Blue Jays Rumors

Blue Jays Select Javy Guerra, Designate Socrates Brito

By Jeff Todd | May 10, 2019 at 3:01pm CDT

3:15pm: Buchholz is indeed headed to the IL, TSN’s Scott Mitchell tweets. The team says Buchholz has shoulder inflammation, though the righty had told Mitchell earlier that he was dealing with a minor lat issue.

3:01pm: The Blue Jays are making a series of roster moves today, as Shi Davidi of Sportsnet.ca reports on Twitter. The club will select the contract of reliever Javy Guerra, adding him to the 40-man and active rosters. Also coming up to the big leagues is outfielder Jonathan Davis.

Outfielder Socrates Brito was designated for assignment in a corresponding move. Reliever Thomas Pannone was optioned yesterday, creating an additional active roster opening. He’s still on hand, however, in case Clay Buchholz requires a stint on the injured list. (Buchholz has been scratched from his start tonight.)

This’ll be Guerra’s second stint with the Jays this year. He was designated for assignment after working to a 5.40 ERA with 12 strikeouts and four walks in ten innings.

Davis, who is nearing his 27th birthday, struggled in his MLB debut last year but has been excellent thus far in 2019 at Triple-A. In 67 plate appearances, he’s slashing .306/.493/.633 with four home runs and a shiny mix of 16 walks against 13 strikeouts.

As for Brito, the Jays gave him a run after claiming him from the Diamondbacks early in the year. The 26-year-old has not impressed, producing a ghastly .077/.163/.128 slash and 17 strikeouts in 43 trips to the plate.

Outrighted: Butera, Hanson

By Steve Adams | May 7, 2019 at 7:01pm CDT

Here are Tuesday’s minor moves from around the game…

Veteran backstop Drew Butera cleared waivers and was assigned outright to Triple-A Albuquerque, per a club announcement from the Rockies. While Butera could have rejected the assignment in favor of free agency, The Athletic’s Nick Groke tweets that the 35-year-old will accept the assignment and remain in the organization. Butera went 3-for-17 in his brief run with the Rox this season and has never hit much in the Majors aside from an outlier 2016 campaign with the Royals. In 1364 trips to the plate at the MLB level, Butera owns a .201/.258/.299 slash with 19 home runs. However, he’s long been regarded as a quality defender behind the plate and has carved out a decade-long career at the big league level as a result of his glovework. Should the Rockies incur an injury to either Chris Iannetta or Tony Wolters later this season, Butera will quite likely get a call back to the big leagues.
The Blue Jays announced that infielder/outfielder Alen Hanson has cleared waivers and been assigned to Triple-A Buffalo. Hanson, 26, came over from the Giants in the trade that sent Kevin Pillar to San Francisco, though that trade was driven in large part by salary and Hanson wasn’t necessarily viewed as a long-term piece by the Jays. In 48 plate appearance with Toronto, Hanson hit .163/.229/.163, and while it’s a tiny sample, he’s never hit much a total of 625 MLB plate appearances. Dating back to his debut with Pittsburgh in 2016, Hanson is a .232/.266/.368 hitter. The former top prospect is a .273/.327/.406 hitter in parts of three Triple-A seasons, and it appears he’ll stay on hand as a depth piece for the Toronto organization.

AL Notes: Glasnow, Astros, Alvarez, Ohtani, Jays

By Connor Byrne | May 5, 2019 at 10:55am CDT

Even though Rays right-hander Tyler Glasnow has been incredible this season, the club still plans to tamp down his workload as the year progresses, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times reports. The towering 25-year-old has recorded a dazzling 1.47 ERA/2.39 FIP with 9.63 K/9, 1.47 BB/9 and a 51.4 percent groundball rate, but at 43 innings pitched, he’s already closing in on last season’s total. “He threw 112 innings last year and we have to monitor that,’’ said manager Kevin Cash, who added: “If we can get him extra days, we’re going to do that. If we’ve got to shave an inning off of him per start, like (Friday) night we could have taken him out after the sixth. Those are things we have to monitor and consider here early in the season.’’ For what it’s worth, Glasnow’s season-high innings total as a professional came as a member of the Pittsburgh organization in 2017, when the formerly wild hurler racked up 155 1/3 frames. A year later, the Pirates traded him and outfielder Austin Meadows to the Rays for righty Chris Archer in what now looks like a heist for the first-place Tampa Bay franchise.

Elsewhere around the American League…

Astros outfield/first base prospect Yordan Alvarez has gotten off to a scorching start this year at Triple-A Round Rock, where he has slashed an awe-inspiring .418/.505/.923 with 12 home runs in 107 plate appearances. The Astros have taken notice of the 21-year-old’s brilliance, according to president of baseball ops/general manager Jeff Luhnow, who said Saturday that Alvarez “certainly is making it a conversation” within the team to promote him (via Chandler Rome of the Houston Chronicle). Luhnow also declared, “It’s pretty clear he can hit right now in the big leagues,” and noted Alvarez would likely slot in as a left fielder for the Astros in order to make a maximum impact. At the same time, though, the Astros already have a more-than-capable regular there in Michael Brantley, and Luhnow cautioned, “The same people who were clamoring for Kyle Tucker to come up because he was destroying AAA pitching are the same people now clamoring for Yordan Álvarez to come up.” That indicates it’s not a slam dunk Alvarez will head to Houston imminently, as Tucker disappointed during a 77-plate appearance major league debut in 2018 and has gotten off to a terrible start in Round Rock this year.
Angels designated hitter Shohei Ohtani’s much-anticipated 2019 debut could come as early as Tuesday, Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register suggests. Ohtani has been on the shelf thanks to October 2018 Tommy John surgery, which will stop the two-way star from pitching this year but won’t keep him out of the Angels’ lineup. To their credit, Kevan Smith and Albert Pujols – especially the former – have offered respectable DH production in Ohtani’s absence. [UPDATE: Regarding Ohtani’s potential activation, GM Billy Eppler said Sunday (via Fletcher): “We hope to be able to activate on him this trip but he has to get through every step of the progression so we’re not going to say anything till the progression is finished.”]
Prospect Jesus Lopez, whom the Blue Jays acquired from the Athletics for Kendrys Morales in March, is switching from infielder to catcher, Shi Davidi of Sportsnet tweets. The 22-year-old’s adjusting to his new position in extended spring training, per Davidi.

Quick Hits: Paddack, Treinen, Archer, Tulo, L. Gurriel

By Connor Byrne | May 4, 2019 at 11:57pm CDT

Padres rookie righty Chris Paddack has been brilliant across his first six starts and 33 innings in the majors. But Paddack’s already just 57 frames away from the career-high 90 he totaled in the minors last season in his return from 2017 Tommy John surgery. Considering Paddack’s long-term importance to the organization, San Diego has plans to limit his workload, per AJ Cassavell of MLB.com. Indeed, agent Scott Boras told Jon Morosi of MLB.com that the Padres will “manage” his 23-year-old client’s innings. However, Cassavell notes that doesn’t mean the Padres will shut down Paddack – something the Nationals did with Boras client Stephen Strasburg amid a pennant race in his younger days. “It’s mapped out,” manager Andy Green said of the Padres’ plans for Paddack, though he added that “it’s mapped out with the intention for adjustments, as well. So to sit here and walk through exactly what we think is going to happen would be foolish.” Meanwhile, Paddack indicated he’s on board with the Padres’ approach and revealed he’s aiming for a 130- to 150-inning season.

Blue Jays Select Derek Law, Designate Alen Hanson

By Jeff Todd | May 3, 2019 at 5:54pm CDT

The Blue Jays have selected the contract of right-hander Derek Law, per a club announcement. He’ll take the roster spot of utilityman Alen Hanson, who was designated for assignment.

Both of these players came to the Toronto organization in the same early-season swap with the Giants. Law had already been removed from the San Francisco 40-man, while Hanson was in DFA limbo at the time of the deal.

Law, 28, has been off to an impressive start with his new organization. He’s carrying a 1.69 ERA with 17 strikeouts and three walks through 10 2/3 innings in eight outings. He has shown it in the majors before as well, but has yet to repeat his strong 2016 debut season at the game’s highest level.

As for Hanson, the 26-year-old switch-hitter has been one of quite a few players clamoring for opportunities in the Jays’ infield/outfield mix. He received 48 plate appearances over the first month of the season, but managed only a .163/.229/.163 batting line with 17 strikeouts.

Blue Jays Sign Ben Revere

By Connor Byrne | April 27, 2019 at 5:50pm CDT

The Blue Jays have signed outfielder Ben Revere to a minor league contract, per Scott Mitchell of TSN. Revere will report to extended spring training by the end of the month.

This is the second stint in the Toronto organization for Revere, who first joined them in a trade with the Phillies in July 2015. At that point, Revere was a roughly league-average hitter who was among the majors’ top stolen base threats. Revere’s career has gone downhill since then, though, evidenced by his horrific .217/.260/.300 line with 14 steals in 375 plate appearances dating back to 2016.

Now 30, Revere hasn’t appeared in the majors since he was with the Angels in 2017, when he totaled 308 PA and slashed .275/.308/.344 with 21 steals. Revere’s a lifetime .284/.319/.343 hitter with 211 steals in 262 attempts since he debuted with the Twins in 2010. He was last with the Rangers, who signed him to a minors pact Feb. 17 but released him just over a month later.

AL Injury Notes: Andujar, Eloy, Rangers, Jays, Royals

By Connor Byrne and Jeff Todd | April 27, 2019 at 8:50am CDT

The Yankees will open a seven-game homestand May 3, at which point injured third baseman Miguel Andujar could rejoin their lineup, manager Aaron Boone said Friday (via George A. King III of the New York Post). Whether that happens will depend on how Andujar fares in extended spring training and minor league rehab games over the next several days. For now, though, Boone is “cautiously optimistic” about Andujar’s torn right labrum, which looked like a potential season-ending injury when he went on the IL on April 1. The 24-year-old is one of a whopping 15 Yankees who have landed on the injured list this season, but the reserve-laden club has weathered the storm with a 15-11 start. Third base subs DJ LeMahieu and Gio Urshela have performed well along the way, helping to ease the burden of Andujar’s absence.

White Sox left fielder Eloy Jimenez exited Friday’s game with a right ankle sprain and was wearing a walking boot afterward, per James Fegan of The Athletic (subscription required). X-rays on Jimenez’s ankle came back negative, but he’ll undergo an MRI on Saturday. An IL stint seems like a distinct possibility for the 22-year-old phenom, who’s just 85 plate appearances into his career.
Rangers lefty Taylor Hearn endured a rough debut start. Now, he’s headed to the 10-day IL with elbow tightness. That’s not how the club drew things up when it called upon one of its most promising young pitchers to join the MLB roster. Hearn’s outlook isn’t yet known. That was just one of several moves, as fellow hurler Jeffrey Springs and infielder Patrick Wisdom were optioned out. Second bagger Rouned Odor was activated from the IL while pitchers Ariel Jurado and Wei-Chieh Huang were called up to provide some fresh arms.
Standout Blue Jays infield prospect Bo Bichette is down with a broken left hand, but general manager Ross Atkins said Friday he won’t require surgery, as Scott Mitchell of TSN tweets. The Jays expect a four- to six-week recovery time for the 21-year-old Bichette, who’s regarded as one of the game’s premier prospects.
The Royals have placed first baseman Lucas Duda on the 10-day IL, retroactive to April 24, and recalled third baseman Kelvin Gutierrez from Triple-A Omaha, according to Pete Grathoff and Sam McDowell of the Kansas City Star. Duda’s dealing with a lumbar strain, which continues a rough start to the season for the 33-year-old. The free-agent pickup has hit a miserable .174/.304/.326 in 56 trips to the plate. Meanwhile, Gutierrez batted an impressive .333/.443/.439 in 79 PA prior to his promotion, and he’s now in line for his first major league action. The Royals acquired Gutierrez, 24, from the Nationals last June as part of a deal centering on reliever Kelvin Herrera. Gutierrez currently ranks as KC’s 14th-best prospect at MLB.com.

Blue Jays Promote Vladimir Guerrero Jr.

By Steve Adams | April 26, 2019 at 1:12pm CDT

April 26: The Blue Jays have made Guerrero’s promotion official. His contract has been formally selected from Triple-A Buffalo, per a team announcement. Infielder Richard Urena was optioned to Triple-A to open a spot on the active roster.

April 24: It’s celebration time in Toronto. Blue Jays manager Charlie Montoyo announced to reporters following today’s game that the organization will promote uber-prospect Vladimir Guerrero Jr. to the Major Leagues on Friday (Twitter link via Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet). He’ll make his Major League debut in Friday’ series opener against the visiting Athletics.

The promotion for Guerrero comes after nearly a year of anticipation. Outcry for the organization to promote the vaunted young slugger began last year when he was utterly laying waste to Double-A pitching as a 19-year-old. Guerrero logged a laughable .402/.449/.671 slash in 266 plate appearances at the Double-A level before moving up to Triple-A where he posted a similarly ridiculous .336/.414/.564 slash. That otherworldly performance, at such a young age, unsurprisingly made Guerrero the No. 1 overall prospect on the rankings of Baseball America, MLBPipeline.com, Fangraphs and Baseball Prospectus.

Toronto, however, has been determined to push back Guerrero’s free agency as far as is reasonably possible. For Guerrero, that meant being passed over for a September call-up despite a dominant season in the upper minors, and it surely would have meant he’d open the season at Triple-A even were it not for an oblique injury that serendipitously gave the Jays an actual reason to keep him off the Opening Day roster.

Along the way, Jays leadership made the standard-issue vague claims about how Guerrero needed to work on his defense, his baserunning and learning to be the “best possible teammate” he could be while dodging persistent questions about manipulating Guerrero’s service time. It wasn’t even two months ago that general manager Ross Atkins made the questionable claim that he simply did “not see him as a Major League player” yet. (Guerrero, it seems, learned a lot in the 11 minor league contests he played this year.)

To be clear, the Blue Jays aren’t doing anything nefarious or against the rules; they’re exploiting a system that encourages them to make just this type of business-driven move in a year they’re not expecting to compete. The Cubs took this route with Kris Bryant, the Braves did so with Ronald Acuna Jr., and numerous other young stars have seen their arrival in the big leagues pushed back for similar reasons. It’s not a universal tactic, as evidenced by Eloy Jimenez, Pete Alonso and Fernando Tatis Jr., but it’s certainly a common one. Such service time machinations will continue to be a storyline so long as the current service time/arbitration system remains in place, though it’s possible that the league and the MLBPA will explore alterations as they work toward a new collective bargaining agreement beginning prior to the 2022 season.

Service time considerations aside, the promotion of Guerrero marks the beginning of a new era in Toronto. The majority of the core that brought the Jays to the ALCS in both 2015 and 2016 has since departed. Edwin Encarnacion, Jose Bautista, Josh Donaldson, David Price, Kevin Pillar, R.A. Dickey, Mark Buehrle, Marco Estrada and J.A. Happ have all landed elsewhere, and it’s likely that the Jays will look into moving each of Justin Smoak, Marcus Stroman and Aaron Sanchez this summer.

However, Guerrero is a potential cornerstone piece for the organization — one who’ll eventually be followed by the likes of Bo Bichette, Nate Pearson, Cavan Biggio and others as Toronto looks to lay a new foundation in the ever-competitive AL East. Other potential pieces of that puzzle have already begun to get a taste of the Majors, with Rowdy Tellez, Danny Jansen and Lourdes Gurriel Jr. all receiving some experience at the game’s highest level.

The position played by Guerrero in the long term is far from set in stone. While the claim that Guerrero’s need for defensive improvement was the reason for keeping him in the minors was never legitimate, questions about his glovework are valid. Scouting reports have long pegged him as a sub-par option at third base, and it’s possible he’ll have to slide across the diamond to first base or even settle in as a primary designated hitter at some point in his early or mid 20s. The Jays surely hope that his defense can improve with some help from the big league coaching staff and continued reps in the Majors, but the 6’2″, 250-pound Guerrero may simply not be a long-term option at his natural position. Regardless of his defensive upside (or lack thereof), though, Guerrero’s prodigious bat should quickly establish him as one of the game’s brightest young stars.

Given the timing of his promotion, Guerrero will be under control for the Blue Jays through at least the 2025 season, although it’s possible that the Jays will explore the same type of early-career extension the White Sox were able to achieve with Jimenez (if they haven’t already begun to do so). Guerrero will be a slam-dunk Super Two player, assuming he’s not optioned back to the minors at any point, as he’ll finish out the 2019 campaign with 158 days of service.

Prospect Notes: Hernandez, Sheffield, Senzel, Bichette, Vlad Jr., Luzardo

By Jeff Todd | April 23, 2019 at 9:09pm CDT

Here’s the latest on some prospects of note from around the game:

The Red Sox brought up top pitching prospect Darwinzon Hernandez for his first taste of the majors, with Alex Speier of the Boston Globe first reporting the move. Hernandez, a 22-year-old from Venezuela, still needs to iron out his command but has shown some impressive swing-and-miss capabilities. It was on display tonight, as he allowed five baserunners but also racked up four strikeouts in 2 1/3 innings in relief.
Left-handed pitching prospect Justus Sheffield will join the Mariners on Friday for his first action with his new club, Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times reports on Twitter. He’s expected to piggyback with Yusei Kikuchi for a start; it’s possible he’ll be dropped back to Triple-A thereafter, though that’s not yet clear. While he already has 13 days of MLB service on his odometer, Sheffield won’t be able to reach a full year of service even if he stakes a permanent claim to a big-league roster spot. Sheffield hasn’t been himself thus far at Triple-A, carrying an 11:14 K/BB ratio through 18 1/3 innings.
It’s possible the Reds will soon welcome top prospect Nick Senzel to the majors. As Fletcher Page of the Cincinnati Enquirer reports, Senzel is back in the lineup at Triple-A after recovering from a sprained ankle. There’s no guarantee that he’ll be promoted in the near-term, but the organization doesn’t have much cause to hesitate at this point. Senzel can no longer achieve a full year of MLB service in 2019; the club is sitting at five games under .500 and can’t wait long to make its move. Once Senzel gets his timing down and gets comfortable in the outfield — he’s lined up in center field tonight for Louisville — he’ll likely be called up.
The Blue Jays got some unwelcome news on exciting infield prospect Bo Bichette. Robert Murray and Ken Rosenthal of the Athletic first reported on Twitter that Bichette had suffered a broken hand. As Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet.ca tweets, the fracture was to the second metacarpal of his left hand. Widely considered one of the game’s very best prospects, Bichette will now need to get back to health before he can begin pressing for a major-league promotion. Meanwhile, anticipation grows that teammate Vladimir Guerrero Jr. will soon get the call; Eric Longenhagen of Fangraphs tweets that some around the game anticipate it’ll come this week.
Top Athletics prospect Jesus Luzardo is beginning to work back toward the hill, Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle reports (Twitter links). He’s moving from 75 feet to 90 feet tomorrow, so it’s still rather early in his progression back from shoulder soreness. Slusser estimates that it could take four to six weeks before the prized southpaw could be ready for game action. In all likelihood, he won’t be seen as a candidate for a MLB promotion until he has at least a few Triple-A starts under his belt and the club feels confident there aren’t any lingering issues with the joint.

Minor MLB Transactions: 4/23/19

By Steve Adams | April 23, 2019 at 8:17am CDT

We’ll track Tuesday’s minor moves from around the league here…

The Blue Jays announced that right-hander Javy Guerra cleared waivers and has been assigned outright to Triple-A Buffalo. He’d have had the option to reject the assignment in favor of free agency, but it seems he’ll instead remain in the organization and bide his time in the minors while he awaits another crack at the MLB level. The 33-year-old veteran pitched in nine games for Toronto before being designated for assignment last week, posting a 5.40 ERA with a 12-to-4 K/BB ratio in a total of 10 innings. Guerra had success with the Dodgers early in his career and was even their closer for much of his rookie season back in 2011, but he’s struggled in the Majors for most of the past half decade. In 223 1/3 inning as a big leaguer, he owns a 3.51 ERA with 7.4 K/9, 3.9 BB/9, 0.6 HR/9 and 31 saves.

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