TODAY: Jiménez has cleared waivers and elected free agency, according to Keegan Matheson of MLB.com.
April 29: The Blue Jays have reinstated outfielder/designated hitter George Springer from the 10-day injured list. In a corresponding move, designated hitter Eloy Jiménez has been designated for assignment. Hazel Mae of Sportsnet was first to report the moves.
It’s the inverse of a transaction from a couple of weeks ago. Springer fractured a bone in his left big toe when he fouled a ball off of his foot. On April 12th, he was placed on the IL, with Jiménez selected to take his place on the roster. Now that Springer is healthy enough to return, Jiménez has been bumped off.
In the meantime, Jiménez wasn’t able to do much to secure a longer look. He didn’t play the field, continuing a recent trend of his. He only played eight innings in the outfield in 2024 and none in 2025. As a bat-only player, he needs to hit to provide value, but he wasn’t able to do much of that. His .290 batting average looks nice but he didn’t produce an extra-base hit, leading to a .290/.343/.290 slash line and 82 wRC+, indicating he was 18% worse than league average at the plate overall.
That’s a small sample size of 35 plate appearances but continues a trend that began a few years ago. Though Jiménez was potent slugger for much of the 2019 to 2023 window, he hasn’t been in good form since. In 2024, he hit just six home runs in 98 games, leading to a .238/.289/.336 line and 78 wRC+. He didn’t play in the majors last year, spending the season in the minors, where he hit a combined .247/.326/.347 between the Triple-A teams of the Rays and the Jays.
There was a bit of optimism among some Jays fans when Jiménez put up a decent .286/.333/.524 line in spring training this year, followed by a .257/.372/.371 line in 11 Triple-A games. But as mentioned, his big league numbers were uninspiring. With Springer now back and likely to be in the DH spot most of the time, there wasn’t going to be much use for Jiménez.
Jiménez now heads into DFA limbo, which can last as long as a week. The waiver process takes 48 hours, so the Jays could take as long as five days to field trade interest, but they could also put him on waivers sooner if they so choose. Given his recent track record, it’s likely he will clear waivers. As a veteran with at least five years of major league service time, he has the right to reject an outright assignment and instead elect free agency. It’s possible the Jays will skip that step and just release him.
For the Jays, their hope is that greater health can steady the ship for them. They are out to a shaky 13-16 start as they have been battling a large number of injuries. They just got Trey Yesavage back in the mix yesterday and now Springer has rejoined the roster as well. José Berríos and Addison Barger could be next, with guys like Nathan Lukes and Alejandro Kirk ideally returning to the club in the not-too-distant future as well.
Photo courtesy of Mark J. Rebilas, Imagn Images
Cleveland… Hello
He’s gonna walk out to the Drew Carey show theme song.
Neh’mind. I thought it was a different song than it is.
Tell Cleveland – ‘Eloy is coming’
Flight 111 departing for Seoul boarding at Gate 9!
Toronto believed in him enough to sign him, brought him up, he didn’t play well enough to stay up, yet quits the team ?? 🤔
He’s shown enough that another team might take a flyer on him.
Can he play outfield any more?
@rhandome
-17 DRS and -19 OAA career numbers says he was never able to play the OF.
He only played eight innings in the outfield in 2024 and none in 2025.
No
can .. yes … should … never
probably better asking big papi to unretire and stick him in center.
Bruh can’t play anywhere without getting hurt.
Rangers
Baby would get injured riding the pine.
Anymore? That’s a very misleading assumption.
George Springer the Wedding Singer is back baby.
Could Eloy be the reincarnation of doc Ellis?
Considering Eloy was born in 1996 and Dock Ellis didn’t die until 2008, I would say it is very doubtful.
Korea is very nice
modern, good fans
he’ll enjoy it there
His fan friendly vibe would be a big hit over in Korea. Could see him doubling as mascot the way he did in Chicago. Good luck big fella
Eloy needs to try his luck in Japan, Korea, or Mexico and maybe parlay a few good years into a big league return.
Baseball is a tough sport. It always amazes me when players just suddenly can no longer hit.
The cliff Eloy fell off of was steep. He was very good, then viable, then not so much.
Nothing like an article written entirely off baseball reference stats.
Good grief utter crap.
He’ll be a pirate by Monday
.290 average means he is getting on base.Pirates or Rockies,somebody should be able to use a guy like Arreaz.Arreaz has no power and is not a good fielder too.
.343 OBP also means he’s getting on base.
Beyond utterly absurd to judge a player by 31 ABs. In winterball with 4x the sample (still tiny) he hit .246 with good (but not great) power (5 home runs), which is exactly who he has been for a few years, and who he was in Buffalo this year. He’s not suddenly a high average Luis Arreaz because of a fluke where over a handful of ABs he has a way higher average in MLB than he did in AAA or winter league. Nor has his power disappeared. Aaron Judge goes 31 ABs between home runs sometimes.
Combining bad defense, multiple DH-types on the roster and lack of options with position players, Eloy had to go.
All those muscles and can’t lift the ball
I don’t know the data but I watch the Jays everyday and I feel like he still hits the ball hard. Hope he sticks around in the org and maybe gets another shot.
He does hit the ball hard, just straight into the ground and it’s been that way for a while now
Flash in the pan and a total moron. Retire please
Someone please explain how Tony Larussa didn’t win manager of the year for taking that White Sox team of hot garbage to the playoffs? TA7, where art thou and the rest of that team? Nowhere.