The Blue Jays announced that they have recalled infielder/outfielder Addison Barger, while designated hitter Daniel Vogelbach has been designated for assignment in a corresponding move. The club’s 40-man roster drops to 38.
For a second consecutive Friday, the Jays have cut a hitter struggling in the majors and replaced him with one hitting well in Triple-A as they look to generate some more offense. Infielder/outfielder Cavan Biggio was cut from the roster one week ago, eventually getting traded to the Dodgers, with Spencer Horwitz taking his spot. This time, Vogelbach makes way for Barger.
Vogelbach, 31, is a fairly limited player as he is one of the slowest in the league and generally isn’t trusted defensively. He has appeared in 154 games at first base but hasn’t played the field since 2022 and it was only five innings that year. But he has tantalized clubs with his power from the left side and keen eye at the plate.
In 1,957 career plate appearances to this point, he has drawn walks in 15.1% of them. For reference, league average is typically around 8% or 9% and is at 8.3% this year. He has also hit 81 home runs, with a 30-homer season with the Brewers in 2019, though that was the “juiced ball” season. He also got to double-digit home run tallies in 2022 and 2023 with far fewer plate appearances.
Unfortunately, the results haven’t been there this year. Vogelbach signed a minor league deal with the Jays in the winter and made the Opening Day roster, but has received just 79 plate appearances in over two months on the roster. He was still drawing walks at a decent 11.4% rate but had just one home run, leading to a line of .186/.278/.300. His exit velocity and hard hit rates were still pretty strong but he was hitting the ball on the ground at a 49.1% clip, a career high apart from his eight-game rookie season.
Like with Biggio, the Jays have decided change was needed. Biggio was hitting just .202/.331/.289 when he was nudged off the roster. Horwitz was slashing .335/.456/.514 in Triple-A and has a line of .389/.476/.444 through five games since being recalled.
Barger was recalled for five games earlier this year and currently has a dismal line of .056/.056/.056, but he’s hitting .256/.380/.467 in Triple-A. He has drawn walks 15.2% of the time for the Bisons and also has eight home runs, perhaps giving the Jays some hope he can produce the kind of offense they were hoping to get from Vogelbach.
Even if he can’t quite produce those kinds of results against big league pitchers, he can provide more to the Jays in other facets of the game. During his brief time up with the club, his sprint speed was ranked in the 60th percentile, compared to Vogelbach being in the 2nd percentile. Barger has also played shortstop and the four corner positions for Buffalo this year, giving manager John Schneider far more options for getting him into the lineup.
Vogelbach and Joey Votto were in competition for a job this spring, as both were on minor league deals and looking to serve as a lefty bench bat/designated hitter. Votto got hurt during the spring while Vogelbach hit three home runs in spring contests, which essentially made the decision for the Jays. Now that Vogelbach is off the roster, that could open a path for Votto, but not in the immediate future. After rolling his ankle on an errant bat during the spring after one plate appearance, he’s still not one hundred percent. Schneider told reporters this week that Votto is getting close to playing in games, as relayed by Keegan Matheson on X. But after missing so much time, he’ll effectively have to restart spring training from scratch and will likely need a few weeks to get into form.
The Jays will now have one week to trade Vogelbach or pass him through waivers. There will likely be teams willing to take a chance on his bat, but they will probably wait until Vogelbach clears waivers. He is making a salary of $2MM this year but has more than enough service time to reject an outright assignment while keeping that money. Based on his poor results this year, he will probably wind up on the open market and be free to sign with any club. If he gets a roster spot somewhere, that club would only have to pay him the prorated league minimum, with that amount subtracted from what the Jays owe him.
Vogelbach is a prime candidate for a Japanese/KBO contract.
Vogelbach is going to need a fast food sponsor in the NPB or KBO if he goes overseas. Maybe even a local restaurant chain depending on what city he chooses to go to.
Just think about what you said. Look in the mirror and tell yourself “Yeah Im that guy”
The Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest at Coney Island is coming up in a couple of weeks.
Maybe Vogie can still get in.
More like the Indys, or Mexico at best.
I assume you meant a Sumo wrestling contract
And he needs to take Joey Gallo and Rowdy Tellez with him. Any wagers on which of those two will be DFAd next? My money’s on Tellez.
Sucks to see Biggio and Vogelbach go but if they were going to make these moves, should have happened like month ago.
James, I agree. Shapiro and Atkins wait far too long to make moves to make the club better. So many examples exist of holding onto players too long or not trading them early enough. It is becuase of poor professional scouting. They wait until they know for sure what a player is before making a move. the tourble is good scouting clubs know what the pklayer is far sooner….
Ross Atkins.
I’m somewhat surprised, considering he carried a lot of weight in the Blue Jays locker room.
Vogelbach certainly carried himself well…
Michael Patrick Porkins and Taffy Lee Fubbins disliked your comment.
Well, I am the bad boy of the competition.
You’re one of the most aggressive babies I’ve ever met.
He carried a lot of weight and a lot of pepperoni pizzas.
Ya’ see – there are well-played digs such as yours that are genuinely clever and can elicit a smile, and then there are those that are simply weak, mean or just dumb.
Nice work there Bart HJ taking the subtler approach.
Real tuna can.
The article also says he has a “keen eye at the plate”, but should clarify that they didn’t mean “dinner plate.”
Nicely done, @disadvantage.
The dream has died
“Dream has died”…Unfortunately so has the diet Vogey used to be on. Apparently it happened many, many years ago.
Time to Start Chanting at the Rogers Center…. ” FIRE SHAPIRO ” ” FIRE SHAPIRO ” FIRE SHAPIRO ” !!
shapiro gets FIRED and the New President can FIRE atkins !!
” FIRE SHAPIRO ” !!
The chant would need to be “sell the team”.
Meh – Shapiro got Rogers to spend on the team and the stadium, not an easy accomplishment.
His downfall has been his loyalty to Atkins, if he can break that blind spot I keep him. He isn’t making on field decisions, and that’s squarely where the problem is
huh, shapiro makes the decisions, atkins is a lackie….
Don’t overlook the culture within the organization that starts at ownership. There is a reason they’ve avoided hiring guys like Dombrowski, going for the likes of Oakland and Cleveland executives. Rogers will do it again if they get rid of Shapiro.
They can spend as much as they please and will need to, as their new-age Moneyball’esque tactics has not worked. Ricciardi/Keith Law and Paul Godfrey didn’t work, and if not for a huge 2015 deadline AA/Beeston plus former Ricciardi hires would’ve been a failure. It starts at the very top.
What took so long?
I just could not understand bringing in Vogelbach while keeping both Horwitz and Barger in the minors.
Maybe Barger isn’t the player we saw in ‘22. But at least Horwitz is a 26-year-old on-base machine.
If they really wanted a veteran left-handed bat, why didn’t they just bring back the still-unemployed Brandon Belt?
I heard that they had to DA him because the plane couldn’t take off with all his weigth on board
If Useless atkins had re-signed Brandon Belt, there would be NO need for J. Turner and Vogelbach….
FIRE SHAPIRO !!
And if your aunt had the requisite equipment, she would be your uncle.
The Belt thing is such a mystery, Dude is a clutch hitter that drives in runs.
Perhaps there is or was something going on with him that made teams believe he’s not that good anymore, or maybe he had offers that he felt weren’t worth accepting.
Nothing happens in a vacuum.
Belt was not willing to take a big pay cut. Was no maybe about it.
“Something going on”..You hit the nail on the head concerning B. Belt. I think he maybe felt he was worth a LOT more than teams did. It’s revealing that Toronto and all other teams passed on him.
Not a mystery, he wanted too much money.
Watched a Jays game the other day and saw Vogelbach bat a few times.
It reinforced my belief that the Jays organization has no idea what they’re doing. They’re unlike organizations such as the Phillies and Orioles that have concrete plans to work with players they acquire
as they try to make them better. The Jays seem to just bring in guys and throw them up against the wall hoping something mysteriously sticks….and if it doesn’t they get rid of them and bring in others…..hoping for a miracle.
Cleveland was like that under Shapiro for years until Terry Francona came aboard as manager.
Getting rid of bagelbach is long overdue. The guy can’t play in the big leagues with his poor conditioning. He never should have been on this club.
Shapiro and Atkins need to be replaced.
Call up Martinez too. Maybe the rookies can salvage the season for this club despite the GM and President’s best efforts to lose it…
You can say the same thing about Manoah. The Jays allowed him to try and pitch in MLB at 3 spins…plus. And then, shocker, he blows out his elbow. I expect to see him back in MLB in 2 years at 250 lbs. Then he has a chance to succeed.
But they said he got in incredible shape, still overweight lol.
lol Jays are asking for season ticket deposits for renewals 6 weeks early this year.
I’m keeping my money until Atkins is out of a job.
It’s about time!!!
“Just doesn’t make sense”
Jays wanted Vogelbach to be the bat off the bench and barely used it. Nathan Lukes performed well in Spring and probably should have made the team. He’s having a stellar year in AAA.
This move also opens the possibility of a Votto sighting if he can execute proper strides when walking.
Votto is 40 and has yet to play a minor league game. That sighting may come in September if at all
If we are being honest, Votto is a pure PR move. If the Jays could actually hit we wouldn’t talk about Votto. If they were willing to carry Vogelbach on the roster, Votto could be in the roster when/if he’s ready. More if than when.
If anyone actually watched the Jays, Vogelbach actually had good AB and much better than most of the other players on the roster (KK, Springer, Kirk, Turner, etc). Now it is still probably the right move given he is a DH/PH and Hot Dog doesnt even PH against righties and I doubt they DFA Turner yet given they just paid him handsomely. KK/Springer and Kirk provide some defensive value. so they wont DFA them.
I guess my point is…the Jays suck,
Vogelbach has had better at bats than most on the team. He had the second highest xwOBA of anyone on the team. Just really really unlucky on a lot of the balls in play. I’m fine with the move as Barger has raw power and they may as well see if he can get to it. While being able to field a position somewhere.
Fat chance he gets another MLB job.
Unless he makes a heavy impact with another team.
Well, Barger has some exposure at 3B and is a lefty. Maybe a platoon with IKF??
This move has me leaning towards a tear down even more so.
With Votto close to getting at bats likely is just a chance to try a few of the AAA guys in a spot until Votto is ready. May see one of them run with it. Wouldn’t expect Votto being worse than Vogelbach has done this season though as a fall back when he’s ready.
I don’t think he’s an upgrade over Rowdy Tellez, right??? Nothing to see here, move along.
Vogelbach has no business on a MLB roster.
He’s better at baseball than you ever were
Was that a comment even worth spending the 10 seconds it took to post?
“He’s better at baseball than you”..The analytics nerds tend to like Vogey, because he takes up a lot of space; I meant to say because he gets on base.
The season is over for the Bluejays.
Bring in Joey Votto. At least it will have a feel good vibe.
Where’s Lukes? Why not bring up your best hitting minor league outfielder to fill an outfield spot instead of continually putting non-outfielders (Schneider, Barger, previously Biggio) out there?
@Deckard
The Jays already have Varsho and KK in the OF. They don’t need another lefty, they need a righty.
Injured. And Barger is their best hitting OF.
@KamKid
Barger has spent most of his time playing the IF. It’s the Jays development philosophy to graduate utility guys to the majors.
Most OFs are just bad infielders. That’s why the term “stick on the dirt” exists. You play the infield for as long as there’s any sliver of a hope that you’ll be able to play there. If you can’t, you become an OF. Barger was already primarily an OF last year. They let him play more IF again this year because of opportunity on the IF in Buffalo and as you suggest, there might be more pathways for his bat to have a role on the team if he can cover some IF.
This isn’t a particular Blue Jays strategy. It’s most systems. What the Blue Jays seem to do is hold on too long to the best possible outcomes and play players up the spectrum long after anyone expects them to have a shot there and so they are pretty late getting experience at their ultimate position. I get still playing someone up the spectrum on occasion. There are a lot of minor leaguers competing for playing time. It just feels if Barger has been likely to be a corner OF for as long as he has, that he should have played more there before last year.
@KamKid
Bargers quickest path to the Majors is 3B. He profiles with having an above average arm and above average power. There are currently 2 lefties in the OF, they don’t need a third. These skills can profile in RF but the stats show that he has played more in the IF. Horwitz is a 1B/DH and the Jays have him playing 2B. Schneider, again, was a MiLB IF and the Jays have him playing some LF with the justification that he got in some innings during the offseason. If the org hasn’t figured out the best spot for a player before AAA, that speaks more about the failures of the organization than anything else.
They currently have Martinez playing 2B after trying him out at 3B and SS. Martinez is a LF.
Yes, Barger’s quickest path to the majors is 3B, but only because they let him still play there a bit. He was pretty much exclusively a RF by the end of last year. That’s his ultimate position. But by letting him still play some IF again this year, they have another spot to get his bat in the lineup. I think the question of figuring out a player’s best position isn’t necessarily the position the player is going to perform the best at, it’s figuring out the highest up the spectrum position a player is going to be minimally passable at. Then they can easily slide down the spectrum from there if the team is able to find someone better up the spectrum. The organizational failing seems to be developing defense on the left side of the infield. For anyone who was confused by the IKF signing, you need not look further than the collection of clunker gloves on the infield. 2B and LF is going to be a very crowded mix if more than a couple of their AAA guys graduate to the majors.
@KamKid
Barger has over 6 seasons at 3B with nearly 900 innings played there. So they didn’t let him play there a bit. That’s nearly 3 times as many innings he had in RF over 2 seasons. Barger is a 3B that they’re trying to add positional flexibility.
NoSaint at 6 years and nearly 900 innings that’s not nearly enough per year at the hot corner. That is 100% on the Jays not giving him more reps there. He should have been playing almost 900 innings per season. Third base is hard, and the Jays should have prepared for life after Chapman.
Completely agree about RF, also not enough reps and to play him in LF his first game in the show was embarrassing. What organization does that to a kid? Practically asking him to fail.
@its_happening
AA and below don’t nearly have enough games and innings to get him that kind of workload. If you don’t think 900 innings of development isn’t enough then why is ~350 innings in RF be his position? Also, Springer is there for the next couple of seasons.
I agree NoSaint. Not nearly enough innings in RF. It is the Jays’ style to have guys play multiple positions and not play one position strong enough. The only position they leave alone is catcher.
Want to reiterate I agreed with your RF assessment as 350 innings is less than 40 games if you divide by 9. Just not enough.
NoSaint,
Where you and I differ on the opinion is that you think they are trying to add positional versatility by playing a 3B in the OF. I think they are trying to add positional versatility by still playing him at 3B (and even SS again this year) after determining he wouldn’t be able to stick on the infield last year.
They hardly let him play any 3B in the second half of last season. Almost exclusively RF. In spring training, it was also exclusively RF until very late in camp when they gave him some time back at 3B.
All teams move players around. That’s because as they move up through the minors, the standard to play the positions increases while they may grow out of the more nimble positions or simply can’t keep their grades up at a position. Most players are drafted as SSs and then move down the spectrum from there. The other reason is that there are several players at each level who might be major leaguers. But if you only let one of them play a certain position and that’s not the guy that is going to make the majors, then you’ve painted yourself into a corner. Multi positional versatility isn’t particular to the Blue Jays. What does seem particular is how the Blue Jays move guys back up the spectrum after already falling down it. Barger as an example. Gurriel lost his infield job in Cuba only for the Jays to shoehorn him all the way back up to middle infield and graduated him to the majors as a SS. Horwitz suddenly playing 2B after never being given any defensive responsibility in the past. They also seem to hold out for best possible outcomes for so long that players are already on the brink of the majors before getting many reps at the position they have long profiled best at.
Versatility becomes a weakness if you cannot defend well at any position. It also takes away from working on hitting if you’re busy working on multiple defensive positions.
Barger has one of the strongest throwing arms you will see. At least as strong as Chapman, if not stronger. Average fielder, but, when he gets ahold of one it goes a country mile. One of the more jacked players you will see.
Schneider, Horwitz and now Barger – the Jays transformation into a AAAA team is on its way. Not exactly, Simien, Hernandez and Gurriel…. but then, the other starters can’t hit either.
Restaurants in Toronto are sure going to miss him
$1 hotdog sales will plummet now
Loonie Dog record is never going to hit the numbers they have this season.
Well, that was a weighty decision by the front office. I’m assuming they chewed the fat a while before pulling the trigger. It was a whale of a move. Probably included a hefty price tag. He and Manoah should become roomies.
Vogelbach didn’t hit 30 home runs for the Brewers in 2019, that was Seattle. He didn’t play for the Brewers until 2021.
I mean 2020.
Several teams are looking for a fleet center fielder. I’m sure one of them will pick up Vogelbach.