The Blue Jays have placed reliever Matt Gage on unconditional release waivers, tweets Arden Zwelling of Sportsnet. The southpaw had lost his spot on the 40-man roster a week ago once the Jays finalized their two-year free agent deal with Chad Green.
Gage joined the Toronto organization a year ago as a minor league free agent. He opened the season with their top affiliate in Buffalo and pitched well, working to a 2.34 ERA over 42 1/3 innings of relief. Gage fanned 27.4% of opponents, induced grounders at a quality 47% clip and walked 9.5% of batters. It was enough for the Jays to give him his first MLB call at age 29.
While Gage didn’t spend significant time at the big league level, he fared reasonably well in limited opportunities. He’d go on to make 11 appearances, allowing just four runs through 13 innings. His 12:6 strikeout-to-walk ratio wasn’t overly impressive, but he generated swinging strikes on over 14% of his offerings. The 6’3″ hurler now has a 5.22 ERA through 205 career innings at the Triple-A level across four seasons.
It looks as if the 2022 campaign will be Gage’s only year as a member of the Jays’ organization. If he goes unclaimed on release waivers, he’d hit free agency and have the ability to scour the market for other opportunities.
Toronto’s pitching staff skews very right-handed. Tim Mayza is the only southpaw who’s a lock for the season-opening bullpen. Yusei Kikuchi could get another look there if he struggles again as a starting pitcher, though he’s seemingly penciled into the final rotation job to open the year. The only other left-handed pitcher on the 40-man roster is Hyun Jin Ryu, who won’t be ready until around the All-Star Break at the earliest after last summer’s Tommy John surgery. Former Oriole Paul Fry will be in camp as a non-roster invitee to Spring Training, and it wouldn’t be surprising if the Jays look for another veteran depth option to join that mix.
There is no need to gage his trade interest. All 29 other teams should be interested. Idk why the Blue Jays aren’t too.
I see what you did there. Seems odd to let a lefty go when they need another one.
I don’t think they need another lefty. He’d be depth on the 40 man but they have other guys at AAA who don’t use a roster spot. 2 of their righties in the pen (Swanson and Richards) seem more likely to be used against pockets of the order that have left handed hitters. He’s far enough down the depth chart for a very specific role that a 40 man spot is probably more valuable elsewhere.
Richards was bad last year. They could’ve let him go and kept Gage who actually did well.
Interesting statistic..in game 7 of the 1960 world series. There was NOT one strike out recorded.
Today’s batters strike out in record numbers. Just saying
and yet just 3 years later Dave Nicholson would set a new league record with 175 Ks. Most impressive about it? He did it in only 449 ABs!
That’s because the game has shifted to hitting all or nothing homeruns.
I think he already cleared waivers.
I thought he did too.
Anyhow, hope Matt has a happy birthday this Saturday.
Looks like an overseas maneuver to me.
Why are they placing him on release waivers vs trying to stash at AAA? Seems really odd unless he’s pursuing KBO/Japan league deal.
I mean or alternatively they flat out know he’s lost it like he’s hurt or lost his fb etc. Otherwise why would they pass a guy through waivers and then release him?
At least at the moment I can’t come up with a valid reason… but if someone has one I’m guessing I’m just missing something obvious and can’t think of it!! haha
They might just be letting him go free where he might get a better chance. He is 30 and has kicked around a bit.
Yeah I guess — awfully “nice” of them haha. Guess if they have 0 intention on calling him up thats a good thing to do… just based on his 2022 season (ML and AAA) you’d have thought he might have even had a shot to make the club with a strong spring. As a Red Sox fan… he seems like a better minor league signee than a lot of the others they’ve made soon… wouldn’t mind then offering him an invite to spring training. I like Bleier too but also think Bleier’s pitching style could result in falling off a cliff if and when age catches up to him. hopefully not and he’ll be great but it’s a risk when a guy doesn’t K anyone and throws 88-89
Sounds like me. I’m in my mid 30’s, been kicked around a bit, just looking for someone to give me a chance.
What are “release waivers”?
Means they’re releasing him and teams can claim him and put him on their roster before he becomes a free agent
6 ft 3 inches, 265 pounds. Absolute unit. 🙂
I can see Matt Gage and his Oakland Athletics.
Darwin Barney used to pitch well for the Jays
The age and velocity prejudices in MLB are getting ridiculous. This is a lefty who put up absolutely flawless run prevention numbers in both the minors and the majors. But nobody wants him, simply because he hasn’t established himself yet by age 30 and doesn’t throw hard or strike guys out. Sure, he struggled in the minors in the past, but that was as a starter — the only reason he didn’t make the majors at a socially acceptable age is that the Giants never had the sense to convert him to relief while he was in their organization (plus losing a year to injury).
Totally agree! He was a great comeback story and did everything asked of him last season between AAA and the majors. He was easy to root for and I was looking forward to seeing what he could do over the course of a full season. I hope some team picks him up and he’s lights out and makes Atkins look like the idiot he is.
On a side note, when are these free agent lefties going to start coming off the board? The jays certainly need one….
One piece of information that doesn’t seem to regularly be reported on at the time of signings is whether certain minor league deals contain opt outs. Does Paul Fry have an end of spring training opt out so that he is functionally auditioning for all 30 teams with the Blue Jays having the right of first refusal? Or do the Jays have him as a depth option all season? That information would add context to this type of move.
My personal favourite is the mid-end of May opt out. A player who is established enough to command an opt out but the team can provide something in the organization that appeals to the player (access to resources, comfort with certain coaching staff members etc.) to delay the opt out date. Basically saying “we’re going to need you within the first couple of months, but we have some sorting out of the staff to do out of camp”.