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Phillies Acquire Vinny Nittoli From Blue Jays

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10:38AM: The Phillies have announced the trade, with minor league catcher Karl Ellison heading to the Blue Jays in exchange for Nittoli.  Ellison was an undrafted player who played in independent leagues in 2019 and 2021 before signing with the Phils organization this year for his first season of affiliated baseball.  The 27-year-old Ellison has hit .123/.235/.192 over 150 combined plate appearances at the high-A and Triple-A levels this season.

10:13AM: The Phillies have acquired right-hander Vinny Nittoli from the Blue Jays, ESPN’s Jeff Passan reports (Twitter link).  Nittoli hasn’t been on a big league roster or injured list all season, and is thus eligible to be dealt after the August 2 trade deadline.  Adding Nittoli now makes him eligible for possible inclusion on Philadelphia’s postseason roster, and Passan writes that the Phils will promote the righty to the majors tomorrow when rosters expand.

Reports surfaced a few days ago that Nittoli was planning to exercise an opt-out clause in his minor league deal with the Jays, though today was his opt-out date, and Toronto dealt Nittoli before he could exercise the clause.  The 31-year-old Nittoli was only in the Jays organization for a little over a month, as he inked a minor league deal with Toronto after opting out of another minors contract with the Yankees.

While the trade means that Nittoli won’t get to choose his next destination as a free agent, he’ll still achieve his end goal of making it back to a Major League roster.  He’ll also return to Pennsylvania, after playing his high school ball in Gibsonia before heading to Xavier University and being a 25th-round pick for the Mariners in the 2014 draft.

Though Nittoli’s career first took him through the Blue Jays and Diamondbacks farm system, and a stint in independent baseball, his MLB debut took place back in a Mariners uniform, as he tossed one inning for Seattle last season.  The M’s released him in August 2021, leading to Nittoli bouncing around to the Twins, Yankees, and back to the Jays in search of another opportunity in the Show.

Nittoli has had a good season at Triple-A, with a 3.30 ERA, 7.61% walk rate, and 32.06% strikeout rate over 46 1/3 combined innings with the Blue Jays and Yankees’ top affiliates.  A lack of consistent Triple-A success might have been what prevented Nittoli from getting a longer look in the majors in the past, but he’ll now get at least some kind of stint with a Phillies team in the midst of a playoff race.

Seranthony Dominguez is still going to miss at least another week or two on the injured list, thus putting the Phillies on a search for bullpen help.  Chris Devenski was signed to a minor league deal yesterday, and it is possible that the Phils might still acquire someone else besides just Nittoli before the day is over.  Also, Zach Eflin threw a bullpen session yesterday as he tries to work his way back from a knee injury that has sidelined him for over two months, and if Eflin is able to return, he would pitch as a reliever rather than as a starter.

Blue Jays Claim Bradley Zimmer Off Waivers From Phillies

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5:40 pm: Kaitlyn McGrath of The Athletic relays that the plan is for Zimmer to not report to the team until rosters expand on September 1. That means no corresponding move will be necessary.

2:05 pm: The Phillies announced that outfielder Bradley Zimmer has been claimed off waivers by the Blue Jays. The Phils had designated him for assignment on the weekend. This is a reverse of a couple of weeks ago, when Zimmer was claimed from the Jays by the Phillies.

The Jays originally acquired Zimmer from the Guardians in April, largely using him as a defensive replacement and pinch runner. He got into 77 games for Toronto but made only 87 plate appearances, producing a .105/.209/.237 batting line in that time. At the deadline, the club traded for Whit Merrifield and later signed Jackie Bradley Jr., who had been released by the Red Sox.

Those acquisitions nudged Zimmer out of the outfield picture and onto the waiver wire, where he was grabbed by the Phillies. At the time, the Phils had placed Brandon Marsh on the IL and needed some help in center. When Marsh returned on the weekend, Zimmer was sent back to the waiver wire again after just nine games with the Phils.

The Blue Jays had an opening on their 40-man roster, meaning they don’t need to make an immediate corresponding move. However, Zimmer is out of options and will have to join the active roster. Once he reports to the team, the Jays will need to find a spot for him on the big league club.

Vinny Nittoli To Opt Out Of Blue Jays Contract

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A little over a month after signing a minor league deal with the Blue Jays, right-hander Vinny Nittoli now plans to opt out of that deal, FanSided’s Robert Murray tweets.  Nittoli will hit the free agent market again, and could join his fifth different organization in just over a year’s time.

A 25th-round pick for the Mariners in 2014, Nittoli has already bounced around several times in his career — this is his second stint with the Blue Jays, and he also has two separate stints with Seattle.  It was with the Mariners in 2021 that Nittoli made his MLB debut, tossing a single inning of work on June 23, 2021.  After the M’s released him last August, Nittoli has since signed minor league deals with the Twins, Yankees, and Blue Jays, with Nittoli also opting out of his pact with New York.

Amidst all this movement, the 31-year-old has had a solid season at the Triple-A level, with a 3.30 ERA over 46 1/3 combined innings for the Yankees’ and Jays’ affiliates.  Nittoli also has a 32.06% strikeout rate and 7.61% walk rate, but despite these numbers, it appears as though he wasn’t on the radar of either AL East team for an in-season promotion.

Teoscar Hernandez Day-To-Day With Bruised Foot

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  • X-rays were negative on Teoscar Hernandez’s left foot after the Blue Jays outfielder fouled a ball off his foot in the eighth inning of today’s 5-2 win over the Yankees.  Hernandez was replaced in right field for the bottom half of the eighth inning.  While it appears as though Hernandez has avoided any serious injury, it seems likely that he’ll miss Sunday’s game, thus leaving the Jays even more shorthanded in the outfield.  George Springer has been limited to DH duty since returning from the injured list, and Springer has also missed the last two games due to a sore right knee after a wayward foul ball of his own on Thursday.  While Toronto has outfield depth on the bench, the lineup would be hurt if both Hernandez and Springer each have to miss more time.

AL Notes: Yankees, Stanton, Blue Jays, Mayza, Twins, Maeda

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Giancarlo Stanton is beginning a rehab assignment today, per Lindsey Adler of The Athletic (via Twitter). Before this latest injury, Stanton had been enjoying a run of sound health. For the season, Stanton has appeared in 80 games, slashing .228/.309/.498 with 24 home runs in 328 plate appearances. Stanton even started 38 games in the outfield grass, his most defensive action since 2018. Elsewhere around the Junior Circuit…

  • Blue Jays southpaw Tim Mayza will begin a rehab assignment in Triple-A today, per Keegan Matheson of MLB.com (via Twitter). Mayza has been a key piece of Toronto’s bullpen for a number of years, no less so this season when he has pitched to a 2.88 ERA/3.94 FIP across 41 appearances totaling 34 1/3 innings. Mayza has been out of action since August 7th. The 30-year-old has held lefties to a .157/.218/.275 line this season.
  • The Twins are cautiously optimistic that Kenta Maeda might be able to return late in the season to pitch out of the bullpen as he used to for the Dodgers. Maeda is throwing bullpens now, but President of Baseball Ops Derek Falvey was non-commital about Maeda’s ability to make a late-season appearance, per Darren Wolfson of 5 Eyewitness News (via Twitter). Maeda is recovering from Tommy John surgery.

Blue Jays Showing Interest In Billy Hamilton

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The Blue Jays are showing interest in outfielder Billy Hamilton, tweets Shi Davidi of Sportsnet. Hamilton had been outrighted by the Marlins last week but rejected that assignment and elected free agency, as was his right as a player with more than three years of MLB service time.

Hamilton, 31, is a veteran who has appeared in each of the past ten MLB seasons. He’s never been a tremendous hitter, as evidenced by his career batting line of .239/.293/.326, but he’s long been one of the fastest players in the league, allowing him to provide value with baserunning and defense.

He began this year on a minor league deal with the Mariners, getting into 22 games with the Triple-A Tacoma Rainiers before triggering an opt-out clause and returning to free agency. He then landed with the Marlins on another minor league deal, getting selected to the big league club just over a week later. He spent just over a month with the Fish before getting outrighted last week.

He was largely used off the bench in that stint in the big leagues, getting into 20 games but making just 15 plate appearances. He hit a paltry .077/.143/.077 in that time, but stole seven bases without getting caught.

Despite the lackluster results with the bat, most contending teams will be interested in players like Hamilton. The ability to steal a base or make a difficult catch in a key moment can make a big difference in the later innings. With extra innings now beginning with a runner already on second base, having a speedy pinch runner on the bench arguably becomes even more important. With rosters expanding from 26 to 28 in September, it will become easier for a team to find space for a player of this ilk.

The Blue Jays recently made a switch in this area of their roster, signing Jackie Bradley Jr. after he was released by the Red Sox but then later designating Bradley Zimmer for assignment. Zimmer was subsequently claimed off waivers by the Phillies. As Davidi notes, the Jays have been focused on adding depth options, recently signing first baseman/outfielder Yoshi Tsutsugo to a minor league deal. If they can get Hamilton to put pen to paper, it would add another layer of depth as the club gears up for the stretch run. Coming into tonight’s action, the Jays and Rays are tied for the second and third Wild Card spots in the American League, but with four teams within five games.

Phillies Claim Bradley Zimmer

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The Phillies announced Thursday that they’ve claimed outfielder Bradley Zimmer off waivers from the Blue Jays. He’ll take the active roster spot of center fielder Brandon Marsh, who’s headed to the 10-day injured list due to a sprained left ankle. Bryce Harper was transferred to the 60-day injured list to open a spot on the 40-man roster.

Zimmer, a former first-round pick and top prospect in Cleveland, was traded to the Jays on Opening Day and held a roster spot throughout the season due to his glovework and baserunning prowess. He’s posted a disastrous .105/.209/.237 batting line on the season, but that’s come in a minuscule sample of 87 plate appearances spread across 77 games.

Zimmer has never been a great hitter in the Majors, but he came into the 2022 season as a .225/.310/.347 hitter, so it’s fair to wonder whether he might’ve fared a bit better at the plate had he been given more than five to six plate appearances per week. At the time of his DFA, Zimmer had played in 22 games and received just 14 plate appearances over a span of more than six weeks.

At least in the short term, the Phils could have more at-bats to give Zimmer. He’ll give them a plus defender to slot in between lumbering sluggers Kyle Schwarber and Nick Castellanos in the outfield, providing some needed range to help offset the defensive deficiencies the Phillies face in the corners.

Marsh, acquired in a deadline deal sending top catching prospect Logan O’Hoppe to the Angels, hit .250/.294/.313 in 34 plate appearances with the Phillies before sustaining his current injury on a play at the center field wall. Like Zimmer, he’s a plus defender in center, though Marsh is also a recent second-round pick and top prospect whom the Phils hope can be their everyday option in center for the foreseeable future. It seems likely that once Marsh returns, Zimmer could again be squeezed off the roster, although with rosters expanding to 28 in September, perhaps the Phils will hang onto Zimmer to give them a second plus glove in the outfield as a late-game replacement.

Harper’s move to the 60-day injured list is procedural and does not reset his timeline for a return. The “60-day” term on the 60-day IL is retroactive to whenever a player was first placed on the IL, and Harper has been aiming for a September return anyway. In other words, it’s a technicality that is not reflective of any snags in his rehab or any setbacks. He’s been working to mend a broken thumb sustained when he was plunked by an errant Blake Snell fastball. Harper also has a tear in the ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow, which has limited him to DH work due to an inability to throw from right field. That’ll likely remain his role once he returns next month.

Blue Jays Outright Matt Peacock

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  • Blue Jays righty Matt Peacock, designated for assignment last week when the team signed Jackie Bradley Jr., has cleared waivers and been assigned outright to Triple-A Buffalo, per the transactions log at MLB.com. Peacock, 28, hasn’t pitched for the Jays this year but did log 10 innings between the D-backs and Royals, during which time he yielded six runs on a dozen hits and four walks with six punchouts. Peacock has a 4.95 ERA in 96 1/3 big league innings, mostly coming with Arizona, and has recorded a massive 59.3% grounder rate in that time. He has only a 13% strikeout rate but also a solid 7.4% walk rate. In parts of five minor league seasons, Peacock has a 3.71 ERA.

Blue Jays, Yoshi Tsutsugo Close To Minor League Deal

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The Blue Jays are close to signing first baseman Yoshi Tsutsugo to a minor league contract, interim manager John Schneider indicated to reporters Monday (Twitter link via Kaitlyn McGrath of The Athletic). Yuki Yamada of Japan’s Sankei Sports first reported that Tsutsugo was likely to land with Toronto on a minor league pact.

The 30-year-old Tsutsugo began the 2022 season on a one-year, $4MM deal with the Pirates but was cut loose by Pittsburgh last week after hitting just .171/.249/.229 with a pair of homers and four doubles through 193 plate appearances. That output was miles from the .268/.347/.535 slash turned in by Tsutsugo through 144 plate appearances down the stretch with the Pirates in 2021. The Pirates are on the hook for the remainder of his salary, so the Jays would only owe Tsutsugo the prorated league minimum for any time spent on the Major League roster.

Once a star-caliber slugger in with Japan’s Yokohama DeNA BayStars — when he posted a combined .293/.402/.574 with 139 home runs, 116 doubles, five triples, a 15.1 percent walk rate and a 20.4 percent strikeout rate in his final four NPB campaigns from 2016-19 — Tsutsugo has struggled in the big leagues. Originally signed by the Rays to a two-year, $12MM contract back in Dec. 2019, Tsutsugo has drawn plenty of walks throughout his big league tenure (11.6%) but has struggled with strikeouts (26.9%) while showing a particular susceptibility to sliders.

Tsutsugo likely amounts to little more than a depth addition for the Jays at this point, though with a nice showing in Buffalo he could emerge as an option to give Toronto an extra left-handed bat when they pick up another couple roster spots in September. Following today’s DFA of outfielder Bradley Zimmer, the Blue Jays currently have just three left-handed hitters on the Major League roster — Raimel Tapia, Cavan Biggio, Jackie Bradley Jr. — none of whom are especially productive hitters. Tapia is the only one logging regular at-bats right now, and he figures to continue doing so in center field for at least a few days, with George Springer being eased back in as a designated hitter following today’s activation from the injured list (Twitter link via Sportsnet’s Shi Davidi).

The righty-heavy Jays have still been one of baseball’s most productive clubs against right-handed pitching, but there’s little harm in picking up a lefty bat with some thump and taking a low-cost look at him in Triple-A in order to see if they can help to coax some more production out of his swing later this season.

Blue Jays Designate Bradley Zimmer For Assignment

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The Blue Jays have designated outfielder Bradley Zimmer for assignment, according to a club announcement. The move opens a spot on the active roster for George Springer, who has been activated from the 10-day injured list.

Zimmer, 29, has held down a spot on the Toronto roster since being acquired in an Opening Day trade that sent righty Anthony Castro back to Cleveland. He’s had an extremely limited role this season and struggled mightily when plugged into the lineup, hitting just .105/.209/.237 on the season. Of course, despite appearing in 77 games this year, Zimmer has just 87 plate appearances — a total that’s reflective of his status as a pure late-game defensive replacement and pinch-running option. He’s posted solid numbers with the glove and ranks in the 95th percentile in Statcast’s average sprint speed, but it’s hard to overlook the glaring level of offensive output.

That said, it’s surely difficult for anyone to perform with such sparse opportunities to see big league pitching in a competitive setting. Zimmer had never hit much prior to the 2022 campaign, but he at least entered the year with a .226/.310/.348 batting line in 858 big league plate appearances. Were he able to replicate that line while still functioning in a late-game substitute role, he’d make for a fine fourth outfielder, but the Jays seemingly feel as though the roster spot could be better used elsewhere.

Zimmer was the 21st overall pick out of the University of San Francisco back in 2014. Current Toronto general manager Ross Atkins was Cleveland’s farm director at the time of Zimmer’s selection and surely knows him quite well after spending several years in that role while Zimmer developed into one of the game’s most highly touted outfield prospects. A sky-high strikeout rate and some glaring struggles against left-handers have kept Zimmer from ever reaching that ceiling, however, and when the Jays added Jackie Bradley Jr. on a big league deal last week, it seemed quite likely that Zimmer’s Jays days were numbered.

Trades of anyone who’s been on a Major League roster are prohibited at this point in the season, so the only resolution for Zimmer’s DFA will be to place him on outright waivers or release waivers. He technically has enough big league service time to reject a minor league assignment if he does clear outright waivers, but he does not yet have the five years of service needed to reject an outright assignment and retain the remainder of his salary. As such, assuming he indeed passes through waivers unclaimed, Zimmer figures to accept the assignment in order to avoid forfeiting the remainder of this season’s $1.3MM salary.

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