The Blue Jays have traded right-hander Wes Parsons to the Guardians for $250K of international bonus pool space, per announcements from both clubs. Parsons was designated for assignment by the Jays last week and has now been optioned to Triple-A Columbus. Righty Shane Bieber was transferred to the 60-day injured list to open a 40-man spot for Parsons. It was reported over the weekend that Bieber will undergo Tommy John surgery, thus missing the remainder of the 2024 season.
Parsons, 31, pitched in the majors in 2018 and 2019 but then didn’t make it to the show in 2020 and headed to Korea for a couple of years. Over 2021 and 2022, he threw 176 innings for the NC Dinos of the KBO League with a combined earned run average of 3.68.
He returned to North America by signing a minor league deal with the Jays in 2023, then went on to make 17 starts for Triple-A Buffalo with an ERA of 4.52. He struck out 27.5% of batters faced in that time with a 44.2% ground ball rate but also issued walks at a 12.6% clip. He was added to the big league roster on the last day of the regular season after the Jays clinched a playoff spot the day before, allowing nine earned runs in four innings that day.
He lasted on the club’s 40-man through the winter and cracked the Opening Day roster after the Jays’ pitching staff suffering spring injuries to Alek Manoah, Jordan Romano and Erik Swanson. Parsons tossed five innings over two appearances in the early going but allowed six earned runs and got bumped off the roster in favor of Paolo Espino.
The results have not been pretty over the last three MLB outings for Parsons, but that’s obviously a tiny sample of work. He was in decent form in Triple-A last year and had good results in the KBO over the two years prior to that. The Guardians had a roster spot to burn with the recent news of Bieber’s surgery and will use that, along with that international money, to add some optionable pitching depth to their system.
For the Jays, Parsons got squeezed off their roster but it seems there was enough interest around the league that they were able to get something in return before his DFA window was up. They will now presumably use that extra pool space to sign a young player, or perhaps multiple young players, to add to their farm system.
Clev just throwing darts at a blank wall again hoping they hit something that other teams cast out…using bonus money they could at least use in the future on younger prospects. Twice in past few days alone. After not trading the Biebs in the offseason no less. And yes they are in 1st place but anyone who thinks thats lasting is a dreamer
Yea that division is such a juggernaut it’d be hard to imagine them finishing first even w/o Bieber…
Hey man the white Sox will be feared for the 60 games they get of Luis Roberts
No teams this past winter wasn’t going offer anything of value for bieber. In 2023 he was on dl with injuries, other teams was going to wait until 2024 trade deadline. If bieber stayed injury free until July 30 they would got quite a haul. Your baseball iq must be low.
Riiiiight because that is the norm for small market teams to wait until the very last second despite holding an ace in the hole at a reasonanble price and absolutely zero reports of a single team testing the waters? Go back to fantasy land. You see the moves they make? Any common sense to those? If they tried the baseball world would have known
I don’t know exactly what their financial situation is, but everything they’ve done over the winter and in season screams. “WE’RE BROKE!!!” Hey, if it’s that bad, file bankruptcy and/or sell the team. And for an organization that behaves like they’re flat busted, they “invested” almost $11M this season in Austin Hedges and Scott Barlow. That entire front office needs to be drug tested.
David blister owns 25 percent of guardians. John Sherman came in after 2016 season, and payed 60 million for 3years of eddy encarriaion it didn’t come out paul dolan pocket. Blister bought out Sherman share of team. Guardians are not poor lam just waiting for blister to take majority ownership of team. Might take several years to take over. I don’t know if lcan wait that long.
Blitzer has an option to purchase the majority stake a few years from now, but who’s to say he’ll spend anymore than the Dolans?
Blister has already said a payroll of 120 million is agreeable to him for the cleveland market. People have to realize blister owns other sports franchises and knows what will work market wise. Nobody in the cleveland media has the guts or the balls to ask Paul dolan when he selling majority ownership of the guardians to blister. Guess the media in cleveland is afraid to lose their press pass.
Their ownership has been sketchy for quite a while now, mostly relying on minor league development and a weak division to keep them relevant.
Most of that was due to the uncertainty around their TV situation (i.e. the Diamond Sports Group bankruptcy impacting every team that shows games on Bally Sports stations). The Dolans don’t spend their own personal wealth to pay the players, they use revenue generated by the team through ticket sales, merch sales, sponsorships, and broadcast contracts. Above all else, they (like most pro sports franchise owners) are businessmen, and their goal is to make a profit.
and like most businessmen, some invest back into the company for long time success, some chop up the company for parts and a quick buck, and most lie somewhere in between.
Just imagine all the khakis lined up outside the bathroom waiting for their turn to pee in a cup. The sheer irony of it would be worth the price of admission.
Are you sure you don’t want Shapiro and his lackey, Atkins, back? Jays fans will ferry them across Lake Erie for you.
any team trading for Bieber would have seen his elbow issues during the physical and they either would have killed the deal or offered less value in return. They could have gotten more value from his performance then trade at the deadline or the draft pick compensation when he would deny the QO
Cleveland doesn’t typically use its entire pool. They rely on the relationships they have in Venezuela and thr Dominican Republic, and typically try to sign a lot of guys instead of aiming for the big bonus guys out of Japan, Cuba, etc. They probably already know who they’re signing and knew that 250k was not needed.
Bieber wouldn’t have passed a physical in the offseason
A surprisingly good return for the Jays.
Any relation to “ The Alan Parsons Project” Dr. Evil talked about?
Which one’s Pink?
Former brave Wes parsons. He was coming up the system during some dark times for the Braves and I thought he’d end up being a #5 starter or something. Maybe a mid inning bullpen guy. But the franchise made some big changes and he kinda couldn’t keep up. But look at him still kicking it. Good for him!
I like this. The Jays can get two and a half Acuna’s worth of international signings for $250k.
$250 K is a good chunk. I guess Cleveland doesn’t feel they have the class scouted well enough and most interesting guys are signed by now?
You can only trade slot money in increments of $250,000.
So the Guardians traded the lowest amount they could have, and a few months into the signing period they’ve made most of their signings anyway.
Great replacement for Bieber. Probably becomes the ace of the staff this year.
You can’t be serious. Williams, Bibbe, and Allen are better then parsons. Ever heard of Joey Castillo in minor league. Yes on dl with hamstring issues out until mid may. Will be up by end of May. You follow minor league much.
If you only like acquiring players that are better than your top three starters, you’ll be disappointed a lot lol
Parsons isn’t exciting but he’s depth and they need it badly. It’s also Joey Cantillo, not Castillo.
Yes misspelled on my part thanks.
“The Guardians had a roster spot to burn”, and burn it they did.
Many SP injuries for CLE already. Fortunately only Bieber seems to be a season ender at this point. Organization needs guys for filling out MLB & AAA rotations until some of the injured guys return to full action.
Might sign him to 2 year pillow contract because of cleveland medical staff. His agent is drew rosenhouse and that agency so maybe not.