Fernández for assignment in order to open a spot on the 40-man roster for Thompson, who’ll provide the Jays with some further rotation depth. Thompson was designated for assignment by the Pirates last week.
Thompson, 29, was drafted by the White Sox back in 2014 but was never added to their roster and reached minor league free agency after 2020. He then signed a minor league deal with the Marlins just in time for his breakout campaign. He cracked Miami’s roster that year and ended up making 26 appearances, 14 of them starts. He tossed 75 innings with a 3.24 ERA, 21% strikeout rate, 8.9% walk rate and 43.4% ground ball rate.
After that nice surprise campaign, the Marlins sold high and flipped Thompson to the Pirates as part of the Jacob Stallings deal. Unfortunately, the move to Pittsburgh didn’t go well for Thompson, who was deployed in a swing role. He made 22 starts and seven relief appearances, posting a 5.18 ERA over 121 2/3 innings. He still got grounders at a solid 45.3% rate but his strikeout rate dipped to 16.6%. The Bucs designated him for assignment last week when they made their signing of Rich Hill official.
Despite that poor season, there’s little harm for the Jays in taking a flier on him. Thompson still has a full slate of options and can be kept in the minors until he’s needed. The Jays have four rotation spots spoken for, with Alek Manoah, Kevin Gausman, Chris Bassitt and José Berríos firmly entrenched. The fifth spot is a bit less certain, but they have plenty of options, including Yusei Kikuchi, Mitch White and Nate Pearson. Thompson will jump into that mix and give the club another layer of depth. He has between one and two years of MLB service time, meaning he still hasn’t reached arbitration and can be cheaply retained for the foreseeable future.
In order to get that extra pitching depth, the Jays are parting with Young. The 25-year-old will jump to a new organization for the first time, having spent his entire career in the Jays’ system until now. He was selected in the 39th round of the 2016 draft, drafted out of the Bahamas. Since then, he’s climbed his way up the minor league ladder, hitting well at each stop until he got to Triple-A. In 78 Double-A games in 2021, he hit .265/.350/.409 for a wRC+ of 109. In 65 Triple-A games last year, his production dropped to .234/.331/.350, 86 wRC+. He’ll look to take a step forward at the plate with his new team, but he provides a solid floor to the Bucs from his speed and defense regardless. He’s played all three outfield positions, including plenty of center field, and has stolen at least 20 bases in each of the past four minor league seasons.
The Jays are also relinquishing Fernández, whom they just grabbed on waivers from the Yankees last week. The right-hander has huge velocity but has yet to figure out how to properly harness it. He averaged 98.8 mph on his four-seamer this year and 98.7 mph on his sinker last year but struck out just 16.7% of batters faced while walking 14.3% of them. 2022 was his last option year and he’s become a popular target on waivers in recent months. After being designated for assignment by the Cardinals in September, he’s been claimed off waivers by the Pirates, Yankees and Blue Jays. The Jays will now have a week to trade him or put him back on waivers yet again.
Pirates got a .230 AAA hitter who is nearly 26. Why ask for anything in return?
it was Zach Thompson what you expect
Did you look at his OBP? Stolen bases? Defense? Nah, you just want to be mad about everything the Pirates do.
Cherrington was a jays guy vefore he took this job. Its actually really smart to get a guy he knows and likly likes and hand a had in bring to the jays. Reguardless of how likly he is to be a MLB player and he got it for a dfa
I was hoping they would have given one more shot this year. Underwood should have been dfa…oh and Shelton needs to go
Young isn’t likely to hold down a major league roster spot for a full season, but he’s really fast and can play in CF. He also has a decent plate approach. That gives him the possibility of contributing as a bench piece for periods of time. Pinch running and defensive replacement situational roles might be more valuable with the new rules. Plus, he’s apparently quite a fun personality. Organizational depth that doesn’t require a 40 man spot on a team that is likely to turn over a fair bit of the back end of its roster seems like a decent return for a guy who was DFAd and going to be claimed for nothing if exposed to waivers.
getting anything for Zach is good regardless.
The Bucs lost 11 players in the Rule 5 draft but only replaced 7 in the same draft
BC needed to add 4 more to their minor league camp.
Making room for the 2 pitchers they’re going to get from Miami for Reynolds
Nah Thompson only made room for Rich Hill. Now another player needs dfa.
Hahaha Miami isn’t going to pay the Pirates price for Reynolds. Pirates won’t even take a below average deal Marlins would offer. Marlins are offering a bunch of back end rotation and Pirates are looking for top rotation pieces. Marlins will not cough up want the Pirates want for Reynolds
Hmm, not sure about this one. I think Junior Fernandez with his 100mph arm is a better bet. Oh well.
Fernández could still pass through waivers and remain with the Jays. But yes, I get what you’re saying.
The Yankees will claim him again and then they’ll try to pass him through waivers. a second time. Question is, are any of the teams that pick after the Yankees (Dodgers, Astros, Mets and Braves) going to claim him? They might. Recent history says the Mets could. The team claiming though has to either guaranteed him a spot on the 26-man, or get him through waivers.
Young could probably throw 100 off the mound.
He was part of the deal involving Jacob Stallings.
“LolMets” might be the single laziest, dumbest takeaway from a story where the Mets failed to sign a guy who is so broken he failed two physicals and took a 150m paycut from a third team. Yall need new material.
You need a different article.
This site is glitchy as hell for me right now. I was literally in the Correa article until I scrolled to the bottom lol. Gotten worse ever since those stupid full page ads that you’ve gotta X out of.
No worries, happens to the best of us. Just having a little fun at your expense
Thompson is a AAAA starting pitcher. Another reclamation project?
Had decent numbers in 2021 under Don Mattingly. Maybe that can get him back on track
Don Mattingly has a reputation for fixing pitchers.
AAA Depth, nothing more.
Would be cool if Pirates now reclaimed Fernandez, although they obviously chose not to during his last waiver go-round.
exactly.
like what is the deal with Junior Fernandez?
His control.
Not having control isn’t a bad thing. The first 100mph pitch that knocks the batter out of the game/series might help toward a win.
Knocks the batter out of the game for a win.. jeez what is this, the thunder dome?!? Lol
They are running low on dfa options. Underwood Vilade Swaggerty Jong Andujar Young. What 2 are you dropping?
I think Swaggerty might be the next. He hasn’t really impressed. I think Underwood has a chance because of what he’s been showing this winter. However, considering the rotation, I would have gotten Underwood in the mindset and physical shape of starting pitcher.
Does anyone have an opinion on why Junior Fernandez is so often DFA’d?
Is he that bad?
Is he not worth a roster stop on a team like the Pirates or any team?
I don’t get it.
I think he’s interesting to everyone, but not yet good enough to commit a 40 man spot to him long-term. So everyone is trying to claim him and then hoping to sneak him through waivers.
The best way to describe him is being akin to Mad Dog in “Major League,” the character portrayed by Charlie Sheen. Pre-eyeglass prescription, he threw hard, but not even the bat boy was safe
So 2/3rds of the Three Amigos are now gone and only Brubaker remains. Hope Pirates pitching instructors can focus on keeping him off of Main Street
Like the other two, he has good enough stuff but seems clueless at times about how to pitch.
No doubt in my mind that someone will turn around both Thompson and Wilson. Good pitching instructors with an eye towards refining techniques and teaching the art of pitching….they may not be big winners but I’m betting they’ll be more successful elsewhere
Players like him play musical chairs until after Spring, whoever gets him last gets to stash him in the Minors
Happens to a few players every year
It’s the situation of being on a 40 man roster and out of options. He has some interesting enough traits but needs more developmental runway. Teams want him in heir system so they claim him and then hope for an opportunity to sneak him past waivers so they can outright him to the minors. The claiming team doesn’t really have a desire to guarantee him a major league roster spot. They’re hoping for some good timing and luck.
His control is that bad. To many walks to be successful. He has zero value unless you can improve it. You only claim him if you have weaker options and likely a better option emerges and he hits waivers again. Eventually he will find a home.
I predict that Taint Correa will be on the DL when the Pirates play the Twins on Aug. 18-20.
Must admit as a Pirates fan it’s nice to know our SP depth is good enough to sacrifice Zach Thompson. That certainly hasn’t been the case in many years.
Would’ve liked to see Zach get another shot in Pittsburgh but no where to put him to do so.
Chavez looks like an okay pickup given the situation with Zach. Chavez does look interesting, might end up being a decent 4th OF if things go well for him.
The minute i saw that Pitt had designated Thompson, i thought Jays should get on this, but figured he’d get waived and somebody would grab him long before the Jays. So imho its a great move, as both White and Kikuchi are out of options and carrying both on the active roster is very limiting for the bullpen, Thompson has options and is controllable for years, so now it should be more of a battle for the 5th spot with the loser being DFA’d so they can carry 8 actual relievers!
Swaggerty dfa? They probably see this guy as same skill set but better. No idea how they veiw Vildale. Outfield is crowded though so someone is likely to go. Lets get another Reynolds trade article.
Wait a minute. What? Where did this come from? I thought Swaggerty was a golden boy for the second wave
What made you think that? BC didn’t draft him and didn’t give him much of a look last year. I am not endorsing it but dfa Swag while keeping reclamation projects no other team in baseball wanted is a Pirates move. Just came to me that I can see them thinking well we don’t need 2 of same the guy.
Reading again, Dream. Too much reading. Thought he was going to be the next big thing—he and Gonzalez, I guess—given the accolades some here posted. So much for that
Should have known when he was only here for a cup of coffee over the summer.
Next big thing now is Rodriguez and Johnson. Swaggerty is worth keeping around if possible. I would dfa others before him. Gonzales will be a mlb player and even a everyday one, but with the 7th pick you are hoping for a all star and he hasn’t shown that. Still possible but can’t get excited. If you draft a 2b that high they really need to hit.
Low risk high reward for the jays. I can see him get better with this team
Why didn’t they just option him? Is there so much talent on that roster no one else made sense?
CALLED IT!!!