The Blue Jays announced that they have selected the contract of right-hander Ryan Burr. It was reported yesterday that they would be acquiring him from the Phillies for cash considerations. To get Burr onto the roster, the Jays placed right-hander Alek Manoah on the 15-day injured list with a right elbow sprain. To open a 40-man spot for Burr, righty Joel Kuhnel was designated for assignment.
Manoah was removed from Wednesday’s start with elbow discomfort. Scott Mitchell of TSN relayed on X earlier today that Manoah is going for a second opinion and likely to miss an extended period of time. Manager John Schneider informed reporters that the sprain is in Manoah’s ulnar collateral ligament and that the righty will meet Dr. Keith Meister on Thursday. Keegan Matheson of MLB.com was among those who relayed the info on X. Further details will undoubtedly be forthcoming on that, but the Jays will need a fifth starter behind José Berríos, Kevin Gausman, Chris Bassitt and Yusei Kikuchi.
Matheson relayed on X today that righty Bowden Francis is with the club. He is currently on the injured list but has been rehabbing, most recently throwing 60 pitches 3 2/3 innings for Triple-A Buffalo on Tuesday. If added to the roster at some point in the coming days, he could make a start for the Jays or at least throwing multiple innings behind an opener.
For now, Manoah’s roster spot will go to Burr. He signed a minor league deal with the Phillies in the winter and has looked great so far in Triple-A this year. Through 16 2/3 innings, he has a 2.16 earned run average, 43.3% strikeout rate and 7.5% walk rate.
That has inspired the Jays to give the Phillies some cash to bring Burr aboard and they will now see if he can continue performing well at the major league level. He pitched 75 big league innings with the White Sox over the 2019-22 period with a 4.08 ERA, 20.6% strikeout rate, 12.2% walk rate and 50.5% ground ball rate. He still has a couple of options and could perhaps be sent down to the minors when Francis is reinstated from the IL, though the Jays have some other optionable relievers as well.
To get Burr on the 40-man, the Jays are bumping off Kuhnel. The 29-year-old was just acquired from the Astros less than a month ago in a cash deal. He has since thrown 8 2/3 innings for Triple-A Buffalo with a 1.04 ERA. His 10.8% walk rate is high and his 2.7% strikeout rate incredibly low, but he’s managed to keep 56.3% of balls in play on the ground.
That has generally been Kuhnel’s recipe. In 85 2/3 major league innings, he has only struck out 19% of opponents but has gotten the ball pounded into the dirt at a 52.2% clip. The resulting 6.30 ERA isn’t pretty but that’s partially attributable to a .327 batting average on balls in play and 62.6% strand rate. Going back to the start of 2021, Kuhnel has a 4.28 ERA in 82 innings in the minors. He struck out just 15.7% of batters faced in that time but has generally kept about half of balls in play on the ground.
The Jays will have one week to trade Kuhnel or pass him through waivers. He still can be optioned for the rest of this year and could appeal to clubs looking for extra rotation depth. He has been outrighted previously in his career and would therefore have the right to reject another outright assignment in favor of free agency, if he passes through waivers unclaimed.
Obvious heads up, but if a team has to bring in a Burr for cash for an extended stretch of MLB level pitching, that team is not making the playoffs…
As said is spring training: “one of the key to the Jays entire year will be the depth of the starting rotation – there isn’t any MLB level quality depth in the organization and only two propects that are capable someday of being a MLB level quality starting pitcher.”
The BooJays are going nowhere in 2024. It is time to blow it up and rebuild starting with firing of Click, Atkins AND Shapiro from all baseball player decision making.
Youre really letting Ryan Burr and Joel Kuhnel rile you up these last couple days Jimmer
In his defense, the current state of the Jays rotation is now as questionable as the Jays hitting. Depth is a concern, no?
JD, I am getting tired of looking the issues over and over year after year caused by the same stupidity. It is not like any of this lack of depth in pitching [or hitting] is a surprise to anyone.
I knew the current Mgmt of the Jays will produce a loser in any year at any time, except for Anthopolous’s team Shapiro inherited. It makes angry that Mr Rogers and the board puts up with this obvious incompetence. Bad manager after bad manager, stupid trades, poor drafting and development. It goes on and on. Errrrrrrrrrr.
Fortunately during their tenure MLB executives usually don’t get to fire 3 managers. The executives get fired first. I think Atkins is fired in October.
There are plenty of valid criticisms for how they haven’t been able to finish off this team. But it is incredibly disingenuous to say they haven’t done anything besides with AA’s team. They’ve had four straight season of winning teams. I agree, he’s definitely gone if they miss the playoffs. But we don’t need this revisionist history. They built a team that can get to the playoffs. But I don’t think Atkins can get them to the next step, so it would be time to move on. There’s no need to lie and act as though they haven’t had regular season success.
2020 should be excluded in my opinion. They finished 7th, but if you want to count that season, fine.
2021 had a shortage of bullpen, SP and and 3B. In a contending year. Missed the playoffs with a lethal offense.
2022 had a shortage of a starting pitcher. Came 2nd in the AL East. Arguably the starter they needed beat them in Game 1 of the playoffs.
2023 traded hitting for bullpen and OF defense. Never replenished the offense lost. Came 3rd in the AL East. Lost 2 games to none against a team that probably wasn’t better than them.
2024 still didn’t replenish the bats. Here we are.
Not a single division winner. I’m not going to call their regular seasons a success. Aside from 2016 nothing really has been done. Let’s be honest.
jimmertree, #PsychicEyes
Im not saying that DFAing Kuhnel is a major loss but no matter what type of injury Manoah has shouldnt he just be put on the 60 day? Isnt the pitcher IL 15 days and if it is you would want him to have 1 tune up game at least in the minors so thats 5 days and then another 5 to him next start. So the very very best case he is down 25 days anyway and i would think they go slow bringing him back up to speed. Realistically its either a brace, TJ or both especially if he is going for a 2nd option. Paraphrasing He said his last 1 or 2 starts he felt a pinchy thing in his elbow so i guess it could be a nerve thing but he is still gone for awhile then to