Rays Rumors

Rays Select Phoenix Sanders

By Anthony Franco | April 17, 2022 at 1:40pm CDT

Apr. 17: Knight has cleared waivers and accepted an outright assignment to Triple-A, per Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times.

Apr. 14: The Rays have selected right-hander Phoenix Sanders onto the major league roster, tweets Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. In a corresponding move, reliever Dusten Knight was designated for assignment.

Sanders, 26, is getting a big league call for the first time. He was a 10th-round senior sign out of South Florida in 2017, signing for just $7.5K. The overwhelming majority of players in that demographic don’t advance to the majors, but Sanders earned his way there with an excellent five-year run in the minor leagues.

Aside from a rookie ball stint late in his draft year, Sanders hasn’t posted an ERA above 3.29 at any stop. He’s backed that up with excellent strikeout and walk numbers, routinely punching out upwards of 30% of opponents while only once dishing out free passes at a higher than average clip. Sanders, who has worked almost exclusively in relief, owns a 1.81 ERA in 49 2/3 Double-A innings and a 3.19 mark in 79 frames over parts of three seasons with Triple-A Durham. He’s fanned 31.1% of batters faced against a meager 4.6% walk rate at the top minor league level.

Sanders has never appeared on an organizational prospects ranking at either Baseball America or FanGraphs, but his consistently strong production caught the attention of the Tampa Bay front office. He’ll offer a fresh arm in the middle innings for manager Kevin Cash, having not pitched for Durham since last Friday.

Knight loses his roster spot just a day after being selected back to the majors. He’s a quick casualty of roster churn as the Rays shuttle through bullpen arms to cover a stretch of 13 games in as many days to open the regular season. The righty tossed 42 pitches in last night’s loss to the A’s, likely knocking him out of commission for the next day or two. Tampa Bay will now risk losing him on waivers to add to the immediate bullpen options at Cash’s disposal.

The 31-year-old Knight has logged big league time in each of the past two seasons. He struggled over seven appearances with the Orioles last year, allowing ten runs in 8 2/3 innings. He had a nice showing with Baltimore’s top affiliate, though, posting a 3.05 ERA in 38 1/3 frames with a 26.2% strikeout rate. Knight hasn’t allowed a run in four innings with Durham in 2022 and struck out three batters in 2 1/3 innings of one-run ball against Oakland yesterday.

Rays Acquire Javy Guerra From Padres

By Mark Polishuk | April 16, 2022 at 2:37pm CDT

The Rays have acquired right-hander Javy Guerra from the Padres for cash considerations. Guerra was designated for assignment by San Diego earlier this week. The Rays moved Shane Baz to the 60-day injured list to create room on the 40-man roster, and Rays broadcaster Neil Solondz tweets that a move will be made to accommodate Guerra on the active roster when he reports.

Guerra has pitched 27 2/3 Major League innings over the last three-plus seasons, including two innings of work in the Padres’ 10-5 win over the Diamondbacks on April 10. Not to be confused with the other Javy Guerra (a longtime veteran reliever), the Rays’ new Guerra is a former top-100 shortstop prospect who converted to pitching in 2019. Injuries have hampered Guerra’s progress, and also some roster constrictions — since he is out of options, the Padres weren’t able to send him to the minors without putting him through DFA waivers.

San Diego finally opted to designate Guerra, and given how often the Padres and Rays have linked up on trades in recent years, it probably isn’t surprising that Tampa Bay emerged as a suitor for Guerra’s services. Guerra’s fastball has routinely sat in the high-90s and even hit the 100mph threshold, so it will be intriguing to see if the Rays’ vaunted pitching development system can harness Guerra’s potential.

Baz underwent arthroscopic elbow surgery on March 21, and was expected to be shut down from throwing for 2-3 weeks. The move to the 60-day IL will keep Baz out of action until June, though such an absence was probably necessary for ramp-up purposes considering how much of Spring Training Baz missed. The star prospect made his MLB debut last season, making three starts in the regular season and one more in the playoffs.

Rays Select Dusten Knight, Transfer Luis Patino To 60-Day Injured List

By Steve Adams | April 13, 2022 at 12:56pm CDT

The Rays announced Wednesday that they’ve selected the contract of right-hander Dusten Knight from Triple-A Durham and opened a spot on the 40-man roster for the by transferring righty Luis Patino from the 10-day injured list to the 60-day injured list. Patino is currently out with a strained left oblique, and he’ll now be ineligible to return until early or mid-June. Tampa Bay also optioned Ralph Garza Jr. to Durham to open a spot on the active roster for Knight.

The loss of Patino for upwards of two months is particularly notable for the Rays, who had hoped that the former top prospect could hold down a critical rotation job in 2022. Acquired in the trade that sent Blake Snell to San Diego, Patino worked to a 4.31 ERA in 77 1/3 frames. Still just 22 years of age, Patino ranked as highly as the game’s No. 18 prospect (per Baseball America) back in 2020, and it was hard to argue that based on his dominant minor league performance. Patino graduated to the Majors at just 20 years of age but nevertheless climbed as high as Double-A and, in 263 1/3 minor league frames, has a 2.43 ERA with a 29.9% strikeout rate.

With Patino sidelined, Shane Baz still recovering from arthroscopic elbow surgery, and Ryan Yarbrough on the shelf owing to a groin injury, the Rays’ rotation doesn’t look quite like they drew it up. Shane McClanahan, Corey Kluber and Drew Rasmussen are locked into spots, but the Rays could now lean on prospect Tommy Romero and lefty Josh Fleming more than anticipated — at least for the time being. Tampa Bay, of course, has a deep farm and a knack for developing out-of-the-blue success stories on the mound, so it shouldn’t come as a surprise if they’re able to weather the early storm of injuries.

Knight, 31, made his big league debut with the Orioles this past season after spending parts of eight seasons in the minors. A former 28th-round pick by the Giants (2013), Knight parlayed a strong Triple-A showing — 1.30 ERA, 27-to-12 K/BB ratio in 27 2/3 frames at the time of his promotion — into his first call to the big leagues. Things didn’t go as smoothly in Baltimore, however, as Knight yielded a pair of runs in one inning during his debut effort. He appeared in a total of seven games and was ultimately tagged for 10 runs (nine earned) on 11 hits and five walks with 11 strikeouts through 8 2/3 frames.

Rocky showing in his debut season notwithstanding, Knight has a solid track record in Triple-A, where he’s posted a 3.11 ERA with a 23% strikeout rate and 10.6% walk rate in parts of three seasons — a total of 104 1/3 innings. On the whole, in Knight’s eight minor league seasons, he’s surrendered just 32 home runs in 397 innings of work while whiffing more than 27% of his opponents against an 8.5% walk rate.

Rays Place Luis Patino, JT Chargois On Injured List

By Anthony Franco | April 12, 2022 at 5:04pm CDT

The Rays announced this afternoon that right-handers Luis Patiño and JT Chargois have each been placed on the 10-day injured list. Tommy Romero and Ralph Garza Jr. were recalled from Triple-A Durham in corresponding moves.

Patiño was forced out of yesterday’s start against the A’s in the first inning. The team quickly announced he’d been diagnosed with a left oblique strain, and it seems that injury will keep him out of action for the foreseeable future. Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times wrote this afternoon that strains of similar magnitude can cost pitchers around two months, but manager Kevin Cash said the team will know whether that kind of absence is in the cards next week.

It’s another hit to a Rays rotation that has also lost Shane Baz and Ryan Yarbrough to the IL recently. The aforementioned Romero now looks as if he’ll slide in alongside Shane McClanahan, Corey Kluber and Drew Rasmussen, although Yarbrough’s absence isn’t expected to be especially lengthy. The Rays also have Josh Fleming on hand as a possible starter or long relief option.

Chargois, meanwhile, is dealing with left oblique tightness. That’s not as worrisome as Patiño’s issue, but it’ll still keep him out of action for the next couple weeks. Tampa Bay acquired the hard-throwing righty from the Mariners in last summer’s Diego Castillo deal. He posted a 1.90 ERA in 23 2/3 innings down the stretch, although that came with an alarming 14.3% walk rate. Chargois joins Nick Anderson and Pete Fairbanks as late-game options on the Tampa Bay injured list.

Rays To Promote Tommy Romero

By TC Zencka | April 10, 2022 at 7:24pm CDT

The Rays are promoting right-hander Tommy Romero to the big-league squad, per Jeff Passan of ESPN (via Twitter). Romero will make his debut whenever he first appears in a game.

Passan notes that Romero’s stay may not be long, which would certainly follow Tampa’s pattern of giving promising arms a taste of Major League action without overcommitting. The 24-year-old Romero may not be a household name, but he is one of many promising arms on their way to contributing this season. He was the 18th-ranked prospect in the system per MLB.com and 21st by Baseball America, while Fangraphs was less bullish, placing him 32nd in the system.

The discrepancy largely lies in the fact that Romero is a spin rate darling who only recently has seen a jump in velocity. Regardless, Romero has consistently posted solid numbers in the minors, including a 2.61 ERA across 110 1/3 innings between Double-A and Triple-A last season. Like many Rays arms, Romero is likely to begin in a swingman or multi-inning relief role.

In a corresponding move, southpaw Ryan Yarbrough will head to the 10-day injured list, per John Romano of the Tampa Bay Times (via Twitter). Yarbrough suffered a minor groin injury, which is not expected to be serious. He did not appear in the Rays’ opening series sweep of the Orioles. Luis Patino is set to take the hill tomorrow as the Athletics come to town.

Yarbrough serves a bit of a unique role for the Rays, as perhaps their most traditional innings-eater over the past four seasons. The Rays, of course, don’t usually prescribe to the “innings-eater” role, instead pulling starters early and not shying away from utilizing relievers in a piggyback or multi-inning role. Yarbrough led the team in innings pitched last season with 155 innings over 30 appearances (21 starts). He was second in innings pitched during each of the 2020, 2019, and 2018 seasons.

Rays Claim Ralph Garza, Select Chris Mazza

By Anthony Franco | April 7, 2022 at 12:51pm CDT

The Rays have claimed reliever Ralph Garza off waivers from the Red Sox, tweets Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. They’ve also selected reliever Chris Mazza onto the Opening Day roster. To create 40-man roster space, Brendan McKay and Pete Fairbanks have been placed on the 60-day injured list.

Boston claimed Garza off waivers themselves a couple weeks ago, but their subsequent attempt to pass him through waivers came up empty. The 28-year-old made his big league debut last season, splitting the year between the Astros and Twins. He tossed 30 1/3 innings over 27 outings, pitching to a 3.56 ERA despite slightly worse than average strikeout and walk rates (22.8% and 11%, respectively).

Garza still has a pair of minor league option years remaining, and the Rays have already sent him to Triple-A Durham. He’ll serve as a depth option for a bullpen that now includes Mazza. The 32-year-old pitched in 14 games for Tampa Bay last season, posting a 4.61 ERA. He only punched out 18.8% of opponents, but he dished out walks at just a 6.3% clip. The Rays outrighted Mazza but brought him back on a minor league deal this winter, and he’ll again crack the big league roster.

McKay has been plagued by injuries for the past few years. He’s made just seven minor league appearances since 2019, as he required shoulder surgery in 2020 and suffered a forearm strain last year. McKay underwent thoracic outlet surgery last November. That wasn’t expected to affect his readiness for this season, but he’s apparently not recovered and will be out of action until at least early June again. Fairbanks has a partially torn lat and might not pitch until after the All-Star Break.

Jon Heyman of the MLB Network reported Mazza’s forthcoming promotion this morning.

Rays, Manuel Margot Agree To Two-Year Extension

By Anthony Franco | April 5, 2022 at 10:34pm CDT

10:36pm: Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times provides the breakdown, with Margot making $7MM in 2023, $10MM in 2024, followed by a $12MM mutual option for 2025 that comes with a $2MM buyout.

2:21pm: The Rays are reportedly in agreement with outfielder Manuel Margot on a two-year, $19MM extension, pending a physical. The terms will begin in 2023 and buy out Margot’s first two seasons of free agent eligibility. The 27-year-old had been on track to hit the open market for the first time after this season. He and the club have already agreed upon a $5.6MM salary for his final arbitration-eligible year, and that reportedly won’t be affected by this extension. Margot is represented by Wasserman.

Margot has spent the past two seasons in Tampa after coming over from the Padres in a 2019-20 offseason trade. In both years, he’s posted slightly below-average numbers at the plate. Margot has tallied 623 plate appearances over 166 games as a Ray, posting a cumulative .258/.317/.375 line with 11 home runs. He’s done well to put the ball in play, only striking out in 15.2% of his plate appearances, but Margot has neither hit for much power nor drawn many walks.

While Margot has been an ordinary hitter for the bulk of his career, he’s an excellent defensive outfielder. Defensive Runs Saved and Ultimate Zone Rating have pegged him as a plus gloveman in all five of his full big league seasons. That’s been true regardless of where he’s suited up. Margot is more than capable of handling center field, and he was downright excellent when moving to right field in deference to Kevin Kiermaier last season. No outfielder fared better than Margot in Statcast’s Outs Above Average metric, which pegged him at 16 plays above par.

Tampa Bay has run out strong outfield defenses for years. That’s in large part due to the presence of an otherworldly center fielder in Kiermaier, but players like Margot, Brett Phillips and Randy Arozarena have done well in their own right. The Rays front office seemingly places strong emphasis on outfield defense, so it’s not too surprising they’d like to keep Margot in the fold.

The Rays are set to open the 2022 campaign with a franchise-record player payroll in the $83MM range, according to Jason Martinez of Roster Resource. There are only around $15MM in guarantees for next season, however. The Rays will have another hefty arbitration class, but Tampa Bay is never afraid to move arb-eligible players for younger, more affordable options. Last night’s trade of Austin Meadows to the Tigers fit that bill, and it afforded an opportunity for top prospect Josh Lowe to get an extended major league look.

Lowe, Margot and Arozarena now look to be in place as Tampa Bay’s primary 2023 outfield. Kiermaier is headed into the final guaranteed season of his contract. He’s controllable next year via $13MM club option, but the Rays could look to trade him or simply buy the option out if they’re content with Margot as the everyday center fielder. Tampa Bay has reportedly explored potential Kiermaier deals for a few seasons, but they’ve yet to pull the trigger on such a move.

Margot’s extension removes one of the better center fielders from the upcoming free agent market. Brandon Nimmo is set to headline that fairly thin class, with Kiermaier the second-best option if his option is declined. Beyond that duo, utilityman Enrique Hernández, Tyler Naquin (who’s a better fit in a corner) and veterans Lorenzo Cain and Jackie Bradley Jr. seem to be the top players available.

Tenchy Rodriguez first reported the Rays and Margot were in agreement on a two-year, $19MM extension. Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times specified the deal would buy out his first two free agent seasons.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Yankees Select David McKay

By Anthony Franco | April 5, 2022 at 2:55pm CDT

APRIL 5: New York has formally selected McKay onto the 40-man roster. Fellow reliever Stephen Ridings was placed on the 60-day injured list in a corresponding move.

APRIL 4: The Yankees are acquiring reliever David McKay from the Rays, report Ken Rosenthal and Lindsey Adler of the Athletic (Twitter link). The right-hander will be added to New York’s 40-man roster. It’ll be cash considerations heading back to the Rays, tweets Mark Feinsand of MLB.com.

McKay, who joined the Rays in February via minor league deal, had already been reassigned to the minors. With the Yankees willing to give him a roster spot the Rays were not, Tampa Bay will flip him to a division rival with a clearer path to big league time. McKay does still have a minor league option year remaining, so the Yankees can shuttle him between the Bronx and Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre all season.

The 27-year-old has appeared in two big league campaigns. He suited up with the Mariners and Tigers between 2019-20, tossing 26 2/3 innings over 26 appearances. McKay pitched to a 6.08 ERA in that time, walking an elevated 15.3% of opponents. To his credit, he punched out a strong 28.8% of batters faced, albeit with just an 8.6% swinging strike percentage.

McKay owns a 4.82 ERA in 46 2/3 Triple-A frames, but he’s fanned an excellent 36.5% of opponents at the minors’ top level. The Yankees will add him to a righty relief group that thinned out a bit over the weekend when New York shipped Albert Abreu to the Rangers for catcher Jose Trevino.

Tigers Acquire Austin Meadows

By Anthony Franco | April 4, 2022 at 10:31pm CDT

The Tigers announced this evening they’ve acquired outfielder Austin Meadows from the Rays for infielder Isaac Paredes and a Competitive Balance Round B selection. Tampa Bay had reportedly been shopping Meadows in recent weeks, and he’ll land in Detroit.

It’s a notable, largely unexpected strike for Detroit. There wasn’t any indication the Tigers were on the hunt for outfield help, as they’d seemingly been content to open the year with a Robbie Grossman, Víctor Reyes, Akil Baddoo trio. Top prospect Riley Greene fractured his foot over the weekend, however, and is expected to be sidelined for six-to-eight weeks. Whether Greene’s injury increased the urgency for general manager Al Avila and his staff to add to the outfield isn’t clear, but they’ll do so by bringing aboard a player who’s only a couple seasons removed from an All-Star campaign.

Meadows was part of the Rays now-famous haul from the Pirates at the 2018 trade deadline for Chris Archer. A top prospect during his days in the Pittsburgh farm system, he hit the ground running with a solid rookie showing before breaking out the following season. Meadows hit a massive .291/.364/.558 with 33 home runs in 591 plate appearances in 2019, seemingly emerging as one of the sport’s top young sluggers.

He hasn’t kept up that pace in the past two seasons. The lefty-hitting Meadows stumbled to a .205/.296/.371 line during the shortened 2020 campaign, striking out at an alarming 32.9% clip. That was obviously an anomalous year, and the the former 9th overall pick did bounce back this past season — albeit not close to his 2019 levels. Meadows hit .234/.315/.458 in 591 plate appearances, somewhat offsetting his 27 homers with a mediocre batting average and on-base percentage.

To his credit, the strikeout woes that had plagued Meadows in 2020 were corrected. He only fanned in 20.6% of his trips to the dish last season. His 77.2% contact rate was right in line with the league mark, while his average exit velocity, barrel rate and hard contact percentage were all a bit higher than average. Meadows was instead plagued by a career-low .249 batting average on balls in play.

That can’t all be chalked up to misfortune, as he has gotten increasingly fly-ball oriented over the past couple seasons. Among 135 hitters with 500+ plate appearances in 2021, no one had a higher fly-ball rate than Meadows’ 53% clip. That’s a recipe for hitting for power but also for poor ball in play results, as non-homer fly balls rarely turn into hits.

Whatever concerns one may have about Meadows’ batted ball profile, it’s still easy to see his appeal to the Tigers. Over parts of four big league seasons, he owns a .260/.333/.489 slash line — offensive production that checks in 22 percentage points above league average by measure of wRC+. While he hasn’t been at his best in two years, he was still an above-average hitter in 2021, and the 2019 campaign offers a hint of the kind of offensive upside he possesses if he can again bring his fly-ball rate closer to that season’s 42.9%.

Meadows does have rather marked platoon splits. For his career, he’s a .271/.351/.525 hitter against right-handed pitching. He owns a more pedestrian .237/.295/.412 slash against southpaws. The Tigers outfield already skewed a bit left-handed, with Greene and Baddoo hitting from that side of the dish while Reyes are Grossman are switch-hitters. Meadows doesn’t need to be a strict platoon player, though, and the rest of the Detroit lineup is heavily right-handed. Presumably, Meadows will step into an everyday corner outfield role for skipper A.J. Hinch, who’ll have the freedom to perhaps drop him down a bit in the order on days when the opposing team will roll out a tough lefty starter.

It’s an immediate upgrade for a Detroit team that has also added Javier Báez, Eduardo Rodríguez, Tucker Barnhart, Andrew Chafin and Michael Pineda this winter. Avila and his staff are clearly trying to pull out of their recent rebuild, and the Meadows addition should be a notable upgrade to the offense. It’s not an absolute win-now move, though, as the 26-year-old (27 next month) is controllable for three seasons via arbitration. Meadows and the Rays had settled on a $4MM salary for 2022, and he’s not slated to hit free agency until after 2024.

That makes Meadows a fairly affordable pick-up for Detroit, but he was part of a large arbitration class that might’ve put a strain on the Rays payroll. Even after subtracting his $4MM salary from the books, Tampa Bay has a projected franchise-record $83MM player payroll, according to Jason Martinez of Roster Resource. The Rays reportedly made a run at Freddie Freeman, so they were willing to stretch beyond their typical comfort zone for the right player, but that surprising pursuit always seemed to be a recognition of Freeman’s star status.

In addition to whatever payroll constraints president of baseball operations Erik Neander and his staff might’ve been facing, they clearly felt prepared to deal from a position of organizational depth. The Rays have Randy Arozarena, Kevin Kiermaier and Manuel Margot on hand as outfield options. Top prospect Josh Lowe, meanwhile, seems ready for a big league look after hitting .291/.381/.535 in 111 games with Triple-A Durham last season.

The team apparently feels Lowe is ready for a significant role on a team with World Series aspirations. Rays pre-game broadcaster Neil Solondz tweets that the club plans to recall the 24-year-old to break camp in the majors. Given his status as a consensus Top 50 prospect, Lowe will certainly be in line for regular at-bats. He, Margot and Kiermaier are each possible plus defenders at all three outfield spots, giving manager Kevin Cash a chance to run some excellent defensive groups on the grass. (Arozarena is primarily a corner outfielder but rates well there in his own right).

In exchange for dealing from that outfield depth, the Rays add another young bat to their infield mix. Paredes has been on the prospect radar for quite some time, but he only recently turned 23 years old. A right-handed hitter, he doesn’t possess overwhelming power or athleticism but he has excellent bat-to-ball skills.

Paredes hasn’t produced much in limited big league action the past couple seasons. Over 163 plate appearances, he owns a meager .215/.290/.302 line with a pair of home runs. He has posted excellent offensive numbers all the way up the minor league ladder, though, and the Rays are betting on those skills eventually carrying over against big league pitching.

Paredes, who appeared at the tail end of Baseball America’s Top 100 prospects in both 2019 and 2020, is coming off a .265/.397/.451 showing in 315 Triple-A plate appearances. He hit 11 homers and walked at a huge 17.8% clip while only striking out 14.9% of the time. Among 96 Triple-A East hitters with 300+ plate appearances, Paredes sported the third-highest walk rate. No one in that group had a better walk to strikeout ratio, with minor league veteran Tyler White the only other player in the league to even walk more often than he punched out.

While Paredes has experience at each of second base, third base and shortstop, he’s primarily played the former two positions in recent years. He’ll step into a Tampa Bay infield mix that is quite crowded itself. Wander Franco and Brandon Lowe have the middle infield spoken for, while Yandy Díaz joins Paredes and fellow former top prospects Taylor Walls and Vidal Bruján in the mix at third base. Díaz figures to assume some DH at-bats vacated by Meadows’ departure, which would enable the Rays to get their younger players some action at the hot corner. All three of Walls, Bruján and Paredes have minor league option years remaining, so they can each bounce between St. Petersburg and Durham as well.

The Rays have never shied away from churning players off the big league club to bolster the long-term organizational depth. Paredes has just over one year of big league service under his belt. He won’t reach free agency until at least after the 2026 campaign, and it wouldn’t be a surprise if he spends enough time in the minors this season to push that trajectory back a year further. Tampa Bay also adds a draft choice that’ll fall after the second round, currently projected for #71 overall. Along with a Competitive Balance Round B pick of their own, the Rays now own four of the top 75 selections — along with the accompanying bonus pool space that stockpiling picks provides.

It’s a fascinating deal between two teams envisioning both immediate and long-term contention in the American League. The Tigers add a potential middle-of-the-order bat, bolstering an outfield fresh off an injury setback. (In a fun tidbit, they also raise the possibility of Meadows pairing with his younger brother Parker — a High-A outfielder in the Detroit system — in the Comerica Park outfield someday). The Rays continue to preemptively stockpile young players and draft capital, building the kind of organizational depth that allows them to perpetually deal good players like Meadows with the knowledge that additional talented players are on the horizon.

Images courtesy of USA Today Sports.

AL East Notes: Pearson, Borucki, Harvey, Judge, Meadows, Rays, Pollock

By Mark Polishuk | April 2, 2022 at 5:12pm CDT

The Blue Jays are dealing with some injury concerns in their bullpen, as Nate Pearson is dealing with a non-COVID illness and Ryan Borucki left yesterday’s game with discomfort in his right hamstring. Jays manager Charlie Montoyo told Sportsnet’s Ben Nicholson-Smith (Twitter link) and other reporters that Borucki will undergo an MRI. More will be known about Borucki’s situation when the MRI results are in, but for Pearson, his illness has limited him to only two appearances thus far in Grapefruit League action.

In all likelihood, Pearson’s illness will keep him from making Toronto’s Opening Day roster. While this issue seems less serious than the other injuries that have sidelined the righty over the last two years, it represents yet another setback for the former top prospect. As for Borucki, the southpaw has been a pretty solid reliever when healthy, though he missed almost all of the 2019 season due to elbow problems and over two months of last season with a forearm strain. If another IL stint is required for Borucki, Tim Mayza will be the only left-hander in the Jays’ projected bullpen, which could open the door for Anthony Kay, Tayler Saucedo, or Andrew Vasquez to break camp.

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