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Blue Jays Designate Anthony Bass For Assignment

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The Blue Jays announced that right-hander Mitch White has been reinstated from the 60-day injured list and will be active for tonight’s game. Fellow righty Anthony Bass was designated for assignment in a corresponding move.

Bass, 35, was acquired from the Marlins at last year’s trade deadline. Between the two clubs, he posted a 1.54 ERA on the season. The Blue Jays exercised a $3MM club option to keep him around for 2023 but his results have taken a step back this season, as he has a 4.95 ERA thus far. His 26.5% strikeout rate from last year is down to 21.6% here in 2023, his walk rate has gone from 7.3% to 10.2% and his ground ball rate from 41.2% to 38.3%.

Beyond the poor on-field results, Bass has made plenty of headlines in recent days for other reasons. For those unfamiliar, Keegan Matheson of MLB.com yesterday provided a rundown of the storyline that has surrounded Bass in recent weeks. It started on May 29 when the pitcher shared a video on Instagram wherein companies supporting the LGBTQ2S+ community were described as “evil” and “demonic.”

Bass read a written apology last week but did not take questions afterward. “We’re not going to pretend like this never happened,” manager John Schneider said at that time. “We’re not going to pretend like it’s the end and move on. There are definitely more steps that are going to follow.”

The issue came up again yesterday when Bass met with the media and did take questions this time. Though he maintained he was committed to self-reflection and working with Pride Toronto executive director Sherwin Modeste, he also seemed more upset by the negative attention than the actual content of what he shared. “I just felt like it was too much of a distraction. But I stand by my personal beliefs,” Bass said in relation to eventually deleting the video, “and everyone is entitled to their personal beliefs, right?”

It isn’t fully known what motivated the Jays to make today’s move, as it could theoretically be claimed that it was merely the result of Bass’s on-field performance and the return of White. But it was reported just yesterday that Bass was going to catch the ceremonial first pitch at tonight’s game, the start of Pride Weekend. It seems fair to expect that those plans have now changed, though general manager Ross Atkins will speak to the media at 3pm Eastern/2pm Central, per Matheson.

The Jays will now have one week to trade Bass or pass him through waivers. In the event he clears waivers, he would have the right to reject an outright assignment and elect free agency while retaining all of his salary, as a player with more than five years of service time. If that comes to pass, the Jays would remain on the hook for that money and any other club could sign him for the prorated league minimum for any time spent on the active roster.

As for White, he was acquired from the Dodgers last year. He had a 3.70 ERA at the time of the deal but struggled with a 7.74 mark after. He came into Spring Training set to compete with Yusei Kikuchi for the fifth starter job but suffered a shoulder impingement in February and elbow inflammation in March. He’s been on the injured list all season and began a rehab assignment in late April. He was throwing multi-inning outings, seemingly planning for a return to work as a starter, but was shut down for a few days in late May due to shoulder fatigue. He resumed his rehab in recent weeks but has been pitching shorter outings and now seems tickets for relief work, at least for the time being.

The Blue Jays have a hole in their rotation since optioning Alek Manoah recently, leaving them with Kevin Gausman, Chris Bassitt, José Berríos and Kikuchi, with tomorrow’s starter still listed as TBD. They selected Bowden Francis recently and he could perhaps take the bulk of the innings, though White could factor in as well.

Blue Jays Outright Zach Thompson

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The Blue Jays have sent right-hander Zach Thompson outright to Triple-A Buffalo after he went unclaimed on waivers, tweets Mitch Bannon of Sports Illustrated. He’d been designated for assignment on Tuesday when the Jays brought up Bowden Francis.

Thompson hasn’t made an MLB appearance with Toronto. The Jays acquired him from the Pirates over the offseason for minor league outfielder Chavez Young. He’s spent the year on optional assignment, serving as rotation depth for a club that hadn’t gone beyond its top five starters until optioning Alek Manoah this week. Thompson has had a tough go with the Bisons, serving up nearly seven earned runs per nine in 47 innings across 11 starts.

It’s a tough follow-up to a disappointing lone season in Pittsburgh. Thompson had emerged as an interesting late-blooming starter with the Marlins in 2021, when he worked to a 3.24 ERA over 75 innings. Pittsburgh brought him in as part of the deal that sent catcher Jacob Stallings to South Florida. The Pirates gave Thompson 121 2/3 frames last season, but he stumbled to a 5.18 ERA while striking out a below-average 16.6% of opponents.

The swing-and-miss has dipped further this year. Thompson has a 14.4% strikeout rate in Triple-A, where he’s allowed over two homers per nine. The struggles were significant enough he’d been leapfrogged on the depth chart by Francis, who seems likely to get the first crack at replacing Manoah in the rotation.

Thompson has less than three years of major league service and has never previously cleared waivers. He therefore doesn’t have the ability to decline an outright assignment. Thompson will stick in Buffalo and try to pitch his way back into the MLB mix. If the Jays don’t add him back to the 40-man roster by season’s end, he’d reach minor league free agency to start the winter.

MLBTR Trade Rumors Podcast: Elly De La Cruz, Manoah’s Demotion and Surgery for DeGrom

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Episode 10 of the MLB Trade Rumors Podcast is now live on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts! Make sure you subscribe as well! You can also use the player at this link to listen, if you don’t use Spotify or Apple for podcasts.

This week, host Darragh McDonald is joined by Steve Adams of MLB Trade Rumors to discuss:

Plus, we answer your questions, including:

  • If Kevin Kiermaier can stay healthy and remain productive, what kind of contract is he looking at in free agency? (22:20)
  • Could Corbin Burnes realistically be traded by the deadline? If so, what teams would likely make a push for him? (26:50)
  • What could the Cubs do with Marcus Stroman? (30:45)

Check out our past episodes!

  • The Wide-Open NL Wild Card Race, Returning Pitchers and Cast-Off Veterans – listen here
  • The Mets are turning things around, and how serious are the Mariners, Marlins and Diamondbacks? – listen here
  • The Cardinals’ U-Turn on Willson Contreras, Mitch Keller’s breakout, and the state of the Padres – listen here

Blue Jays Option Alek Manoah

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The Blue Jays announced a series of roster moves today, the most notable of which is that right-hander Alek Manoah has been optioned to the Florida Complex League. The club also optioned right-hander Jay Jackson and infielder Ernie Clement. To fill those three roster spots, righty Chris Bassitt has been reinstated from the paternity list, infielder Santiago Espinal has been reinstated from the injured list and right-hander Bowden Francis has had his contract selected. To open a spot on the 40-man for Francis, righty Zach Thompson was designated for assignment.

The 2023 season has been a stunning fall from grace for Manoah, 25, who had previously been on a meteoric rise. The Jays selected him 11th overall in the 2019 draft and it didn’t take him long to make it up to the major leagues. He made six Low-A starts in his draft year, then the minor leagues were wiped out by the pandemic in 2020. In 2021, he was sent to Triple-A and allowed just a single earned run through three starts before getting the call to the majors.

It was an aggressive move given his lack of minor league innings but Manoah quickly justified it. He eventually posted a 3.22 ERA over 111 2/3 innings in that season, finishing eighth in American League Rookie of the Year voting. He took things to another level last year with a 2.24 ERA over 196 2/3 frames, striking out 22.9% of opponents against a 6.5% walk rate. He finished third in the AL Cy Young vote, trailing only Justin Verlander and Dylan Cease.

He seemed to be an ace in the making and was given the Opening Day nod for the Jays here in 2023. Unfortunately, just about everything has soured for him this year. His strikeout rate is down to 17% and his walk rate has more than doubled to 14.9%. His ERA on the year is 6.36, almost triple his earned run rate from last year. It’s been speculated for weeks as to whether some kind of action was necessary but he seemed to finally put the writing on the wall last night when he allowed six earned runs against the Astros while only recording a single out, forcing the bullpen to absorb 8 2/3 innings.

After that trouncing, manager John Schneider said that “everything is on the table” in how to move forward. It seems that wasn’t just bluster as the club will now send Manoah to their Florida Complex facilities to see if he can figure out what went wrong and how to fix it. The length of that process could potentially have implications for Manoah’s future earning power. He came into this season with one year and 30 days of MLB service time. A new “year” flips over at 172 days, so he’s already gone over the two-year mark, but this move makes it less likely he’ll qualify for Super Two status at season’s end.

Of course, that’s likely just a minor detail right now. In the grand scheme of things, the long-term trajectory that once seemed so straightforward suddenly seems incredibly murky. Both Manoah and the Blue Jays will undoubtedly be keenly focused on figuring out how to get him back to being a viable major leaguer, for this season and for the rest of his career.

In the meantime, the Jays will now have to patch over a hole in their rotation. Kevin Gausman, Bassitt, José Berríos and Yusei Kikuchi should have the next four days spoken for but the Jays figure to require another starter by Saturday. It’s possible that Francis, 27, could be a factor there, either as a traditional starter or part of a bullpen game of some kind. Drafted by the Brewers in 2017, he came over to the Blue Jays alongside Trevor Richards in the 2021 deal that sent Rowdy Tellez to Milwaukee.

Between those two organizations, Francis posted a 3.93 ERA in the minors in 2021, split between Double-A and Triple-A. That got him a spot on Toronto’s 40-man roster in the winter to protect him from being selected in the Rule 5 draft. He struggled in 2022 and lost his roster spot, posting a 6.59 ERA in Triple-A, though he did make his major league debut with a scoreless outing that lasted two thirds of an inning.

Despite that rough year, he’s had some decent momentum since. He joined Criollos de Caguas in Puerto Rico for some time in winter ball, posting a 1.51 ERA in 35 2/3 innings there. He then had a 1.08 ERA in 13 Spring Training innings before heading to Triple-A Buffalo. He made a couple of starts before going on the minor league injured list but has been back in action for a couple of weeks now and has a 2.89 ERA in the minors so far this year. The Jays haven’t made any announcements about their future rotation plans, but it’s possible that it could be contingent on whether or not Francis is needed before Saturday. With the bullpen fairly taxed after Manoah’s start last night, he could be pushed into action sooner if another starter struggles this week.

One player who apparently won’t be an option to join the rotation is Thompson. He came over to the Blue Jays from the Pirates in an offseason trade but has a 6.89 ERA through 11 Triple-A starts on the year so far. His 8.8% walk rate is fairly average but his 14.4% strikeout rate is well below. He seemed to break out as a viable big league pitcher with the Marlins in 2021, posting a 3.24 ERA in 75 innings that year. But he struggled in 2022 after getting traded to the Pirates, registering a 5.18 ERA last year.

The Jays will now have one week to trade Thompson or pass him through waivers. His poor results both last year and this year will obviously temper interest, but he has past major league success and a full slate of options. With many teams around the league dealing with injuries and in need of pitching depth, he could still find some interest. If he were to clear waivers, he would not have the right to elect free agency since he doesn’t have three years of service time or a previous career outright.

Best Deadline Rental Returns In Recent History, #9: Blue Jays Get Santiago Espinal For Steve Pearce

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With the trade deadline now less than two months away, we at MLBTR are setting our sights backwards for a bit to highlight past trades. With an arbitrary cutoff point of 2017, we’re counting down the top 10 returns that a team got when selling a rental player in recent years. We’ve already rounded up a few honorable mentions and highlighted the #10 entry. Now let’s move on to #9, with eight more still to come. If you disagree with our rankings, let us know! It’s all part of the subjective fun!

In 2018, the Blue Jays were in between eras. The previous core that took them to the ALCS in 2015 and 2016 was essentially gone. José Bautista bounced from Atlanta to the Mets to the Phillies in what would eventually be his final season. Edwin Encarnación was with Cleveland. Josh Donaldson was still technically on the team but spent most of the year on the injured list and eventually got flipped to Cleveland in a waiver trade as the season was winding down. The Jays leaders in WAR at Baseball Reference and FanGraphs were Justin Smoak and Randal Grichuk, respectively. The club and its fans were looking forward to a new core formed by prospects like Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Bo Bichette though they wouldn’t debut until the following season.

As the Jays got to June 29, they were sporting a record of 38-43. Though that was just a few games below .500, they were already well back in the postseason race. The Yankees were at 53-26 while the Red Sox were 55-28, leaving the Jays 16 games back in the AL East. One of those clubs was also a lock for a Wild Card spot, of which there were only two at the time. With the Mariners and Athletics also off to good starts, the Jays were already 13 games back in the Wild Card race.

The trade deadline was still a month away but there was little reason for the Jays not to consider selling. Steve Pearce was an obvious candidate to move, as he was an impending free agent in his age-35 season. The Jays had signed him to a two-year, $12.5MM deal going into 2017. Pearce had long been an effective role player in the majors, carrying himself well at the plate while also having enough defensive versatility to play first base or the outfield corners. He had also had brief spells at second and third base, though 2016 was the last year for him at either of those spots.

Of course, as a role player, there were weak points to his game as well. For one thing, he was best utilized in the weak side of a platoon, as a right-handed hitter who fared much better against lefties. He eventually finished his career with a robust .264/.347/.491 line against southpaws that translated into a 126 wRC+. His output against righties was .247/.324/.410 for a 100 wRC+, or league average.

Another issue with Pearce was health, as he had made frequent trips to the injured list for various ailments in his career. The 102 games he played with the Orioles in 2014 were the most he ever tallied. Those injury concerns continued into his time with the Blue Jays, as he only played 92 games in 2017 thanks in part to a calf injury that cost him over a month. In 2018, he landed on the IL in early May with an oblique strain and didn’t return until June 22.

Nonetheless, the Red Sox were intrigued enough by Pearce to acquire him just a week after he came off the injured list. The Jays included $1.66MM in the deal, a bit more than half of what Pearce was still owed for the remainder of the campaign. That was surely important to the Sox at the time as it kept them from going more than $40MM beyond that year’s luxury tax line, as doing so would have meant their top draft pick in the 2019 draft was pushed back by 10 spots. The club did eventually go over that line by acquiring Nathan Eovaldi and Ian Kinsler at the deadline, but the Jays eating some money in the Pearce deal kept the Sox shy of that line for the time being as they contemplated their options.

In exchange for giving up Pearce and a bit of money, the Jays received infielder Santiago Espinal. A 10th-round draft pick of the Sox in 2016, his prospect stock was on the rise at the time of the deal. In 2017, he had hit just four home runs in 123 Single-A games, slashing .280/.334/.358 for a wRC+ of 102. In the first half of 2018, he already had seven home runs in 65 High-A games, leading to a .313/.363/.477 slash and 136 wRC+.

Espinal then went through Double-A and Triple-A in 2019 before making his major league debut in the shortened 2020 season. His .267/.308/.333 line that year wasn’t especially impressive, but he got strong defensive grades playing mostly shortstop, as Bichette spent close to a month on the injured list with a knee sprain.

At the very least, Espinal seemed like a solid depth piece but he moved a bit beyond that in the next two seasons, earning fairly regular playing time. In 2021, he was frequently optioned to the minors and also spent close to a month on the injured list due to a hip flexor strain but still got into 92 games. The club had signed Marcus Semien to play second base and bumped Cavan Biggio to third, but Biggio made multiple trips to the IL due to back issues. Espinal filled in admirably with a .311/.376/.405 line, stealing six bases and getting good defensive grades at the hot corner. He finished that year with 1.9 wins above replacement in the eyes of FanGraphs and 2.4 according to Baseball Reference.

Going into 2022, Semien signed with the Rangers and the Jays acquired Matt Chapman to play third, moving the Espinal/Biggio tandem over to second base. Espinal ended up essentially as an everyday player, getting 491 plate appearances in 135 games. His .267/.322/.370 line amounted to a wRC+ of 99 while he also swiped another six bags and continued to be graded very well on defense. He was selected to the All-Star team that summer and eventually tallied 2.3 fWAR and 2.2 bWAR.

Espinal started 2023 slow and just came back from the injured list this evening, but the Jays have to be quite happy with how the trade turned out. They exchanged a 35-year-old role player and impending free agent for a prospect who has become a valuable supporting member of their new competitive window. He has already tallied 4.3 fWAR for his career and 5.0 bWAR and can be retained via arbitration through 2026.

Of course, the Red Sox have no regrets about their end of the deal. Pearce stayed healthy for the remainder of 2018 and went on a tear. He hit seven home runs in 50 games for the Sox down the stretch, slashing .279/.394/.507 for a wRC+ of 143 as Boston went 108-54, their best record in franchise history. They then cruised through the postseason, beating the Yankees 3-1 in the ALDS, the Astros 4-1 in the ALCS and the Dodgers 4-1 in the World Series. Pearce hit four home runs in that postseason run and produced a line of .289/.426/.658. Three of those home runs came in the World Series, including two in the final game, leading to Pearce being named MVP of the series.

The Sox re-signed Pearce for 2019, but he got into just 29 games while dealing with back spasms in what ultimately proved to be his final season. Nonetheless, this looks like a trade that worked out extremely well for both sides. The Sox got a complementary player who caught fire at the right time and helped them win a title. The Jays, meanwhile, weren’t in a position to take advantage of that explosion but turned it into a solid piece of their future.

MLBTR Poll: How Should The Jays Proceed With Alek Manoah?

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The Blue Jays dropped an 11-4 contest to the Astros last night, snapping a four-game win streak. The game was never competitive, as Toronto found itself in a six-run hole before coming up to hit. Alek Manoah put the club behind the eight ball, allowing eight of nine opponents to reach base and being charged for six runs.

It was the worst performance in a season that has been a nightmare for the 25-year-old. Manoah comes out of the appearance with a 6.36 ERA over 58 innings. ERA estimators like SIERA (5.91), xERA (6.42) and FIP (6.52) are equally grim. Manoah has earned a quality start in only two of his 13 outings, although both were scoreless seven-inning gems. The start-to-start consistency hasn’t been there; Manoah has allowed more than a run per inning in five of his appearances and gotten past the fifth inning on only three occasions.

Those results are staggering. Manoah looked like a burgeoning ace two months ago. He posted a 3.22 ERA as a rookie in 2021 and took things to a new level last year. The right-hander twirled 196 2/3 frames of 2.24 ERA ball last season, earning his first All-Star nod and a third-place finish in AL Cy Young balloting. This year, he has the ninth-worst ERA and second-highest FIP among the 96 pitchers with 50+ innings.

Manoah and skipper John Schneider didn’t have definitive answers last night. Speaking postgame, Schneider said “everything is on the table” as the club tries to get Manoah back to form (link via Keegan Matheson of MLB.com). As things stand, Manoah would be lined up to take the ball on Saturday against the Twins.

There’s nothing in the former first round pick’s performance this year that’d inspire confidence. Manoah’s 17% strikeout percentage is well below average, as is his 8.5% swinging strike rate. He’s not throwing many pitches in the strike zone and he’s not having success in getting opponents to reach for stuff off the plate. That’s a combination that’ll lead to a lot of free passes. Manoah has issued an MLB-worst 42 walks.

The results haven’t been any better when Manoah has gone after opponents. He’s not missing many bats within the strike zone and is giving up a lot of hard contact. He’s already surrendered 11 home runs after giving up just 16 longballs all of last year. His fastball velocity is down a tick and he’s not getting as much lateral movement on his slider. The breaking ball has been particularly problematic, as opponents are hitting .328 and slugging .603 in 58 at-bats ending in a slider.

Most pitchers would’ve already lost their rotation spot with those kinds of numbers. Manoah, of course, isn’t the average pitcher. The Jays have understandably deferred to his pre-2023 track record in giving him a couple months to sort things out. Without any indication a breakthrough is imminent, though, the pressure is building on the coaching staff and front office. Toronto is a win-now club in the sport’s toughest division. They’re in fourth place despite a 33-28 record. The margin for error is too narrow in the AL East to wait much longer.

Where can the Jays go from here? They don’t have an off day until next Monday, so skipping Manoah’s next start only works if they want to put extra stress on a bullpen that had to cover 8 2/3 innings yesterday. There’s no indication he’s pitching through any discomfort that’d warrant a 15-day injured list stint. Barring injury, the likeliest courses of action are to keep Manoah on turn in the rotation or option him back to Triple-A Buffalo for a reset.

Further complicating matters is the Jays’ lack of rotation depth. Toronto entered the year with a top-heavy starting staff of Manoah, Kevin Gausman, Chris Bassitt, José Berríos and Yusei Kikuchi. That quintet has taken all 61 of the team’s starts. Gausman has been great and Berríos has gotten on track after a tough 2022 campaign. Bassitt has decent results despite middling strikeout and walk numbers.

Gausman, Bassitt and Berríos are locks for three rotation spots. Kikuchi probably isn’t in immediate danger of losing his job with a 4.40 ERA but he pitched his way out of a starting spot last season and is tied for the MLB lead with 17 homers allowed this year. Kikuchi is already a fringe starter for a hopeful contender. Manoah’s a second question mark and the Jays don’t have many alternatives below them.

Mitch White and Hyun Jin Ryu have been out all season. White’s on a rehab stint in Triple-A, at least, though he’s no sure thing after posting a 5.45 ERA last year. Ryu probably won’t be back until after the All-Star Break as he rehabs from last summer’s Tommy John procedure.

Former Marlin and Pirate Zach Thompson is on the 40-man roster but has an ERA pushing 7.00 in Buffalo. Prospect Yosver Zulueta is working in short stints in Triple-A. 20-year-old Ricky Tiedemann is the organization’s top minor league pitcher but he has just 23 2/3 career frames above A-ball. Non-roster veterans Casey Lawrence and Drew Hutchison have mediocre Triple-A numbers. Bowden Francis has pitched well in four Triple-A starts this year but had a 6.59 ERA in 98 1/3 innings there last season.

Meaningful rotation help is rarely available on waivers. It’ll probably be a deadline priority but it’s uncommon for teams to make notable acquisitions in early June. Unless the Jays surprisingly jump the market, they’re not working with great options. There’s a glaring lack of depth even as Toronto has been fortunate enough to avoid any injuries to their top five starters this year. If one of Gausman, Bassitt or Berríos were to miss time at any point, the rotation could be a disaster.

What should Schneider, GM Ross Atkins and the rest of organizational leadership do? Keep running Manoah out there and hope he figures things out, or turn to a depth option while giving last year’s Cy Young finalist some time out of the spotlight?

(poll link for app users)

 

Upcoming Club Option Decisions: AL East

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Last week, MLBTR took an early look at offseason option decisions facing teams in the National League. We’ll continue our division by division series by checking in on players in the AL East whose contracts contain club or mutual options for next season. The Rays are the only AL East team not slated to have any option calls to make.

Previous entries: NL East, NL Central, NL West

Baltimore Orioles

  • Mychal Givens: $6MM mutual option ($2MM buyout if team declines, $1MM buyout if player declines)

Givens has bounced around in journeyman fashion over the past few seasons. The middle reliever returned to his original stomping grounds in Baltimore on a $5MM free agent guarantee. He hasn’t had any chance to get into a rhythm yet, however. He opened the season on the injured list with left knee inflammation. He was out until late May and made four appearances, allowing six runs in four innings while working with diminished velocity. The O’s put him back on the IL last week, citing inflammation in his throwing shoulder.

Boston Red Sox

Kluber signed a $10MM free agent guarantee with Boston over the offseason. He’d been a reliable innings-eating veteran for the Rays last year. Kluber hasn’t been a Cy Young-caliber pitcher for quite some time, but Boston envisioned him as a stabilizing mid-rotation presence in a starting staff full of unproven or injury-riddled options.

It hasn’t worked out that way. Kluber was tagged for a 6.26 ERA through his first nine starts. His strikeout rate dropped to a career-worst 17.7% clip, and he served up home runs at an untenable 2.38 HR/9 pace. The Sox bumped Kluber out of the rotation two weeks ago, pushing him into multi-inning relief. He’s tossed three innings of two-run ball in his first bullpen appearances in a decade.

An injury to Chris Sale could get Kluber another rotation opportunity, but he’ll have to pitch much better than he did in the first two months of the season for the Sox to entertain an $11MM+ option. The option price would escalate by $500K if Kluber makes 20 starts and an additional $750K apiece at 25 and 30 starts (which look unlikely based on the bullpen move).

The Sox signed Rodríguez to a $2MM free agent deal at the beginning of last offseason. He suffered an oblique strain in Spring Training and was knocked out of commission for six weeks. The 31-year-old has returned to pitch in four games but surrendered nine runs. He went back on the 15-day IL over the weekend with shoulder inflammation. This appears on its way to a buyout.

Rodríguez isn’t the only veteran lefty reliever who’s battling injury problems. Bleier landed in Boston via a change-of-scenery bullpen swap that sent Matt Barnes to Miami. While the soft-tossing southpaw is inducing ground balls at a strong 51.5% clip, that’s below the career 61.5% grounder rate he carried into the year. He’s never missed bats. The 36-year-old is a grounder specialist with elite control. He’s been uncharacteristically prone to hard contact in his early stint in Boston, contributing to a 5.85 ERA through 20 innings. The Sox placed Bleier on the 15-day IL due to shoulder inflammation a couple weeks ago. It’s early but trending towards a buyout as well.

New York Yankees

Donaldson is playing out the final guaranteed season of the four-year free agent deal he signed with the Twins in 2020. The Yankees took on the contract in the 2022 trade that also brought in Isiah Kiner-Falefa. (That trade converted a ’24 club option into a mutual option.) It’s a move New York would like to have back, with both Kiner-Falefa and Donaldson underwhelming in the Bronx.

Donaldson, the 2015 AL MVP, had his worst offensive showing in a decade last year. He hit .222/.308/.374 over 546 plate appearances while striking out at a career-worst 27.1% rate. Public metrics still loved Donaldson’s defense at the hot corner. Despite some offseason speculation the Yankees could try to offload some of his contract, they didn’t seem to come close to finding a taker and opened this season with Donaldson back at third base. He played only five games before suffering a right hamstring injury that cost him almost two months. The Yankees activated him from the IL over the weekend, and he promptly hit two home runs in his return — followed by an 0-for-4.

With a hefty $6MM buyout, there’s only a $10MM net call on the option. That’s not an outlandish price for a solid everyday player, but Donaldson’s offensive drop-off, age, and recent injury history all raise questions about whether he should be a regular on a team with playoff aspirations. Barring a summer offensive outburst from the three-time All-Star, the team is probably buying this out.

Toronto Blue Jays

  • Chad Green: Team has three-year, $27MM option (if declined, Green and team have conditional options)

Green signed a complex free agent deal as he works back from May ’22 Tommy John surgery. He’s making $2.25MM this year. At season’s end, the Jays will have to decide whether to trigger three consecutive $9MM options (essentially a three-year, $27MM contract for 2024-26). If the team declines, the right-hander would get a $6.25MM player option for next year only. If Green passes on that, the Jays would have to make a call on a two-year, $21MM option for 2024-25.

With a year removed from surgery, Green recently progressed to throwing batting practice (via MLB.com injury tracker). A post All-Star Break return to MLB action is on track. While guaranteeing Green $27MM based on a couple good months after Tommy John surgery seems unlikely, the Jays were at least open enough to the possibility to sign him to the contract in the first place. There haven’t been any notable setbacks in the four months since they put pen to paper.

The Jays acquired Merrifield from the Royals last summer. It was a buy-low move while the former American League hits leader was scuffling, and he’s gotten on track north of the border. Merrifield has a .292/.339/.413 batting line as a Blue Jay. That includes a .299/.349/.399 showing in 2023 that has locked him in as Toronto’s starting second baseman.

While Toronto has gotten what they’d wanted from Merrifield, it’s hard to envision them exercising this option. The $17.5MM price point is lofty, particularly when considering the market has tended to devalue contact-oriented second basemen. The Phillies bought out a $17MM option on Jean Segura last winter, for instance; he found a $17MM guarantee spread over two years from the Marlins on the open market. The Brewers did exercise a $10MM option on Kolten Wong but promptly traded him to Seattle in a buy-low flier for Jesse Winker. An $8-12MM per-year salary for Merrifield is more reasonable, particularly when considering that he’ll turn 35 next January.

  • Yimi García: $5MM club option ($1MM buyout); option vests at $6MM with 49 appearances or 49 innings pitched in 2023

García signed a two-year guarantee with a club/vesting option over the 2021-22 offseason. The option would vest at $6MM if he combines for 110 innings or 110 outings between 2022-23. García threw 61 innings in as many appearances last season, leaving 49 more to check off.

He’s well on his way to doing so. García has made 26 appearances and tossed 24 2/3 innings entering play Monday. He’s 23 outings or 24 1/3 frames shy of triggering the vesting provision. Unless the veteran righty sustains a notable injury, he should clear that threshold.

Even if García doesn’t vest the option, it’s not out of the question the Jays would bring him back. There’d be a $4MM difference between the club option price and the buyout. García was solid in year one, working to a 3.10 ERA with a 23.5% strikeout rate. A massive .368 average on balls in play has led to a 6.20 ERA thus far in 2023, but García’s peripherals are strong as ever. He’s striking out 26.5% of batters faced while inducing grounders on half the batted balls he allows. He’s averaging 96 mph on his heater. His ball in play results figure to stabilize.

Note: Austin Voth signed an arbitration contract that contained a 2024 club option. He’d remain eligible for arbitration next season even if the option is declined and has accordingly been excluded from this list.

AL East Notes: Fairbanks, Rizzo, Blue Jays

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In the words of Rays manager Kevin Cash, Pete Fairbanks’ “hip locked up” while the reliever was getting ready to enter today’s game with the Dodgers.  Instead, Fairbanks halted his warm-up and went to the dugout once the inning was over.  Cash told Kristie Ackert of the Tampa Bay Times and other reporters that according to the team trainer, Fairbanks’ “muscles look to be okay, but we saw him walk very gingerly from the bullpen and he was in some pain.”  More will be known after Fairbanks undergoes further examination.

Fairbanks already spent 15 days on the injured list due to forearm inflammation earlier this season, and missed a couple of other games due to his symptoms of Raynaud’s disease, which manifests in the form of finger numbness.  Injuries have been a frequent setback for Fairbanks during his pro career, but he has been a very effective reliever when healthy, as indicated by his 2.84 ERA over 117 1/3 innings since joining the Rays during the 2019 season.  Tampa is 13 games into a stretch of 16 games in 16 games, and while Cash is hopeful that his bullpen can hold up until Thursday’s off-day, the club doesn’t have much room to maneuver if Fairbanks has to miss even a couple of days to recover.

More from around the AL East…

  • Anthony Rizzo left today’s game for what the Yankees deemed as “precautionary reasons” due to a neck injury.  During an unsuccessful attempt by Fernando Tatis Jr. to get back to first base during the sixth inning, Tatis’ hip and upper leg collided with Rizzo’s head, leaving Rizzo shaken up.  He left the game and underwent concussion protocol, though manager Aaron Boone told reporters (including MLB.com’s Betelhem Ashame) after the game that Rizzo “was fine” and might even be able to return for Monday’s game.
  • While other division rivals have dealt with various injuries, the Blue Jays have been among the healthier teams in baseball, which The Toronto Star’s Gregor Chisholm notes is something of a double-edged sword.  While it’s obviously good news that the Jays have avoided any major injury concerns, the club hasn’t really capitalized on its good fortune, as Toronto’s 28-26 record puts them in last place in the competitive AL East.  Furthermore, it seems unlikely that the Jays will avoid the injury bug for too long, which will put a further strain on the club’s thin bench.  This lack of depth has already been tested over the last few days, with Danny Jansen now on the 10-day IL and Kevin Kiermaier leaving Saturday’s game with back soreness.

Quick Hits: Castro, Kiermaier, Velasquez, Duvall, Chang

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The Mets and Red Sox each “pushed hard” to sign Willi Castro this past offseason, Darren Wolfson of SKOR North reports (Twitter link), but the utilityman chose to sign a minor league deal with the Twins.  The move has nicely paid off for both the player and the team, as Castro has hit .258/.324/.452 over 103 plate appearances for Minnesota, with two of his four home runs coming in today’s win over the Blue Jays.  Castro’s versatility has also been a boost to an injury-riddled Twins club, as he has seen action as a shortstop, second baseman, third baseman, and in all three outfield positions.

More from around the baseball world as we wrap up a busy Saturday…

  • Vince Velasquez was activated from the 15-day injured list earlier today, but the Pirates right-hander allowed four runs in two innings before being removed from the game due to discomfort in his right elbow.  Velasquez had previously been sidelined by inflammation in that same elbow, and while he is being examined by doctors, it would seem likely that he might be headed back to the IL.  If Velasquez is again out of action, it would continue Roansy Contreras’ time as a starter, since Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported earlier today that Contreras could be headed into a relief role.
  • Kevin Kiermaier made an early exit from today’s Twins/Blue Jays game due to some lower back discomfort.  Toronto manager John Schneider told Sportsnet’s Ben Nicholson-Smith and other reporters that Kiermaier was feeling sore after a pair of throws, and “with how important he is to us, we wanted to be safe and make sure we didn’t make it worse.”  Kiermaier will receive further examination and is day-to-day for now.  In his first season with the Jays, Kiermaier has been outstanding, hitting .319/.366/.511 over 154 PA while delivering his usual high-level defense in center field.  Given Kiermaier’s long injury history, it makes sense why the Blue Jays would err on the side of caution, and it’s probably safe to assume that Kiermaier won’t play Sunday since Toronto also has a Monday off-day for additional rest.
  • The Red Sox told reporters (including Pete Abraham of the Boston Globe) that Adam Duvall is set to begin a Triple-A rehab assignment on Tuesday.  Duvall was sidelined by a fracture in his left wrist, and a subsequent move to the 60-day IL means that June 9 is the outfielder’s earliest possible return date.  Duvall was off to a huge start prior to his injury, posting a 1.544 OPS in his first 37 PA of the season.  While Duvall is on the road to recovery, Yu Chang’s rehab assignment has been paused due to some soreness in his left hand while swinging.  Chang has missed just over a month due to hamate bone surgery, and his setback isn’t expected to delay his rehab work by any more than a few days, pending further examination.

Blue Jays Release Julian Fernández

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The Blue Jays have released right-hander Julian Fernández, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com.

Fernández, 27, signed a minor league deal with the Jays in the winter. He has been pitching for Triple-A Buffalo so far this year, tossing 9 1/3 innings over seven relief appearances. Unfortunately, he registered a miserable 10.61 ERA in that time. Shockingly, he struck out just 9.8% of batters faced after posting a 24.9% strikeout rate in Triple-A last year.

The right-hander has a small amount of major league experience, throwing 6 2/3 innings for the Rockies in 2021. He didn’t get good results in that brief showing but did have a fastball that averaged 99 mph. He spent 2022 in Triple-A with the Rockies, tossing 57 innings with a 6.63 ERA in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League.

He had lost his 40-man roster spot in the middle of that 2022 campaign and qualified for free agency at season’s end. The Jays took a shot on him, undoubtedly hoping to help him get the most of his powerful arm, though they’ve now seemingly given up.

Fernandez will now be free to pursue opportunities with any club. His results weren’t there this year but he’s garnered plenty of interest in the past, having previously been nabbed by the Giants and Marlins in the Rule 5 draft.

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