The Blue Jays may soon add some minor league rotation depth. General manager Ross Atkins told reporters (including Mitch Bannon of The Athletic) that the Jays “have a couple of things in the works there that are more on the depth front … via free agency.”
Toronto has not had a defined fifth starter since Max Scherzer went on the injured list. Easton Lucas got the first look and made four starts. He pitched well through two outings but was hit hard in the next two appearances and optioned to Triple-A. An off day allowed them to operate with a four-man rotation comprising Kevin Gausman, José Berríos, Chris Bassitt and Bowden Francis for one turn. They selected Eric Lauer onto the big league roster on Wednesday. He worked four innings behind opener Yariel Rodríguez in his team debut.
Lauer was the only particularly experienced starter working out of the Triple-A rotation. There aren’t going to be huge free agent upgrades available in early May, of course, but it’s understandable that the Jays would look to add some kind of veteran help. Spencer Turnbull went unsigned all offseason but was reportedly throwing for teams last month. Veteran swingman José Ureña elected free agency yesterday after being waived by the Mets. Right-hander Dane Dunning is not a free agent but is likely to land on waivers in the next few days after being designated for assignment by the Rangers.
Lucas, Jake Bloss and Adam Macko are the team’s three minor league starters who occupy 40-man roster spots. Bloss made three MLB starts for the Astros last year. He owns a 5.75 ERA over 20 1/3 innings for Triple-A Buffalo. Macko has yet to make his major league debut and has been out all season rehabbing Spring Training meniscus surgery.
Scherzer’s injured list stint has gone beyond a month. He went on the IL on March 30 after experiencing continued nerve discomfort in his thumb. He’s had a series of cortisone shots in recent weeks. Manager John Schneider told Arden Zwelling of Sportsnet and other reporters that the three-time Cy Young winner completed a high-intensity, two-inning bullpen session on Friday. It remains unclear when he might begin a rehab assignment.
Better late than never?
Maeda! Let’s goooooo!
who isn’t looking for pitching depth? ask the Orioles. the reality is that there is exactly zero viable options out there in the retread market. the Jays will probably rush Yesavage up the system. better than anything out there.
I would talk to Lance Lynn. I don’t think he’s washed up. Jose Suarez can l also be picked up for a bucket of Baseballs from the Braves. What about Urias or the other pitcher who had violent sex on the Dodgers?
This is one hell of an amusing post.
This organization is a mess. They should have gone into a rebuild in the offseason, but instead they stubbornly doubled down on trying to make a very mediocre team competitive. Now Bichette will probably walk in free agency, the Guerrero Jr. contract will probably become an albatross in a few years, and they will have missed their chance to trade them along with guys like Bassitt and Kirk to replenish the farm system and gear up for another rebuild. It could be a frustrating few years ahead for Jays fans. Shapiro/Atkins have to go.
Yes front office is a mess.
They will end up trading Bo.
Vlad’s 35 a year probably won’t become an albatross until his age 36-40 seasons but by that time players salaries will be way higher.
Kirk probably wasn’t going to bring back anything, they can still trade Bassitt at the deadline
Dustey you are severely underestimating Kirk’s value. Kirk is one of the best defenders in the league that is rarely hurt, still only 26 and can hit. That is worth a lot especially now that teams are desperate for quality defenders that can hit a little even.
I like Kirk, but he’s been a below average bat for an extended period of time, doesn’t hit for power and clogs up the bases.
He has his value defensively as you mentioned, but teams aren’t lining up to trade prospects for a glove first catcher.
Since 2021 he’s 8th amongst catchers in fWAR.
Since 2022 he’s 7th.
Since 2023 he’s 7th.
Since 2024 he’s 6th.
Something tells me teams would line up to for one of the best catchers in baseball who has been one of the best consistently for years.
The difference between 9th in value (where Kirk is since 2024) and 23rd in WAR for catchers is 1.0 WAR. There a couple of overall elite catchers and then about 20 good but flawed in different ways, players at this position.
His defensive value is outstanding and he’s been surprisingly healthy, but the league is full of good defensive catchers who don’t provide much offensive value.
I still disagree with your overall assessment of Kirk’s value. There are some catchers that are ok defensively but not to the value of Kirk and yes he is not a speedster but his bat is better than what you think. At the end of the year he will bat 250ish with 5-8 homeruns and 50+ RBIs while striking out 50ish times and walking around 40-50 times all while providing elite defense and (inspite of what Buck said)) he does not ground into a lot of double plays.
Now that Jansen is out of the way he should be better offensively as he has shown in the past when Jansen was hurt that the more he plays the better he plays (also inspite of what the Roger’s media constantly said he can’t handle playing regularly even though he handled it every time Jansen was hurt.).
Having value to the jays is different than ‘replenishing’ the farm which is what I was commenting to.
Also when Kirk played more his stats typically declined offensively. So we’ll see
And one day we’ll all die!
What exactly do they expect to find? Spencer Turnbull is about the only viable option that is still a free agent, unless they’re looking for a guy who is strictly a depth-only option.
They need to call the Brewers on one of their SP for Wagner like Preister or Rodgers or Civale .
@stubby66
Wagner is showing what he is, a AAAA player. Every team has a handful of those players on their 40 man. IIRC he has a -0.3 fWAR in under a hundred PA’s.
Id like it if they brought in Turnbull, but id fear it would turn into the classic sign a pitcher too late to get caught up to make a meaningful difference.
This headline sounds like a statement made by a GM in January?
How about Yarborough?
You can have Charlie Morton!🤣
Dick Mountain is still available. Probably end up being the ace of the staff.
I thought the Blue Jays should have brought Bloss up last year and gave him the run until the end of the year to let him succeed and/or fail knowing that they were going to need someone this year. Now they might just throw him to the fire and hope he can handle it.
What nobody is mentioned Trevor Bauers
A team owned by a media giant is not going to sign Bauer. Talk about your bad press.
Trevor Bauer is not coming back to MLB, whether you like it or not, teams don’t want to sign him moving forward.
Yep, if they can blackball Barry there’s no way Bauer comes back.
I was just saying to get rise out of people me personally I think he shouldn’t ever be allowed back
Ask the Dodgers maybe? They got young arms like Bobby Miller, Landon Knack, Justin Wrobleski and Toronto ex prospect Nick Frasso in OKC roster
Trade Bo for some arms. Next.
Wow. Little late for that kind isn’t it, Atkins & co? Who could have possibly foreseen Scherzer and Lucas Eaton not being accurate depth????
He was waiting out the market
Bucs should be planning a fire sale soon. Falter, Heaney, possibly Keller available in exchange for someone, anyone that can hit.
Never understand them they have a young core of pitchers go with them. Skenes, Jones, Chandler,Ashcraft,Burrows, and Heaney i think could have them in a good position to compete.
Problem is poor offense. Must be tough on Skenes knowing that if he gives up a run he’s probably going to be the losing pitcher. Cruz, McCutchen, Bart & IKF only guys hitting their weight.