The Blue Jays announced a series of roster moves today, selecting the contracts of catcher Brian Serven and designated hitter Daniel Vogelbach. They had previously opened one roster spot by trading Santiago Espinal to the Reds and opened another today by designating right-hander Yosver Zulueta for assignment. The moves for Serven and Vogelbach were previously reported.
Zulueta, 26, came up as a starter but significant control problems got him moved to the bullpen in recent years. The switch to a relief role didn’t help him rein in his stuff and now has contributed to bumping him off the roster entirely.
In 2022, he tossed 55 2/3 innings across four different levels with an earned run average of 3.72. He struck out 33.9% of batters faced that year but also gave out free passes at a 12.9% clip, starting 12 of his 21 appearances.
The Jays moved him more firmly into a relief role in 2023, as he started just seven of his 45 appearances at Triple-A. Even those seven starts were mostly two or three innings as an opener, leading to a tally of 64 innings on the year. He had a 4.08 ERA in that time while striking out 25.4% of batters faced and keeping 51.3% of balls in play on the ground, but also walked 15.7% of batters that came to the plate against him. Here in the spring, he tossed five innings, notching just two strikeouts but giving out four walks.
The Jays will now have one week to trade Zulueta or try to pass him through waivers. Despite his wildness, he has strikeout stuff and still has a couple of options remaining, which could make him appealing for a club with an open roster spot and a need for pitching depth. If he were to pass through waivers unclaimed, he would stick with the Jays in a non-roster capacity.
Will both Vogelbach and Serven be with the MLB club in 30 days? They are poor depth and placeholders until Jansen and Votto are ready.
I wonder if they just like Vogelbach better than Votto. Otherwise, they might have just carried someone already on the 40 until Votto is ready. Zulueta seems like a piece that still has some upside and longer term value. Being backed into a DFA of a guy like him just to pay Vogelbach $2m for a month of work doesn’t seem like good roster management.
Jimmer “psychic eyes” Tree has blocked me, so tell him not to be so alarmed about two bench players.
When during there tender have Atkins and Shapiro had good roster management , these guys are the worst managing team in Baseball and I do not know how Rogers puts up with this crap. These 2 clowns have no idea how to assess talent , they believe their current roster can compete with teams in the American League East. They are basically running out the same line up as last year and maybe even worse than last year with players these guys have given up on. The guys I feel sorry for are Guerrero and Bo because they try to hard to cover up the weakness of the rest of the batting order by trying to produce runs when there at bats come up , I guarantee these guys will not sign with the Jays when they become free agent .
This managing team has given away many hitters in their line up over the last few year and have not brought in or signed anyone in return . Varsho, IKF , will never hit and Springer and others there good years are behind them .
Big arm, but at 26 still doesnt know where it will go.
45 BB and 10 HBP in 64 IP in AAA last year. The good news is he doesnt give up homers or that many hits.
I am sure someone will claim him in the hope they can fix him.
I think is better for us fix him
He has already been claimed by the Reds, i think i read so, he is gone.