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Yankees Select Carlos Carrasco; Clarke Schmidt, Ian Hamilton To Begin Season On Injured List

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4:22pm: The Yankees officially announced the selection of Carrasco’s contract this afternoon. Right-hander Gerrit Cole was transferred to the 60-day injured list to open up a spot on the 40-man roster for Carrasco. That move is hardly a surprise, given that the club’s ace will miss the 2025 season after undergoing Tommy John surgery earlier this month.

11:31am: The Yankees will be selecting Carlos Carrasco’s minor league contract, as reported earlier today by Jack Curry of the YES Network.  Yankees GM Brian Cashman confirmed the Carrasco move to reporters (including The New York Post’s Greg Joyce) while also noting that right-handers Clarke Schmidt and Ian Hamilton will both be starting the season on the injured list.

Schmidt has pitched in just one game this spring, and was tagged for three runs in 1 2/3 innings in that lone outing.  His next start was scratched due to soreness in his throwing shoulder, and while the righty has since thrown a bullpen session and a live batting-practice session without discomfort, the IL stint will allow Schmidt extra time to properly build up his arm strength.

It looks as if Schmidt’s injury is fairly minor, which comes as some relief to a New York rotation that has already lost Gerrit Cole (Tommy John surgery) and Luis Gil (lat strain) to much longer-term problems.  Cole will miss the entire season and Gil is expected to be out until at least June, plus depth starter JT Brubaker will miss time recovering from fractured ribs.  All the injuries have rather quickly reduced what was an area of depth for the Yankees, opening up rotation spots for Marcus Stroman, Will Warren, and now Carrasco.

As an Article XX(b) free agent, Carrasco’s minor league deal contained opt-out clauses for today, May 1, and June 1 unless the Yankees added him to the big league roster.  In making the team, Carrasco now locks in a guaranteed salary of $1.5MM, plus his deal includes another $1MM in potential incentives.  It makes for a very nice birthday present for Carrasco, who just turned 38 yesterday.

While the rotation injuries obviously led to Carrasco’s selection, it shouldn’t be overlooked that Carrasco helped his own cause with an impressive spring camp, posting a 1.69 ERA across 16 innings of work.  While all Spring Training numbers should naturally be taken with a grain of salt, it represents a nice early sign that the right-hander might have some gas left in the tank as he approaches his 16th Major League season.

A longtime anchor of the Cleveland rotation, Carrasco spent the 2021-23 seasons with the Mets before returning to the Guardians for the 2024 campaign.  While he showed some signs of his old form in 2022, the last four years have been mostly a struggle for Carrasco, who has a 5.32 ERA across his last 399 1/3 innings in the big leagues.  That includes a 5.64 ERA in 103 2/3 frames with the Guards last year, after Cleveland added Carrasco to its Opening Day roster on the heels of another minor league pact.

Hamilton has been sidelined by an infection for most of Spring Training, and he didn’t make his Grapefruit League debut until he made a one-inning appearance on Thursday.  He might not need a ton of ramp-up time in preparation for a relief role, yet he’ll get at least 12 extra days (a 15-day IL placement with three days of backdating factored in) to get himself fully ready.  Hamilton has a 3.10 ERA over 95 2/3 bullpen innings since coming to New York in the 2022-23 offseason, establishing himself as a reliable member of the relief corps.

Red Sox Notes: Fitts, Zavala, Moore, Ottavino, Front Office Changes

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Right-hander Richard Fitts has pitched well in his bid for a starting job this spring, and Red Sox manager Alex Cora confirmed to reporters (including MLB.com’s Ian Browne) that Fitts had indeed landed the fourth starter’s role.  Sean Newcomb and Quinn Priester now look to be the last two pitchers competing for the fifth spot behind Fitts, Garrett Crochet, Tanner Houck, and Walker Buehler.

Injuries have thrown a few wrinkles into Boston’s rotation plans this spring, as Brayan Bello (shoulder soreness), Lucas Giolito (hamstring strain) and Kutter Crawford (right knee soreness) will all start the season on the injured list.  This put the rotation depth to the test immediately, allowing Fitts and others the opportunity to get their feet in the door for a starting slot.

Fitts already made a good accounting for himself last season, when he debuted in the big leagues as a September call-up and posted a 1.74 ERA over his first 20 2/3 innings in the Show.  Originally a member of the Yankees’ farm system, Fitts came to Boston as part of the three-player package New York sent to the Red Sox for Alex Verdugo last winter.  A 4.17 ERA in 116 2/3 innings for Triple-A Worcester paved the way for Fitts’ late-season audition in the bigs, and he has kept up the good form with a 2.45 ERA in 14 2/3 innings this spring.

While Fitts has booked his spot on the Opening Day roster, the Red Sox have plenty more decisions to make before breaking camp.  Some of the roster trimming continued today, as MassLive.com’s Chris Cotillo and Christopher Smith report that right-hander Michael Fulmer and catcher Seby Zavala wouldn’t be making the team, and Julian McWilliams of the Boston Globe reports that the same is true of veteran pitchers Matt Moore and Adam Ottavino.

Moore and Ottavino are both Article XX(b) free agents, so their minor league deals contain built-in opt-out clauses for today, May 1, and June 1 unless their teams have selected those contracts to the 26-man roster.  With the Sox informing Moore and Ottavino that they won’t be making the team, the ball is now in each player’s court as to whether or they’ll trigger their opt-out, or stick around in Boston’s farm system.

Zavala doesn’t have enough MLB service time to qualify for XX(b) status, but his deal have its own opt-out clause.  Zavala told Cotillo that he’ll report to Triple-A Worcester unless he hears about another 40-man roster opportunity on another team within the next 24 hours.  With Zavala not making the Opening Day cut, Carlos Narvaez looks to have all but officially wrapped up the backup catching job behind starter Connor Wong.

Fulmer’s two-year minor league contract doesn’t contain any opt-out provisions, so the former AL Rookie of the Year will head to Triple-A despite an impressive 0.96 ERA over 9 1/3 innings.  A UCL revision surgery kept Fulmer on the shelf for the entirety of the 2024 season, which is why he inked that two-year pact with the Red Sox in February 2024.  The early returns on Fulmer’s recovery look good, and he’ll bide his time in the minors waiting for a call to come for his return to the majors.

Beyond all of the internal options the Sox are considering, Cotillo and Smith write that the club could be looking to add some depth at first base.  Triston Casas is the starting first baseman, and among bench options, Wong, Romy Gonzalez, and Rob Refsnyder all have experience at the position, though Refsnyder hasn’t played first since 2020, and deploying Wong at first base obviously creates a bit of a crunch behind the plate.

According to Cotillo and Smith, the Sox could have some interest in reuniting with Dominic Smith, even though Smith perhaps isn’t an ideal fit since he and Casas are both left-handed hitters.  Smith played 84 games with Boston last year before being released in August, and Smith just re-entered the free agent market after opting out of a minors deal with the Yankees.

In some interesting behind-the-scenes Red Sox news, The Athletic’s Jen McCaffrey detailed some of the many organizational changes Craig Breslow has overseen since being hired as Boston’s chief baseball officer in the fall of 2023.  Breslow has conducted something of an overhaul of several different departments within baseball options, ranging from installing new department heads to entirely changing how certain divisions operate.  The perception is that the Sox are adopting more of an analytical-based approach, as evidenced by staffing increases to the research and development department and cuts made within the various scouting divisions.

As one might expect, not all of these changes have been welcomed with open arms, creating some tension within current and former members of the organizational staff.  Breslow admitted that “without a doubt, we had to make really difficult decisions,” but “my hope is that whether people agree with those decisions or not, they understood that we were making the best decisions that we could in order to further this goal we have of competing for World Series championships year over year.  I don’t know that there’s a finish line.  We need to constantly evolve, track our progress, reevaluate.”

Astros Release Ben Gamel, Jalen Beeks

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The Astros announced this afternoon that they have released outfielder Ben Gamel and left-hander Jalen Beeks. Additionally, the club announced that infielder Luis Guillorme and right-hander Miguel Castro will not make the club’s Opening Day roster, though they’ll remain with the club through the end of big league Spring Training. The Athletic’s Chandler Rome adds that right-handers Forrest Whitley and Kaleb Ort will begin the season on the injured list. Gamel was on the 40-man roster, so today’s slate of moves drops the club’s 40-man total to 39.

Gamel, 33 in May, played 20 games for the Astros down the stretch last year and re-signed with the club on a one-year big league contract that guaranteed him a $200K signing bonus with a $1MM salary if he broke camp with the club. That will not come to pass, though he’ll head back into free agency having pocketed the signing bonus for his trouble as he searches for a job with a new club. The journeyman is a veteran of nine MLB seasons who has struggles to find a consistent home over the years, but has accumulated more than 700 games in the majors since he debuted with the Yankees back in 2016.

In that time, Gamel has generally been an average to slightly below average hitter at the big league level while mostly playing the outfield corners despite occasional cameos in center field and at first base. His career .252/.334/.382 slash line is good for a wRC+ of 96 that hardly jumps off the page, but makes him a solid enough option in a bench or platoon role for clubs that lack depth in the outfield corners. That’s a situation the Astros found themselves in after trading Kyle Tucker to the Cubs earlier this winter, though they’ve since rectified the issue somewhat by shifting longtime second baseman Jose Altuve into left field. That left Gamel seemingly ticketed for a timeshare with Chas McCormick in right field alongside Altuve in left and Jake Meyers in center, but now Gamel has been pushed off the roster entirely.

Gamel’s departure could make room for non-roster invitee and top prospect Cam Smith, the Cubs’ first-round pick in the 2024 draft who was shipped to Houston alongside Isaac Paredes and Hayden Wesneski in the Tucker deal, to break camp as the club’s starting right fielder. That would push McCormick into a bench role following a brutal 2024 season where he posted a 66 wRC+ in 94 games, though it would register as something of a surprise given that Smith has just five games of experience at even the Double-A level and McCormick was a three-win player as recently as 2023. If the club instead gives the right field job to Chas McCormick, Cooper Hummel appears to be the most likely candidate to round out the club’s outfield mix. As for Gamel himself, his 108 wRC+ against right-handed pitching since the start of the 2021 season and a solid .384 on-base percentage in 99 trips to the plate between the Mets and Astros last year seems solid enough to earn him a look elsewhere, though perhaps only a minor league deal at this stage of the winter.

Beeks, meanwhile, is a 31-year-old lefty who has struggled to a 5.05 ERA with the Rays, Rockies, and Pirates the past two years despite a decent 3.93 FIP. Despite those lackluster numbers, his 3.92 ERA and 3.12 FIP in 26 games for Pittsburgh down the stretch in conjunction with his decent 3.70 ERA and 3.83 FIP with the Rays from 2019 to 2022 offer some reason for optimism that Beeks could provide solid production for a bullpen in need of help from the left side. He’ll re-enter free agency with less than a week left until Opening Day having posted a 2.25 ERA in four innings of work for the Astros during camp in hopes of finding a new job. Lefty Steven Okert and righty Rafael Montero are both non-roster veterans in camp who appear ticketed for the Opening Day roster at this point, though Blake Weiman and Logan VanWey are among the other non-roster players still in the mix.

Joining Beeks in failing to make the team is veteran right-hander Miguel Castro, although the 30-year-old veteran of 10 MLB seasons will remain in Houston’s organization for at least the time being. The same can be said for utility man Luis Guillorme, who won’t make the club’s roster after a 2024 season where he slashed just .205/.301/.273 in 77 games with Atlanta, Anaheim, and Arizona last year. That bench spot that otherwise may have gone to Guillorme instead figures to be occupied by Brendan Rodgers after he was non-tendered by the Rockies back in November and signed a minor league deal with the Astros last month.

Meanwhile, the club’s bullpen takes a bit of a hit as both Whitley and Ort will open the season on the shelf. A former top starting pitching prospect, Whitley toiled through injuries and ineffectiveness in the minors for years before making his big league debut as a reliever last year with 3 scoreless outings. Ort, meanwhile, struggled in parts of three seasons with Boston before delivering a strong 2.55 ERA despite a 5.23 FIP in 24 2/3 innings for the Astros last year. Both players figure to have a role with the Astros this year when healthy enough to take the mound.

Giants Option Kyle Harrison To Triple-A

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The Giants announced a few more Spring Training cuts today, optioning left-hander Kyle Harrison and right-hander Keaton Winn to Triple-A, and reassigning lefty Joey Lucchesi to the team’s minor league camp.  With Harrison now slated for Triple-A, Hayden Birdsong and Landen Roupp are the last pitchers competing for the fifth spot in San Francisco’s rotation.

Harrison seemingly had a rotation job all but officially locked up following the former top prospect’s first full MLB campaign.  It wasn’t exactly a breakout year since Harrison posted a modest 4.56 ERA and a modest 22.2% strikeout percentage over 124 1/3 innings, but it seemed like the southpaw had done enough to claim his place in the Giants’ pitching staff going forward.

However, Harrison’s season saw him spend time on the injured list due to first a sprained ankle, and then a shoulder impingement in September that ultimately brought his year to a close.  As Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area writes, Harrison’s shoulder issue was caused because he tried to return too soon from his ankle injury, and the 23-year-old subsequently spent a good chunk of his offseason getting his shoulder back to full strength.

That disruption to Harrison’s winter routine was then followed by a virus that waylaid Harrison near the start of Spring Training, costing him 13 pounds of weight and quite a bit of lost build-up time in camp.  Harrison has made only three appearances in Cactus League games, with a 10.80 ERA to show for his 6 2/3 innings of work.

San Francisco’s rotation mix as a whole was altered when the team signed Justin Verlander, and decided to give Jordan Hicks another chance as a starting pitcher.  Between those two veteran hurlers, Logan Webb, and Robbie Ray, there was now just one remaining spot in the rotation, and Harrison’s lost time cost him dearly against tough competition.  Given how well Birdsong (0.75 ERA in 12 innings) and Roupp (3.75 ERA in 12 innings) have looked this spring, Harrison might have been hard-pressed to win a job even when healthy.

Birdsong looks like the favorite for the fifth starter’s job at the moment, and Roupp could still make the team in a bullpen role.  Roupp worked as a reliever in 19 of his 23 appearances for the Giants in his 2024 rookie year, posting a 3.58 ERA over 50 1/3 innings.  Birdsong also made his MLB debut last season, with a 4.75 ERA across 72 innings (starting all 16 games).

Brewers To Include Rule 5 Pick Connor Thomas On Opening Day Roster

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Left-hander Connor Thomas has made the Brewers’ Opening Day roster, according to Curt Hogg of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.  Thomas was selected out of the Cardinals’ organization in the Rule 5 Draft back in December, and the 26-year-old is now nearing his big league debut in what will be his sixth season of pro ball.

A fifth-round pick for the Cardinals in the 2019 draft, Thomas has pitched almost exclusively for Triple-A Memphis over the last four seasons, delivering a 4.36 ERA over 421 1/3 innings at the Cards’ top affiliate.  Thomas doesn’t miss many bats and his control is good but unspectacular, as the lefty’s calling card is a knack for inducing ground balls.  He has topped the 50% threshold with his grounder rates in each of his last three years in Memphis, and an inflated BABIP indicates that Thomas’ bottom-line numbers would’ve been better if he’d had just an average amount of batted-ball luck.

That kind of luck-dependent production could explain why St. Louis never gave Thomas a look on their active roster, but the Brewers were intrigued enough to draft him away from their NL Central rivals.  Thomas then did his part to stand out this spring, with an excellent 0.96 ERA over 9 1/3 relief innings.

Thomas worked as both a starter and reliever in the Cardinals’ farm system before transitioning more fully into bullpen work last year, with the result of a 2.89 ERA over 90 1/3 innings.  Several of Thomas’ 56 appearances involved more than one inning, so he can bring some innings-eating length to the Milwaukee bullpen.  Thomas is one of three left-handers projected to be part of the Brew Crew’s pen, along with Jared Koenig and Bryan Hudson.

As per the stipulations of the Rule 5 Draft, selected players cannot be optioned to the minors.  Thomas will have to spend the entire 2025 season on the Brewers’ roster (or, at least 90 days on the active roster and the rest on the big league injured list) for Milwaukee to fully claim his rights.  If the Brewers wanted to remove Thomas from their active roster, they would have to place him on outright waivers, then offer him back to the Cards for $50K.

Spencer Steer To Begin Season On Reds’ Injured List

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Spencer Steer hit during a minor league Spring Training game on Thursday, marking his first game action of any type since February 27.  Despite this step forward, the bothersome right shoulder that has sidelined Steer for much of camp will result in a season-opening placement on the injured list, Reds manager Terry Francona told MLB.com’s Mark Sheldon and other reporters today.

Because Steer’s shoulder problem only causes him discomfort while throwing, he had expressed some hope that he could break camp with the Reds in a DH-only capacity, allowing him to play while letting his shoulder fully heal up.  However, Francona said Steer was understanding of the roster situation, as “being a full-time DH probably isn’t best for him or our team.”  Steer will head north with the Reds and continue his work in simulated-game scenarios until the minor league season begins and he can start a proper rehab assignment.

The IL placement doesn’t come as much of a surprise, given how little Steer has played this spring and how his shoulder problem also bothered him for much of the 2024 season.  Specifically, the injury causes Steer to feel a twinge whenever he rears back to throw, though multiple tests and scans haven’t revealed anything structural at the root of this discomfort.  Steer received a cortisone shot this spring and was shut down entirely for over a week in order to let the shot take effect.

After an impressive rookie season for Cincinnati in 2023, Steer’s production took a step back last year, as he hit .225/.319/.402 with 20 home runs over 656 plate appearances.  On the defensive front, Steer played mostly as a left fielder and first baseman, while also chipping in for a few cameo appearances as a right fielder, second baseman, and shortstop.  Steer also saw a lot of time as a third baseman during the 2022-23 seasons.

It remains to be seen exactly how the Reds will deploy Steer in 2025, but his overall defensive utility underscores important it is that he can return to work on the diamond.  A return to form at the plate would also help, and while Steer has said that his shoulder problem didn’t impact his hitting, it seems like there might’ve been some correlation between his lingering injury and his downturn at the plate.

Offseason signing Austin Hays figures to get most of the left field work in Steer’s absence, while Jeimer Candelario and Christian Encarnacion-Strand look to handle first base, with CES also in line to act as the designated hitter.  Candelario is also expected to be part of a crowded mix of third base candidates, as Gavin Lux and Santiago Espinal will also be getting playing time at the hot corner.

Parker Meadows To Miss At Least Four More Weeks

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Parker Meadows’ season-opening stint on the injured list looks like it will stretch into May, as Tigers manager A.J. Hinch told reporters (including The Athletic’s Cody Stavenhagen) that the outfielder will need four weeks of rest after undergoing a nerve conduction test.  Meadows has been sidelined by an issue with the musculocutaneous nerve in his upper right arm, which has prevented him from throwing.

The problem has been bothering Meadows for the better part of the month, and the uncertain nature of nerve-related injuries had left the door open for a somewhat sudden recovery, since the nerve could technically “wake up” (to use Hinch’s parlance) at any point.  However, the aftermath of this test has led to a firmer idea of how much time Meadows will miss in the near term, but the outfielder and the team will then wait and see about how well his right arm has responded.

Because the problem is limited to his right arm, Meadows can take part other limited baseball activities apart from throwing, Hinch said.  This leads to some hope that Meadows could be able to return to action relatively quickly once he is finally cleared, but even in the best-case scenario of a clean bill of health in four weeks’ time, Meadows figures to need some ramp-up time in extended Spring Training and on a minor league rehab assignment.  It seems like the Tigers will be placing Meadows on the 10-day IL, as a 60-day placement would mean that Meadows wouldn’t be able to play on the active roster until the end of May.

It’s a very unfortunate and frustrating situation for Meadows, an outstanding defensive player who seemed to turn the corner at the plate late last season.  His 2024 season got off to a rough start between a cold stretch at the plate, a demotion to Triple-A Toledo, and then a month-long IL stint due to a hamstring injury as soon as Meadows was called back up to the big leagues.  Once he got back from the IL, Meadows finally hit his stride, batting .296/.340/.500 over his final 201 plate appearances to help lead Detroit to a wild card berth.

Just as he had solidified his spot as an everyday center fielder, however, Meadows will now join Matt Vierling on the IL, leaving the Tigers thin in the outfield.  The plan is to give Wenceel Perez the bulk of playing time in center field in Meadows’ absence, with utilityman Andy Ibanez, Zach McKinstry, and possibly minor league signing Jahmai Jones all helping fill the gaps around the diamond and on the bench.  Detroit has also considered some less-conventional options like giving Javier Baez and Spencer Torkelson a few reps in the outfield, just to provide as much flexibility as possible.

Nationals Select Colin Poche To 40-Man Roster

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The Nationals announced that they have selected the contract of left-hander Colin Poche.  The veteran reliever signed a minor league deal with Washington last month, and he’ll now be a part of the team’s Opening Day roster.

Poche has pitched in four of the last six MLB seasons, as a Tommy John surgery shelved him for the entirety of the 2020-21 campaigns.  He returned from that long layoff in pretty good form, posting a 3.27 ERA over 156 2/3 innings out of the Rays’ bullpen over the course of the 2022-24 seasons.  His strikeout rate has declined over those three years, however, bottoming out at a modest 21.6% rate last year.  Some back and shoulder injuries also sent Poche to the injured list, limiting him to 37 1/3 innings in what ended up as his final season in Tampa Bay.

The Rays opted to non-tender Poche rather than pay him a projected $3.4MM salary in what would’ve been his final season of arbitration eligibility.  The terms of his deal with Washington aren’t publicly known, but the southpaw will now lock in a guaranteed salary as a result of making the team.

Jose A. Ferrer is the only other left-hander slated to be part of the Nats’ bullpen, so there was clearly an opening for Poche to step in as a second lefty even though Poche’s spring numbers haven’t been impressive (a 7.71 ERA in 4 2/3 innings).  Amongst other southpaws on the 40-man roster, MacKenzie Gore and Mitchell Parker will be part of the starting rotation, and the Nationals yesterday optioned Shinnosuke Ogasawara and DJ Herz to Triple-A, where they will act as starting depth.  Konnor Pilkington is also in the organization on a minor league deal, but it stands to reason that Washington might look to add another lefty or two as other teams make their final camp cuts.

Jose Urena Won’t Opt Out Of Mets Deal, Will Pitch At Triple-A

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The Mets made some more camp cuts as Opening Day approaches, as MLB.com’s Anthony DiComo and The Athletic’s Will Sammon were among those who reported that right-handers Jose Urena and Chris Devenski, left-hander Genesis Cabrera, utilityman Donovan Walton, and catcher Jakson Reetz won’t be making the team.  The five players were all in camp on minor league contracts, and Urena’s deal contained an XX(b) out clause that he won’t be exercising, as Urena will remain in the Mets organization and pitch at Triple-A.

Urena inked his minors deal less than a month ago, and he has been rocked for a 19.29 ERA over three Grapefruit League appearances (2 1/3 total innings).  It’s fair to assume that Urena guessed there might not be much of a market for his services if he re-entered free agency, so he’ll stick with the Mets and try to regain his form in the minors.

A veteran of 10 MLB seasons, Urena has worked primarily as a starting pitcher but operated in a swingman capacity with the Rangers last year, starting nine of his 33 appearances.  The righty had a solid 3.80 ERA over 109 innings for Texas, with his typical strong grounder rate (50.1%).  Urena is a groundball specialist who rarely misses any bats, and he has had some issues in preventing home runs when batters are able to square up on his offerings.

Having an experienced swingman at Triple-A gives New York a helpful depth option to call upon in the event of an injury within either the rotation or the bullpen.  Urena’s deal also has standard opt-out dates on May 1 and June 1, so he’ll have a couple more chances in the near future to evaluate his status with the Mets.

In other Amazins news, left-hander Danny Young and righties Reed Garrett and Jose Butto were all told they’d be breaking camp for Opening Day as part of the Mets bullpen.  There wasn’t too much drama in these decisions, and the fact that Young and Butto are both out of minor league options might’ve added to their cause.

Daulton Varsho To Begin Season On Blue Jays’ Injured List

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After undergoing rotator cuff surgery last September, Daulton Varsho’s status for Spring Training or Opening Day was up in the air, with the general expectation being that the center fielder would need to miss at least some time at the start of the season.  Blue Jays manager John Schneider confirmed Varsho’s IL status to reporters (including Sportsnet’s Shi Davidi and Arden Zwelling) today, though the belief is that Varsho should be able to make his 2025 debut before the first month of the season is over.

Varsho has been able to play as a DH during Spring Training, and he has posted some big numbers in this somewhat limited capacity.  Simply using Varsho as a designated hitter until his shoulder fully heals isn’t an ideal situation, of course, since the Jays don’t want to do anything to aggravate the injury, and so much of Varsho’s import comes as a defensive player.  Varsho won his first career Gold Glove last season, and was recognized by the Fielding Bible as the best overall defender in all of baseball.

While sidelined, Varsho will continue to work at the Jays’ spring complex in Dunedin, with Zwelling writing that Varsho will play in simulated games and in official minor league games.  If all goes well, Varsho will start a proper rehab assignment with Triple-A Buffalo before returning to the Blue Jays’ active roster.

As to who will play center field until Varsho is ready, it appears the competition is down to Nathan Lukes, Myles Straw, and Alan Roden.  Zwelling notes that the Jays want Roden (who has yet to make his MLB debut) to play on a regular basis, which could hint that Roden might instead be used in an everyday role in Buffalo rather than in what might be a platoon role in Toronto.  Roden may not have much less to prove after posting big minor league numbers in 2023-24, plus he has been making a strong case for a roster job with some impressive spring numbers.

Lukes and Straw could operate in a center-field platoon, as Varsho’s placement on the IL will naturally open up another roster spot.  The Jays also made more cuts by optioning Joey Loperfido (once also a candidate for part-time center field work) and Leo Jimenez to Triple-A yesterday, and Schneider said today that Davis Schneider and Tyler Heineman will both break camp with the team.  Schneidrer will work as backup or part-time player at second base and in left field, while Heineman will back up starting catcher Alejandro Kirk.

In other Jays roster news, Davidi reports that Eric Lauer’s minor league deal contains an assignment clause that can be exercised tomorrow.  Should Lauer use the clause, other teams can reach out to the Jays within a 48-hour window to express interest in adding Lauer to their active rosters, and Toronto then have 48 hours to decide whether to move Lauer or add him to the Blue Jays’ own roster.

Lauer split the 2024 season pitching in the KBO League and at the Triple-A level with the Astros and Pirates organization, thus marking his first season without any MLB action since 2017.  From 2018-23 with the Padres and Brewers, Lauer had a 4.30 ERA over 596 2/3 innings, operating primarily as a starting pitcher.  An injury-plagued 2023 campaign ended his stint in Milwaukee, and he is now looking to rebound in at least a depth role on a big league roster.  Should he remain with the Blue Jays, Lauer will be one of the team’s top options at Triple-A should an injury hit anyone in the projected starting rotation.

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