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Blue Jays, Tommy Milone Agree To Minors Deal

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The Blue Jays have agreed to a minor league contract with free-agent left-hander Tommy Milone, Mark Feinsand of MLB.com tweets. The deal includes an invitation to major league spring training.

Milone has garnered a significant amount of big league experience with several teams since he first came into MLB in 2011 as a National. Although he has only averaged 87 mph-plus on his fastball, Milone has hung around to make 183 appearances (145 starts) and total 913 2/3 innings of 4.56 ERA/4.28 pitching.

The 34-year-old divided last season between the Orioles and Braves, and though he put up some of the finest strikeout and walk percentages of his career (22.1 and 3.3, respectively), opposing offenses victimized him. Milone ultimately surrendered 29 earned runs and 55 hits (including nine homers) across 39 innings. That amounted to an unsightly 6.69 ERA, though Milone did notch a much more respectable 4.12 SIERA.

All nine of Milone’s appearances last year came as a starter, and he could now at least push for a depth role in Toronto’s rotation. The team’s slated to enter the season with Nate Pearson, Robbie Ray, Tanner Roark and Steven Matz complementing Hyun Jin Ryu in its starting five.

Blue Jays Plan To Use Tyler Chatwood As Late-Game Reliever

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  • Blue Jays free-agent pickup Tyler Chatwood revealed that he will work as a late-inning reliever in 2021, Shi Davidi of Sportsnet relays. Chatwood, who joined the Jays for a $3MM guarantee, has started in 143 of 197 career appearances, but the righty mostly had a rough time out of the Cubs’ rotation from 2018-20. Historically, though, there hasn’t much difference between Chatwood’s work in either role. The sample size is much larger as a starter, but he has a 4.38 ERA/.337 weighted on-base average allowed in that job versus a 4.53 ERA/.332 wOBA as a reliever.

Dodgers, Blue Jays Complete Ross Stripling Trade

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The Dodgers have acquired first baseman/outfielder Ryan Noda from the Blue Jays, Juan Toribio of MLB.com was among those to report. Noda was the second of two players to be named later (joining right-hander Kendall Williams) in the teams’ August trade centering on veteran righty Ross Stripling.

Now 24 years old, Noda became a pro when the Jays chose him in the 15th round of the 2017 draft. He has mashed in the minors since then, having combined for a .272/.422/.478 line with 40 home runs and 35 stolen bases in 1,292 plate appearances among the rookie, Single-A and High-A levels. However, FanGraphs’ Eric Longenhagen wrote last month that Noda “strikes out a lot for someone older than is usual for his level” and may only amount to a Quad-A type of player. Noda fanned in just under 30 percent of his plate appearances during his most recent minor league action in 2019.

Blue Jays Had Interest In Brett Gardner

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  • Outfielder Brett Gardner re-signed with the Yankees for a $5.15MM guarantee, but at least a few other teams considered prying him out of New York. The Braves, Angels and Blue Jays all showed interest in Gardner during his long stay in free agency, per Heyman. However, Gardner’s goal was to remain a member of the Yankees. A 2005 third-round pick who made his big league debut in 2008, Gardner is easily the Yankees’ longest-tenured player.

Bo Bichette Open To Extension

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  • Blue Jays shortstop Bo Bichette told Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet and other reporters that he’s open to an extension, but the team hasn’t made him an offer so far. The 22-year-old Bichette has been a revelation for the Blue Jays dating back to his 2019 debut, having slashed .307/.347/.549 with 16 home runs and eight stolen bases in 340 plate appearances. Fortunately for Toronto, it isn’t in danger of losing Bichette in the near future, which would explain the lack of urgency in inking him to an extension. Bichette still has two pre-arbitration years remaining and isn’t slated to reach free agency until after 2025.

Red Sox Claim Joel Payamps, Place Franchy Cordero On COVID Injured List

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The Red Sox have claimed right-hander Joel Payamps off waivers from the Blue Jays, according to Boston’s Twitter feed.  To create roster space, outfielder Franchy Cordero has been placed on the COVID-19 injured list, as the Boston Globe’s Peter Abraham reported earlier today.

Payamps returns to the Sox less than two weeks after Toronto acquired him in another waiver claim, after the Red Sox designated Payamps for assignment to make roster room for the newly-signed Garrett Richards.  The Sox themselves first landed Payamps on a waiver claim back in November when the right-hander was DFA’ed by the Diamondbacks.

A veteran of eight minor league seasons in the Rockies and Diamondbacks organizations, Payamps has received brief looks at the MLB level in each of the last two seasons, appearing in two games for Arizona in both 2019 and 2020 (with a 3.86 ERA over his seven career innings in the Show).   Over 665 2/3 innings in the minors, Payamps has a 4.15 ERA with a modest 20.34 strikeout rate, starting 119 of 145 games but seeing increasing work as a reliever in both the affiliated minors and in the Dominican Winter League.

Cordero was acquired from the Royals as part of the three-team trade with the Mets that saw Andrew Benintendi head from Boston to Kansas City.  Cordero has shown some glimpses of potential but has been plagued by injuries, appearing in only 95 Major League games over his four seasons as a big leaguer.  It isn’t known if Cordero’s placement on the COVID list is because of his own positive test for the virus, or if he was placed on the list as a precautionary measure due to possible exposure.

Robbie Ray Discusses Benefits Of Signing Early

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  • Robbie Ray’s foray into the open market didn’t last long, as the southpaw re-signed with the Blue Jays shortly after the free agent period opened in early November.  This gave Ray more time to spend with Jays coaches on trying to correct his form following a mediocre 2020 season, Ray told reporters (including The Toronto Star’s Gregor Chisholm).  Ray made changes to his arm slot prior to the 2020 season, which may have led to such disastrous results as a 6.62 ERA and 45 walks over just 51 2/3 innings with the Diamondbacks and Blue Jays.

Blue Jays Never Made Offer To James Paxton

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The Blue Jays were among the teams in on southpaw James Paxton before he agreed to a contract with the Mariners over the weekend. However, Toronto never made a pitch to Paxton (via Gregory Balloch of Sportsnet 650). “They showed a lot of interest, and I had interest too, but they never came forward with an offer,” Paxton said. Paxton was a first-round pick of the Jays in the 2009 draft, but after the two sides couldn’t reach an agreement, he joined the M’s as a fourth-rounder in 2010. The now-32-year-old, who’s known as the Big Maple because of his Canadian roots, will earn a guaranteed $8.5MM in his return to Seattle in 2021.

Blue Jays To Open 2021 Season In Florida

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Feb. 18: The Blue Jays have formally announced that they’ll play at least their first two homestands at TD Ballpark in Dunedin, “with the hopes of a return to play at Rogers Centre as soon as possible.” Those first two homestands at TD Ballpark will host fans in a limited 15 percent capacity, per the announcement.

The Jays’ first homestand is a six-game set hosting the Angels and the Yankees from April 8-14. They’ll next host the Nationals and Braves from April 27-May 2 before heading out on a 10-game road trip.

The earliest target date for a return to the Rogers Centre, then, appears to be May 14, when they host the Phillies at the outset of a 10-game homestand. It’s no guarantee those games will take place in Toronto, of course; the Jays will reevaluate the situation with input from medical experts and governmental bodies before further charting their course.

Feb. 17: The Blue Jays will again play their home games south of the border, according to a report from Shi Davidi and Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet.ca. At least to open the 2021 regular season, the Toronto denizens will make a temporary abode in Dunedin, Florida.

As was the case in the pandemic-shortened 2020 campaign, cross-border traffic simply proved too difficult to manage. The plan in this case is to host home games in Florida until at least the middle of May.

Dunedin is certainly familiar, as it houses the team’s Spring Training complex. The club had toyed with the idea of playing there last year but ultimately settled on the Buffalo, New York home of its top minor-league affiliate.

The change in venue isn’t likely to have a major impact on the Blue Jays’ hopes for contention in 2021. Playing in Buffalo suited the Jays just fine last year, as they performed well at home (17-9) and earned a postseason berth.

Brewers Acquire Derek Fisher From Blue Jays

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The Brewers have acquired outfielder Derek Fisher from the Blue Jays for cash and a player to be named later, per Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet.

Milwaukee is the third organization for Fisher, who began as the 37th overall pick of the Astros in 2014. Houston sent him to Toronto five years later in a 2019 trade that delivered right-handers Aaron Sanchez and Joe Biagini to the Astros.

Fisher didn’t have much major league success with either the Astros or Jays, as evidenced by his .194/.286/.376 line with 17 home runs and 10 stolen bases in 458 plate appearances. He does, however, own a much more imposing triple-slash of .289/.379/.520 with 50 homers in 1,053 PA at the Triple-A level. Because Fisher is out of options, though, he’ll have to earn a spot on the Brewers’ 40-man roster this spring or potentially go back to the waiver wire. Christian Yelich, Avisail Garcia, Lorenzo Cain, Daniel Robertson, Tyrone Taylor, Billy McKinney, Corey Ray and Tim Lopes represent the other outfield-capable players on the Brewers’ 40-man.

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