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Predict The AL East Division Winner

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With final roster decisions in the books and the 2020 season underway at long last, it’s time to make some predictions. We’re polling the MLBTR readership on each of the game’s six divisions — though plenty more teams will crack the postseason under the rather inclusive new playoff qualification system. We’ve already surveyed the AL Central, NL Central, and NL East landscapes, and now we’ll turn to the American League East.

The Yankees have certainly been tabbed the favorite by most observers, but several key players have questionable injury histories and the short-season format opens the door for challengers. The Rays are perhaps the prime contender for a surprise, with a deep and versatile roster that’s far more talented than the payroll would suggest. Then again, we may all be overlooking the Red Sox, who have certainly shed some talent but still have several rather high-ceiling players. There’s a ton of young talent on the Blue Jays roster; maybe the team could surprise if those precocious performers develop ahead of schedule. It’s quite difficult to make a case for the Orioles, even in a pithy blurb, but … hey, they’re tied for the division lead at 2-1 entering play today!

Which team do you think is going to take the division title? (Poll link for app users.)

Blue Jays Release Marc Rzepczynski

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The Blue Jays have released left-hander Marc Rzepczynski, per Baseball America’s Chris Hilburn-Trenkle. The veteran reliever had previously signed a minor league deal in hopes of earning a second stint with the Jays, but he wasn’t included in their 60-player pool for Summer Camp.

Last year marked the first time in a decade that the 34-year-old Rzepczynski didn’t throw at least 10 big league innings in a season. He spent the year with the Diamondbacks’ Triple-A affiliate, struggling to a 5.04 ERA in 44 2/3 frames. His last full big league season came back in 2017.

Rzepczynski has long been one of the league’s more recognizable lefty specialists, holding same-handed batters to a career .227/.295/.305 batting line in 837 plate appearances over a decade in the Majors. Right-handed opponents, however, have logged an .822 OPS against him in 1035 trips to the plate. The new three-batter minimum rule doesn’t exactly do any favors for pitchers of this ilk, although Rzepczynski has had a few seasons along the way where he’s held righties in check for the most part.

In his 10 MLB seasons, Rzepczynski has pitched to a 3.89 ERA (3.88 FIP) with 8.5 K/9, 4.2 BB/9, 0.74 HR/9 and a huge 59.7 percent ground-ball rate in 434 2/3 innings.

Ken Giles To Undergo MRI On Right Elbow

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Blue Jays closer Ken Giles left today’s game with what the team described as right elbow soreness.  Called in to preserve a 4-2 Toronto lead in the ninth inning, Giles retired the first two Rays batters he faced before allowing a Joey Wendle double and then two walks, and was then removed from the game.  In a post-game chat with Sportsnet’s Shi Davidi and other reporters, Jays manager Charlie Montoyo said Giles would undergo an MRI to determine the severity of the problem.

Any elbow issue is a bad sign for a pitcher, of course, and Giles’ injury could be particularly troublesome given that he was bothered by that same elbow last season.  Montoyo didn’t know whether Giles’ current problems were similar to his inflammation issues in 2019, which included an minimal IL stint in June and then a cortisone shot in late July that didn’t lead to a shutdown or another injured list placement, though the timing likely prevented Toronto from dealing Giles to a playoff contender.

Trade speculation continued to swirl around Giles heading into the offseason, and though that talk seemed to diminish once the Jays made some moves (i.e. the Hyun Jin Ryu signing) indicating a push towards contention in 2020, he certainly still stood out as a potential trade candidate if the club fell out of a postseason race.  Of course, between the expanded playoff structure and the new August 31 trade deadline, it is hard to know if the Jays will consider themselves true sellers in any scenario besides a total collapse over the next few weeks of play.

A potential injury not only hurts Giles’ trade value and the Blue Jays’ chances of contending, but it also hurts his market value as the closer heads into free agency this winter.  Despite his elbow concerns in 2019, Giles still enjoyed an outstanding season, posting a 1.87 ERA, 4.88 K/BB rate, and 14.1 K/9 rate over 53 innings in his first full season with Toronto.

Blue Jays’ Buffalo Opener Set For August 11

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The Blue Jays’ first home game in Buffalo will be played on August 11 against the Marlins, reports Hazel Mae of Sportsnet. Their first “home” games were set to take place July 29-August 2, but those two series will in fact take place in Nationals Park and Citizens Bank Park.

It shouldn’t come as a surprise that the Blue Jays won’t be able to instantly move into their temporary home, as Buffalo’s Sahlen Field will require some modifications in order to accommodate Major League Baseball.

As a result, the Blue Jays will take on the unique circumstance of playing “home” games in their opponent’s ballpark, at least for a few days. This week, the Nationals and Phillies will be designated as visitors in their native ballparks, so expect the cardboard cutouts in Philly to take no prisoners while Bryce Harper’s at bat.

One would imagine the Blue Jays’ early-season schedule becomes that much tougher without a real homestand to fall back on—to say nothing of tough opponents like the Rays and defending champion Nats to open the season, plus the rest of MLB’s East division.

At the very least, Sahlen field should represent some familiarity for many of the team’s young players, who would’ve passed through Triple-A Buffalo while climbing the Jays’ minor-league ranks. Still, there might be some challenges in that its facilities aren’t intended for MLB play, though of course work is being done to meet those standards as best as possible.

Teams won’t benefit from the support of fans in the seats, but there’s something to be said for the luxury of waking up in one’s own bed as opposed to a hotel room. Regardless, it will be interesting to watch the Blue Jays’ season play out in their new, temporary home.

Blue Jays To Play Home Games In Buffalo

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The Blue Jays will play their home games for the 2020 season at their Triple-A site in Buffalo, reports Dan Connolly of The Athletic (Twitter link). The Jays have been searching for a home site since government regulations in Canada ruled out Toronto’s Rogers Centre. They thought they’d reached a deal with the Pirates to utilize Pittsburgh’s PNC Park, but the Pennsylvania Department of Health quashed that plan. The Blue Jays also explored the possibility of playing at Camden Yards in Baltimore, which the Orioles reportedly approved, but that arrangement was also pending government approval in Maryland.

All the while, the Jays have reportedly been working to upgrade their facilities at Buffalo’s Sahen Field, bringing the clubhouses lighting up to par with MLB standards (or at least as close as possible). The organization’s strong preference has been to play its home games at a Major League facility, but it seems they’ll instead settle in a familiar setting for many of the club’s young players.

The Jays have since officially confirmed the report, issuing a statement which indicates they’ll stage the “majority” of its 2020 home games in Buffalo. Said president and CEO Mark Shapiro within the release:

“This process has no doubt tested our team’s resilience, but our players and staff refuse to make excuses – we are determined to take the field on Opening Day today, and for the coming months, with the same intensity and competitiveness that our fans expect.”

Blue Jays, Orioles Discussing Sharing Of Camden Yards

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10:22am: The O’s have given their blessing, Jon Heyman of MLB Network tweets.

7:23am: Already bounced by Canada and turned away by the state of Pennsylvania, the Blue Jays are now engaged in talks with the Orioles about the use of Camden Yards. Dan Connolly and Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic write that the O’s are amenable, with a few caveats.

The biggest question, as we’ve now learned from experience, isn’t whether the local logistics can be arranged. It’s whether the final authorities will grant approval for whatever scheme is worked out.

In this case, that means convincing the state of Maryland to permit another professional sports resident and, more importantly, to facilitate the flow of traffic of visiting teams to and from other states. That was the issue that gummed up the both of the Blue Jays’ prior schemes to play ball through the pandemic.

Before formal approval is sought, the two teams still need to hammer out a means of hosting the Jays. Per the report, the newly nomadic ballclub would not be permitted to utilize either of the regular clubhouses. Instead, they’d be housed in some kind of makeshift facility — potentially, one constructed in the Camden Yards concourse.

It’s quite the situation to be sorting out on Opening Day, though thankfully the Jays’ schedule allows a bit of remaining breathing room. If the Camden Yards effort fails to pan out, the barnstorming Blue Jays will likely be forced to settle for a minor-league facility — quite likely their top affiliate in Buffalo, New York.

Blue Jays Set Opening Day Roster

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The Blue Jays announced their Opening Day, 30-man roster this morning. Left-hander Brian Moran and right-hander A.J. Cole were both selected to the 40-man roster and will make the club. Toronto also placed righty Chase Anderson on the 10-day IL (retroactive to July 20) with an oblique strain and opted to carry infielder Santiago Espinal, lefty Anthony Kay and right-handers Thomas Hatch and Jacob Waguespack.

Notably absent is right-hander Nate Pearson, one of the game’s elite pitching prospects. He’s on the team’s three-man taxi squad (along with southpaw Ryan Borucki and catcher Caleb Joseph) but won’t accrue service time in that role. He’ll reportedly be called up next week, when the Jays will be able to promote him while extending their club control of him for an additional season (as has long been expected).

Moran, 31, is the older brother of Pirates third baseman Colin Moran. He made his big league debut at 30 years of age with the Marlins last season, pitching 6 1/3 innings while yielding three runs with a 10-to-2 K/BB ratio. A seventh-round pick in 2009, Moran has had quite the odyssey to the Majors, twice taking to the independent circuit as a showcase to get back into affiliated ball. But he carries a career 3.67 ERA with 11.5 K/9 against 3.2 BB/9 in 176 1/3 Triple-A frames and will now get his second opportunity in the Majors.

Cole, 28, is a former top prospect who’s yet to find his footing despite multiple MLB chances. He’s seen action with three teams in parts of five seasons but posted a pedestrian 4.86 ERA and 5.03 FIP in 174 innings. Cole had some success both with the Nats in 2017 and the Indians last year, logging identical 3.81 ERAs in both years. He’s averaged better than a strikeout per frame in the big leagues but has also surrendered an average of 1.8 homers per nine innings pitched.

The Jays don’t need to make any corresponding transactions to add Moran and Cole to the 40-man. The team recently placed Breyvic Valera on the restricted list after he was unable to leave his native Venezuela and report to Jays Summer Camp in Toronto. The club also has Brandon Drury, Jonathan Davis, Wilmer Font and Elvis Luciano on the Covid-19 IL, and none of the four will count against the team’s 40-man roster while on that list.

Pennsylvania Department Of Health Will Not Approve Blue Jays’ Use Of PNC Park

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2:10pm: The Pennsylvania Department of Health has formally vetoed the Blue Jays’ Pittsburgh plan, per Will Graves of the Associated Press (Twitter thread). In a statement issued to the AP, Dr. Rachel Levine said the following: “To add travelers to this region for any reason, including for professional sports events, risks residents, visitors and members of both teams.”

2:00pm: With the Blue Jays unable to play their home games at Toronto’s Rogers Centre in 2020, the club thought it had worked out an arrangement to use Pittsburgh’s PNC Park as an alternate site. That deal, however, appears to be in jeopardy. ESPN’s Buster Olney tweets that neither the Jays nor MLB have received the go-ahead from the Pennsylvania government yet, adding that the team is again exploring alternate sites. The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal tweets that the deal with Pittsburgh is “falling apart.”

Exactly what this means for the Jays remains unclear. They’ve previously explored playing home games at their spring facility in Dunedin, Fla., but Florida’s rapid rise in Covid-19 cases has complicated that idea. The Jays have been working to upgrade their Triple-A facilities in Buffalo in order to bring the lighting and clubhouses up to MLB code, although the organization’s preference has been to be able to play its “home” games in an MLB park, general manager Ross Atkins stated this week. Oriole Park at Camden Yards has also been suggested as an alternative, and the fact that the Pittsburgh plan appears in danger of being scrapped entirely could push the Jays to look more closely into that possibility.

One more extreme possibility, per Olney, would be for the Jays to travel to the home city of every team they’re scheduled to play in 2020, but function as the “home” team on days where they’d been scheduled to host an opponent. With fans unlikely to attend games for much or all of the 2020 season, that may not be quite as detrimental as it would be playing in front of each opponent’s fans, although the aggressive travel and constant changes in scenery would likely make that an unpalatable last resort.

The Jays don’t have a “home” game scheduled until July 29 when they’d host the Nationals, which provides at least a bit of cushion as the team scrambles to find a suitable venue. The clock is ticking, though, and Pennsylvania’s rejection casts some doubt on whether other U.S. cities — particularly those already home to one franchise — will be more amenable to welcoming the Jays for the length of the season.

Blue Jays Will Reportedly Play 2020 Home Games In Pittsburgh

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JULY 21: The Blue Jays will play “home” games at Pittsburgh’s PNC Park this year, Hazel Mae of Sportsnet reports.

JULY 20, 3:18pm: The Pirates issued a statement Monday confirming they’re in “active discussions” with MLB and the Blue Jays about Toronto playing in Pittsburgh.

1:00pm: The Orioles’ Camden Yards has emerged as a possible destination for the Blue Jays, Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet reports. General manager Ross Atkins said Monday (via Dan Shulman of ESPN) that “our focus is on getting into a major league facility.”

8:24am: The Jays have sent operations people to Buffalo to assess Sahlen Field, Scott Mitchell of TSN tweets. They’d need “about a week” to repair lighting and clubhouse issues, according to Mitchell.

JULY 19: After the Canadian government denied approval for the Blue Jays to play games in Toronto this season, the Jays still don’t know where they still be playing just 10 days removed from their first scheduled “home” game, hosting the Nationals on July 29.

To this end, a number of different options are being explored, such as another Major League venue — Pittsburgh’s PNC Park.  Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports that the Jays have “looked into playing select home games at PNC Park in 2020.”  As noted by Mackey in a follow-up tweet, the Blue Jays and Pirates only share seven conflicting dates for home games, with six of those coming after September 7.

If nothing else, a temporary move to Pittsburgh would give the Jays some time to spend the next six weeks getting another stadium up to Major League standards.  For instance, there has been some hint that Buffalo’s Sahlen Field (home of the Jays’ Triple-A affiliate) could undergo the clubhouse, lighting and overall infrastructure upgrades necessary to host MLB games, though nothing has been finalized on that front.

Talking to reporters (including Sportsnet.ca’s Shi Davidi) yesterday, Blue Jays president/CEO Mark Shapiro was “confident that Buffalo is a viable alternative,” even while noting that a move to Sahlen Field is “not a done deal.”  By comparison, the Jays’ Spring Training facility in Dunedin, Florida is “100 per cent seamless right now and ready to go….but from a player-health standpoint has some challenges,” given Florida’s COVID-19 spike.

Looking at the most recent coronavirus data, Pennsylvania is doing relatively well in managing its COVID-19 cases, though its most severely-hit region is Allegheny County, where Pittsburgh is located.  Areas with large population centers will naturally have bigger COVID numbers than less densely-populated areas, of course, though it underscores the difficulty faced by the Jays since all adequate MLB-level facilities in major cities.

If the Jays are discussing a possible timeshare with the Pirates, it stands to reason they’re exploring arrangements with other teams as well.  Shapiro mentioned “other alternatives” besides Buffalo and Dunedin that were under consideration, and right-hander Anthony Bass told the Associated Press and other media that GM Ross Atkins prioritized finding a Major League stadium after discussions with players.

“I just said, ’Look, we want to play in a major league ballpark.  We feel that’s the best opportunity for us,’ and he agreed and said, ’I listened to you guys loud and clear and that’s what we’re going to do for you because that’s what the team wants,’ “ Bass said.

Blue Jays Place Breyvic Valera On Restricted List

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The Blue Jays have placed utility player Breyvic Valera on the restricted list, Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet was among those to report. Valera has had difficulty getting out of his native Venezuela, Nicholson-Smith adds.

The 28-year-old Valera just joined the Blue Jays on July 2 as a waiver pickup from San Diego, though he did see a bit of action with Toronto last season in a previous stint. Valera has been quite popular around the league, in fact, having played for four other MLB teams besides the Blue Jays. The switch-hitter has only totaled 138 plate appearances in the majors, though, and has mustered a mere .223/.294/.298 line with one home run. Valera has been much better at the Triple-A level, where he owns a .302/.374/.442 mark with 31 homers in 1,550 PA.

Between his success in the minors and his ability to line up all over the field, it’s not hard to see why so many teams have taken a chance on Valera. The hope for the Blue Jays is that Valera will turn into a valuable major leaguer in their uniform, but it’s up in the air whether he’ll play for the club again.

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