Blue Jays Place Bo Bichette On Injured List, Recall Orelvis Martinez
The Blue Jays announced a series of roster moves today, with shortstop Bo Bichette placed on the 10-day injured list with a right calf strain, retroactive to June 15. Infielder Orelvis Martinez was recalled and will be making his major league debut as soon as he gets into a game. They also made a bullpen swap, with left-hander Brandon Eisert optioned as right-hander Ryan Burr was recalled.
Bichette hasn’t played since Friday due to this calf issue. The Jays didn’t place him on the IL right away as they monitored the development of the injury, but it seems it didn’t heal up as hoped and the determination was made to place him on the shelf. Since the move is backdated, he could be back in as soon as a week’s time if he feels better. Manager John Schneider says that is indeed the hope, per Shi Davidi of Sportsnet on X.
It’s been a rough season overall for Bichette, who is hitting just .237/.286/.342 on the year, a far cry from the .299/.340/.487 line he carried into the season. It’s possible that some of that is batted ball luck, as he had a .349 batting average on balls in play coming into the year but has a .271 BABIP in 2024, but he also has just four home runs this season and a 4.7% barrel rate that’s roughly half of the 9.2% rate he has for his entire career.
He may have been turning things around after a really rough start, as he slashed .280/.321/.410 in the month of May for a 108 wRC+. His numbers in June ticked down again, though it’s possible that the calf had started nagging at him before it actually took him out of the lineup. Regardless, he’ll have at least a week to rest up and take a breather.
His injury will allow Martinez to come up to the majors for the first time. Now 22 years old, he was a fairly high-profile international signing out of the Dominican Republic, securing a bonus of $3.51MM from the Jays in 2018. As he has climbed the minor league ladder, he has made good on that strong bonus by becoming a top 100 prospect, with his home run power standing out as his most exciting tool.
In 2021, he got into 98 games between Single-A and High-A, hitting 28 home runs in that time. He was promoted to Double-A in 2022 and there was a bit of concern with his early results there. He struck out at a 28.5% clip and slashed just .203/.286/.446 that year. But the Jays still didn’t want him exposed in that year’s Rule 5 draft and added him to their 40-man roster.
He returned to Double-A to start 2023 and the results were much better. He cut his strikeout rate to 20.5% and also drew walks at a huge 14% clip. He hit 17 home runs in 70 games and slashed .226/.339/.485 for a wRC+ of 122. He was promoted to Triple-A in July of last year and now has 118 games for the Bisons under his belt with 27 home runs. His 25.4% strikeout rate in that time is a bit high but he’s also drawn walks at a 9.7% clip.
There is some slight platoon concern, as Martinez has hit .321/.406/.661 against lefties this year but just .240/.324/.480 the rest of the time, but he’s also still quite young and has shown an ability to adjust when challenged.
Defense is also a bit of question mark for Martinez. He spent a lot of time at shortstop in previous seasons but hasn’t played there in 2024, mostly lining up at second base with a bit of time at third base also mixed in. Despite the flaws, Martinez has enough upside at the plate that he’s considered one of the top prospects in the league. Baseball America currently lists him #54 overall, FanGraphs #71 and MLB Pipeline #68. Coming into the season, Keith Law of The Athletic put him in the #57 spot, though Kiley McDaniel of ESPN didn’t have Martinez on his list.
Since Martinez hasn’t been playing shortstop this year, he won’t be a direct replacement for Bichette. Isiah Kiner-Falefa has been holding down that spot with Bichette out of action in recent days and will likely continue in that role, with Ernie Clement and Addison Barger capable of chipping in as well.
Martinez will be in the mix for some playing time at second and third alongside Clement, Barger, Davis Schneider and Spencer Horwitz. The club has also experimented with Vladimir Guerrero Jr. getting some time at third and he could be in the mix there as well.
The Jays have been struggling to find offense this year and recently cut both Daniel Vogelbach and Cavan Biggio from the roster, calling up Horwitz and Barger in an attempt to find some extra runs. The recall of Martinez was more motivated by Bichette’s injury but could perhaps help in that regard as well, though it’s possible it’s just a brief stay on the roster if Bichette is indeed back quickly.
The Jays are currently sporting a record of 35-37, not completely buried in the standings but they’re five games back of a playoff spot at the moment. They are reportedly going to wait until after the All-Star break to decide on how they approach the July 30 deadline.
If the recent roster shakeup can help them climb in the standings, then perhaps they can avoid a summer selloff. If not, the rumors on players nearing free agency will grow louder. That’s particularly true of Guerrero and Bichette, who are each set to hit the open market after 2025. Though with Bichette struggling this year and now injured as well, the Jays may have concerns about selling low, compounded by the public relations hit of selling a player who has been such a key part of the franchise for years. That will make the coming weeks very interesting for the club and Bichette, with the trade deadline on July 30, six weeks from today.
AL East Notes: Casas, Cole, Bichette
The Red Sox got some good news regarding the status of first baseman Triston Casas yesterday. As he told Julian McWilliams of the Boston Globe, Casas has begun taking dry swings as he works his way back from torn cartilage in his midsection. Casas indicated that if he continues feeling good after a few days of dry swings, he’ll begin making contact with a ball. McWilliams added that Casas hopes to be back in the Red Sox lineup in time for a series against the Marlins that begins on July 2.
If Casas is truly just two weeks away from a return to the majors, that would be a huge relief for a Red Sox lineup that has sorely missed his presence. While the club’s overall production since he last played on April 20 is still strong, with a 107 wRC+ that ranks eighth in the majors over that time, their wRC+ at first base has sat at just 98, below average overall and well below the production of an average first baseman. Of course, Casas is a great deal better than the average first baseman; the 24-year-old’s 160 wRC+ since the All Star break last year is the 11th-best figure in the majors over that timeframe and second only to Freddie Freeman among first basemen.
As noted by McWilliams, it’s far from guaranteed that Casas will be able to reach his target date for a return, even as he’s begun swinging a bat and running the bases. McWilliams relays that manager Alex Cora was more cautious in his comments regarding Casas’s timeline, noting that while “hopefully” Casas is back during the Miami series, the club also intends to be “smart” regarding his rehab and not rush him back before he’s ready. In the meantime, the Red Sox figure to rely on a combination of Dominic Smith and Bobby Dalbec at first base.
More from around the AL East…
- Yankees ace Gerrit Cole made his third rehab start on Friday, striking out ten batters in 4 1/3 innings at the Triple-A level. While neither Cole nor manager Aaron Boone would commit to Cole’s next start for the club coming in the majors in conversation with reporters yesterday, Jon Heyman of the New York Post noted that he felt good both immediately after the outing and the next day and that his return to the big leagues will come “soon.” A quick return to the mound for Cole would be fantastic news for the Yankees, as the 2023 AL Cy Young award winner would surely bolster an already-excellent rotation that sports the league’s best ERA entering play today.
- Blue Jays shortstop Bo Bichette has been out of the lineup for the past two games due to what manager John Schneider described to reporters (including MLB.com’s Keegan Matheson) as soreness in his right calf. It’s been a tough season at the plate for Bichette, who is hitting an uncharacteristically poor .237/.286/.342 in 276 trips to the plate with Toronto this year. Isiah Kiner-Falefa has handled shortstop in Bichette’s absence, and both Ernie Clement and Addison Barger have past experience at the position if further depth options are needed. Infielders Orelvis Martinez and Leo Jimenez are both on the 40-man roster and could step into the big leagues in the event that Bichette eventually requires a trip to the injured list.
Blue Jays Notes: Deadline, Vlad, Horwitz
The Blue Jays enter the summer as one of the most fascinating teams to monitor ahead of next month’s trade deadline. Sitting with a disappointing 29-32 record that has them in the AL East cellar, Toronto could upend the trade market if names like Bo Bichette, Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Danny Jansen, Chris Bassitt, Yusei Kikuchi and others eventually are made available to contending teams. They’ve not yet reached the point where that’s under consideration, however. GM Ross Atkins recently went on record to quash such rumblings, stating that it “doesn’t make any sense” for the Jays to consider moving Bichette and/or Guerrero.
There’s some logic behind that sentiment, to be sure. The Jays may be buried with a 14-game deficit in the division, but they’re also only four games back of the third AL Wild Card spot at the moment. That’s despite the fact that key bats like Bichette, Guerrero, George Springer and offseason signee Justin Turner have underperformed. (Turner had a blistering April but fell into perhaps the worst slump of his career in May.) It hasn’t manifested yet, but the talent is certainly there for the Jays’ offense to go on a run and surge back into the playoff picture.
Any fans hoping for a proactive trade to boost the offense or an early waving of the white flag appear to be in for a letdown, however. ESPN’s Jeff Passan reports that the Jays aren’t planning to make any firm calls on their deadline approach until after the All-Star break.
Some could read that as an indication that if the Jays’ standing in the Wild Card race dramatically falls off, perhaps they’ll reconsider moving Bichette and/or Guerrero. While there are few absolutes in the game — the Nationals famously traded Juan Soto less than two months after GM Mike Rizzo publicly proclaimed he would not do so, for instance — the overwhelming majority of instances where an executive goes on record to publicly downplay such a possibility tend to play out just as the GM or president in question indicates. That said, with Jansen, Kikuchi, Bassitt, Isiah Kiner-Falefa, Yimi Garcia, Kevin Kiermaier and others all signed/controlled only through this season or next, the Jays would still have plenty of attractive trade chips if they do end up as sellers.
That All-Star break target for a final call gives the current roster about six weeks to right the ship and prove that there is indeed a playoff-caliber club here — as was the general expectation heading into the season. The Jays are already getting creative in ways to change up their defensive alignment in an effort to get more bats in the lineup, giving Guerrero some starts at third base for the first time since 2019. It’s not an everyday arrangement, but manager John Schneider has suggested Guerrero could play there every five or six games or so, giving Toronto an avenue to have Guerrero and Justin Turner at the corners with both Jansen and Alejandro Kirk in the lineup (one at DH, the other at catcher).
Some may wonder why the Jays don’t simply play Turner at third base with more regularity, given that it’s been his primary position in an excellent big league career. But the 39-year-old Turner has made 11 starts at the hot corner between Boston and Toronto over the past two seasons and committed a glaring five errors in that time. While Guerrero isn’t going to provide plus defense himself, it seems the Jays prefer him to Turner from a defensive standpoint. Turner hasn’t played third base for the Jays since May 7.
Moving Guerrero to third base on occasion isn’t the only defensive shuffle that could be on the horizon, though. Sportsnet’s Ben Nicholson-Smith points out that Toronto has begun getting first baseman Spencer Horwitz reps at second base down in Triple-A and could soon look to him as a second base option at the big league level. Horwitz has now made 11 starts and tallied 87 innings at the position. It’s not an overwhelming amount of experience, but with Horwitz boasting an outrageous .332/.455/.510 slash in 255 plate appearances at the Triple-A level, the Jays are understandably seeking more ways to get him into the lineup.
The added flexibility will give Schneider some more ways to creatively construct his lineup. The ostensibly looming promotion of Horwitz will require Toronto to jettison one position player from the roster, and Toronto has a number of underperforming options to consider. Daniel Vogelbach has been limited to DH against right-handed pitching and managed only a .203/.282/.328 slash on the season. The aforementioned Kiermaier is hitting only .202/.254/.303, though he remains an elite outfield defender. Cavan Biggio‘s .200/.323/.293 marks his fourth straight year of middling results at the dish.
However the Jays choose to proceed, getting Horwitz onto the big league roster in the near future seems prudent, particularly with Guerrero and Bichette beginning to turn things around at the plate. Guerrero entered today’s game hitting .356/.433/.477 over his past 150 plate appearances and has already launched a three-run homer. Bichette’s slow start lasted longer, but he entered play Thursday with a .303/.324/.470 batting line over his past 16 games (68 plate appearances).
Jays GM Ross Atkins: Trading Guerrero, Bichette “Doesn’t Make Any Sense For Us”
The Blue Jays have won five of their last six games, but still sit below the .500 mark with a 28-30 record, putting them a few percentage points behind the Rays for last place in the AL East. As Darragh McDonald put it in a piece for MLBTR last week, some tough decisions will await the club heading into the trade deadline, and perhaps in the bigger picture entirely if the Jays don’t start heating up in a hurry.
Trading either of Vladimir Guerrero Jr. or Bo Bichette would be the most seismic moves Toronto could make if the team did decide to sell at the deadline. The duo have been the faces of this era of Blue Jays baseball, but since both are scheduled to become free agents after the 2025 season, it isn’t yet clear if either player will truly be in Toronto for the long term — whether due to the Jays’ overall struggles, or the team’s own hesitation about making a big financial commitment to players with inconsistent performance.
In either case, Jays GM Ross Atkins pushed back against the idea of a Guerrero/Bichette trade in an interview today on SiriusXM’s MLB Network Radio, and reiterated that the Blue Jays “believe in their futures and hope that there is a way they can play here for a long time.” In regards to possible extensions, Atkins said “of course we have dialogue with them” about such multi-year deals, “and that is something that will continue.”
This belief would seem to preclude the idea of Guerrero or Bichette being moved at the deadline. Atkins said he was “disappointed” in a recent report from MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand, which featured a quote from an unnamed AL executive who said Toronto wasn’t “opposed to” moving one of their two cornerstones, and have “talked to teams about it,” though “the asks were ridiculous.”
Atkins didn’t deny that some conversations had taken place with other front offices about Guerrero and Bichette, but in the sense that that the other teams were floating the idea of a trade, not the Jays themselves. Trading Guerrero or Bichette “just doesn’t make any sense for us…There will be occasional times as you’re talking to other executives, that they’ll ask if we’ll consider, and we just say it’s not something that we have spent any time on. Because they are so talented and such great teammates, they are attractive to other teams, so [others] will call.”
It is common practice for executives to check in on all sorts of players, simply out of due diligence just in case a rival team might be open to moving a player not known to be available, or if such a player could be available at a lower-than-expected price. Technically, a trade that “doesn’t make any sense for” in Atkins and the Blue Jays in early June could start looking a lot more sensible if the team is still struggling in late July, and some early groundwork laid by an interested suitor could make them Atkins’ first call at the deadline if the Jays did change direction.
That said, Atkins expressed confidence that better things were ahead for his team, noting that the two players have been hitting better after posting rough numbers in April. Guerrero in particular has been hot, hitting .366/.458/475 in 118 plate appearances and 26 games from May 1 through June 1, even if he had hit only two home runs in that span. Bichette has also posted a .318/.356/.471 slash line in his last 90 PA.
Even with the two stars producing, however, the Blue Jays as a whole have continued to struggle to score runs. George Springer has continued to struggle, Daulton Varsho has cooled off after a solid April, and the improvements from Guerrero and Bichette have been countered by Justin Turner‘s bat suddenly going ice cold over the last month. As a collective group, the Jays are also near the bottom of the league in hitting with runners in scoring position.
With offensive production at a premium, the Jays’ lineup today had the unexpected twist of Guerrero’s return to third base. Guerrero made his MLB debut as a third baseman in 2019, but hasn’t played the position at all since, apart from two late-game cameos at the hot corner.
Atkins said that the decision to use Guerrero at third base was “something we’ve been working on collectively…and that’s another way for us to deploy a lineup that maybe creates a little more offense.” Manager John Schneider said the same following today’s 5-4 win over the Pirates, telling Sportsnet’s Ben Nicholson-Smith and other reporters that Guerrero could perhaps play one of every five or six games as a third baseman. Turner or Daniel Vogelbach could then be used at first base or DH, or one of the Jays’ two catchers (Danny Jansen or Alejandro Kirk) could get a DH day while the other backstop is also in the lineup and behind the plate.
After Matt Chapman departed in free agency, Ernie Clement and offseason signee Isiah Kiner-Falefa have more or less split the playing time at third base this season, with Turner, Cavan Biggio, Addison Barger, and now Guerrero getting a few stray appearances. Kiner-Falefa has also seen a good chunk of action at second base, and he has performed well in this virtual everyday role. Not only is IKF delivering his customary strong defense, but he is also hitting .268/.315/.399 in 182 PA, for what would be a career-high 105 wRC+.
The Blue Jays May Have Some Tough Decisions To Make
The Blue Jays are obviously not having the season they envisioned in 2024. The club played at a 90-win pace over the previous four years, making the playoffs in three of those seasons and falling just one game short in 2021. But here in 2024, they are 21-26, last in the East and ahead of just the Athletics, Angels and White Sox in the American League standings.
The Playoff Odds at FanGraphs currently give them a 17.9% of getting into the postseason, though the PECOTA Standings at Baseball Prospectus are more bullish and still give the Jays a 30% shot. A sudden hot streak could certainly change those numbers in a hurry, but as the sand keeps falling through the hourglass, the club will have to think about how they handle a summer where they are unexpectedly out of contention.
Right-hander Kevin Gausman didn’t mince his words when assessing the situation yesterday, per Rob Longley of The Toronto Sun. “The reality is if we don’t play well, this team will not be together for much longer,” Gausman said. “It might make another year. It might make another year and a half. It might make a couple of months. That’s just the reality.”
There are various ways to play things when dealt a hand like that. Last year’s Cardinals, for instance, decided to only trade away impending free agents and keep the core intact for another shot at contention in 2024. They flipped impending free agents Jack Flaherty, Jordan Montgomery, Chris Stratton, Jordan Hicks and Paul DeJong to add some younger players to the system but kept most of the roster in place, then added to it by signing veterans like Sonny Gray, Kyle Gibson and Lance Lynn.
If the Jays were to take that path, their impending free agents are Yusei Kikuchi, Justin Turner, Kevin Kiermaier, Yimi García, Daniel Vogelbach, Danny Jansen and Trevor Richards. Kikuchi had a 3.86 earned run average last year and is down to 2.64 this year, so he would certainly have interest. García is striking out 35.3% of batters faced this year and has a 0.47 ERA. Richards has a 2.91 ERA and 29.4% strikeout rate. Trading catchers is a bit tricky midseason because of the challenges of learning a new pitching staff, but Jansen hits enough that he could appeal to a club looking for a guy to serve as a designated hitter and occasional backup catcher. Kiermaier isn’t hitting much this year but could certainly make for a glove-first fourth outfielder on a contending club. Turner and Vogelbach aren’t having great years and would need to get hot to have some trade value.
Even with trading Kikuchi, the club could go into 2025 with a strong starting rotation to build around. Gausman, José Berríos, Chris Bassitt and Alek Manoah are still under contract or club control next year, as are Yariel Rodríguez, Bowden Francis, Ricky Tiedemann and Adam Macko.
The larger and more difficult questions for the Jays will involve looking deeper into the future. They have a large number of players who are set to be free agents after 2025, with Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Bo Bichette being the most notable, though the list also includes Bassitt, Jordan Romano, Chad Green, Isiah Kiner-Falefa, Cavan Biggio, Tim Mayza, Erik Swanson and Génesis Cabrera.
Mark Feinsand of MLB.com recently explored the idea of Bichette and Guerrero being available and asked an anonymous executive about it. “I don’t think they’re opposed to it,” the executive said of the Jays. “They’ve talked to teams about it. The asks were ridiculous, but I think they’re going to try to retool a lot, and using those guys to get pieces may be the way to do it.”
There’s nothing necessarily surprising in that. Front office members discuss all kinds of trade scenarios that never come to fruition. Given where the Jays are in the standings, it’s logical that general manager Ross Atkins and his team would explore their options. And it’s also sensible that they would set a massive asking price with still over two months until the deadline.
Whether they pull the trigger on a deal for Guerrero or Bichette or both will depend on various factors. The club’s record here in 2024 would obviously be one factor, as would the organization’s perspective on their chances at another shot at contention in 2025. Naturally, the kinds of offers being put on the table will also be significant and it’s fair to wonder what kind of shape they would take right about now.
Bichette hit .299/.340/.487 in the past five seasons for a 127 wRC+ but is slashing just .226/.284/.327 here in 2024, which translates to a 77 wRC+. He has lowered his strikeout rate to 14.8%, which would be a career low by a significant margin, but he has just two home runs so far. His .257 batting average on balls in play is well below the .349 mark he carried into the year but he’s also not squaring the ball up like before. His 4.2% barrel rate this year is less than half his career clip of 9.4%. His exit velocity and hard hit rates still look comparable to previous years, so rival clubs would undoubtedly have interest in acquiring Bichette and getting a bounceback, but the Jays wouldn’t exactly be selling high if these kinds of numbers hold for the next few months.
Guerrero’s not in a hole like Bichette, as he’s slashing .279/.374/.385 for the year. He only has four home runs but is drawing walks at a 12.6% rate. His overall offensive production translates to a 123 wRC+. That’s nothing to sneeze at but it’s also not the elite production he showed back in 2021, when he hit 48 home runs and slashed .311/.401/.601, and it just barely cracks the top ten among qualified first basemen in the league this year. Given the gap between his ceiling and his current performance, perhaps the offers from other clubs won’t match up with what the Jays are expecting.
There’s also the public relations question of whether the club wants to send out the two players who have been the collective faces of the franchise since before they even made it to the major leagues. There are some players putting up intriguing numbers in Triple-A Buffalo this year, with each of Addison Barger, Nathan Lukes, Spencer Horwitz, Steward Berroa, Leo Jimenez, Will Robertson and Orelvis Martinez currently having a 112 wRC+ or higher in more than 100 plate appearances this year. Perhaps there’s an argument for opening up playing time for some of the guys in that group, but none of them have the same level of prospect pedigree nor the name recognition of Guerrero or Bichette, making it a questionable move from both a roster construction angle and a PR point of view.
Perhaps the Jays won’t get an offer that’s enticing enough to make them cross this threshold. Maybe they keep the gang together for another shot in 2025. Perhaps they go on a hot streak and make this all moot. After all, they are only 3.5 games back of a playoff spot at this moment.
But if they stay on the fringes of the race, they have some tricky decisions to make. Trading rentals would be the easy part if they stay behind the rest of the Wild Card pack. Whether to move on to guys with extra control will be a trickier decision. It would likely reduce the club’s chances in 2025 but could be their best path to restocking their farm system, depending on what kind of offers they get. With so many players set to hit free agency either this year or next, there would surely be some temptation to infuse the system with young and controllable talent at this year’s deadline, if the opportunity to do so is there.
They would also free up a bit of payroll space in the process. Bichette is making $11MM this year and will make $16.5MM next year. Guerrero is making $19.9MM this year and will be set for a raise via arbitration into the $25-30MM range next year. The Jays could then pivot to the free agent market, as they don’t have a massive amount on the long-term books. Only Gausman, Berríos, Rodríguez and George Springer are under contract past 2025. By 2027, Berríos is the only significant contract on the books. His deal only goes through 2028 and he can also opt out after 2026.
Taking all of that into account, it will be an important summer for the Blue Jays. In the months to come, the games on the field and the conversations taking place off of it will undoubtedly be playing a huge role in the future of the franchise.
Blue Jays’ GM Ross Atkins Downplays Bichette Trade Rumors
Blue Jays shortstop Bo Bichette was the subject of trade speculation last week, when a report suggested the Cubs had shown interest in the two-time All-Star. Any kind of Bichette trade always seemed far-fetched and Toronto general manager Ross Atkins shot down the possibility in a chat with reporters (including Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet and Scott Mitchell of TSN) this afternoon.
Atkins called Bichette a “really good player” and pointed to the scarcity of impact position player talent available this offseason, suggesting that it’s only natural other teams would contact the Jays about his availability. Nevertheless, Atkins made clear it’s not something the Jays are pursuing. “We are very fortunate to have him and he is our shortstop moving forward,” Atkins said. “Rumors, speculation, there’s usually something (to them), but in our case, Bo is our shortstop moving forward.”
The Jays have the star infielder under contract for two more seasons. Bichette signed a three-year deal to buy out his arbitration campaigns on the eve of Spring Training. He is set for an $11MM salary next season and will make $16.5MM in his final year before free agency. That’s a price the Jays will happily pay for a shortstop who hit .306/.339/.475 over 601 plate appearances, numbers right in line with his career marks.
Toronto has openly looked for ways to add more offense alongside Bichette and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. The Jays are a reported suitor for Shohei Ohtani and have shown interest in a reunion with Matt Chapman. Chapman, Brandon Belt and Whit Merrifield all hitting free agency has subtracted a trio of regulars from the lineup.
As they reload on the heels of an 89-win season that ended in the Wild Card round, the front office is unsurprisingly open to short-term acquisitions. Atkins said the team isn’t averse to trading for a player who is one year from free agency (Nicholson-Smith link). The GM didn’t mention any specific targets. Juan Soto, Corbin Burnes, Shane Bieber, Ha-Seong Kim and Max Kepler are among the rental players who appeared on MLBTR’s list of the Top 25 offseason trade candidates earlier this month.
Right-hander Alek Manoah also appeared on that list. The Jays have signaled some openness to moving the enigmatic hurler on the heels of a disastrous season. However, Nicholson-Smith suggests (on X) the team is more inclined to hold onto Manoah rather than selling low. At the start of the offseason, Atkins implied he was the in-house favorite to occupy the fifth spot in the rotation behind Kevin Gausman, Chris Bassitt, José Berríos and Yusei Kikuchi.
Manoah was a Cy Young finalist as recently as 2022, when he pitched to a 2.24 ERA over 31 starts. Everything went in the wrong direction this year. Manoah allowed 5.87 earned runs per nine over 87 1/3 innings. His walk rate more than doubled while his strikeouts fell to a career-low 19% mark. He didn’t pitch again after being optioned on August 10. Last month, Atkins said the West Virginia product had received a platelet-rich plasma injection in his throwing shoulder.
The GM indicated today that Manoah is throwing as part of his offseason routine. He seems on track to be a full-go for Spring Training. He’d seemingly enter exhibition play as the #5 starter, although the Jays have at least kicked the tires on possible rotation acquisitions. They’ve been tied to Yoshinobu Yamamoto and were reportedly involved in the Aaron Nola market to some extent before he re-signed with the Phillies. If the Jays were to land another starter, it’d reignite speculation about Manoah’s availability.
Blue Jays Notes: Bichette, Guerrero, Chapman, Nola
Blue Jays shortstop Bo Bichette has come up in some trade rumors this offseason but it doesn’t appear there’s much momentum towards a deal there. Both Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic and Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet addressed the possibility in columns today, both downplaying the likelihood of the Jays choosing this path.
Nicholson-Smith says he spoke with executives with teams other than the Jays, who gave him the impression the Jays are planning to hold. Rosenthal says the Jays are indeed getting calls from other clubs about Bichette and first baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr. but that doesn’t mean they are motivated to move either.
This is all fairly understandable under the conditions of this winter’s market. It’s generally agreed that the crop of free agent hitters is on the weak side, which would naturally lead clubs to find upgrades on the trading block. But the Jays are also looking to upgrade their own position player group, having to replace free agents Matt Chapman, Whit Merrifield, Brandon Belt and Kevin Kiermaier. Subtracting Bichette and/or Guerrero would only make that task harder and it’s hard to imagine a trade that would make sense for both sides.
Each of Bichette and Guerrero are two years away from free agency, so any club looking to acquire them would naturally be in win-now mode. But the Jays are in a competitive window as well, meaning MLB-ready talent would have to be coming back in exchange, and it would be difficult to send something to the Jays that makes the club better than Bichette does. The shortstop has produced 13.5 wins above replacement over the past three years, per FanGraphs, which puts him in the top 25 of all position players in the league. Guerrero’s past two seasons weren’t as strong as his 2021 campaign but he was still good for roughly 30 homers with a low strikeout rate. With the Jays actively pursuing Shohei Ohtani, parting ways with a star player like Bichette or Guerrero wouldn’t help their pitch.
In terms of Toronto’s pursuits, it’s been reported that the Jays are interested in a Chapman reunion and that still appears to be the case. Both Nicholson-Smith and Keegan Matheson of MLB.com indicate that the dialogue is still open between the Jays and Chapman but it doesn’t appear there’s anything close to getting done. Chapman reportedly turned down an extension offer of four or five years while still with the club.
Another option the Jays considered was right-hander Aaron Nola, with Nicholson-Smith reporting that the club “showed early interest” in the righty before he re-signed with the Phillies. Though the lineup seems to the priority for the Jays, it seems there’s at least some openness to a rotation addition, with the Jays having also been connected to Yoshinobu Yamamoto.
The rotation already has Kevin Gausman, José Berríos, Chris Bassitt and Yusei Kikuchi in four spots, with Alek Manoah, Bowden Francis, Mitch White and prospect Ricky Tiedemann options for the back end. Adding Nola or Yamamoto in there would likely lead to someone becoming available in trade, with Jays reportedly open to moving Manoah.
Overall, it’s been a quiet offseason for the Jays thus far, with the team having only made perfunctory transactions in the past few weeks. It’s entirely possible that all their upcoming moves will hinge on their pursuit of Ohtani, as the club is seen as one of a handful of legitimate contenders for the two-way superstar. Though they have some openness to reuniting with Chapman, pursuing Yamamoto or perhaps going after Cody Bellinger, all of those options may be on the backburner until the Ohtani situation has some clarity. Since Ohtani is widely expected to require a record-breaking deal of $500MM or more, it stands to reason that the club would want to figure out their chances there before committing to other options that will also require significant funds.
Shohei Ohtani Wins AL MVP
Two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani has been voted the Most Valuable Player in the American League for 2023, per an announcement from the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. Corey Seager and Marcus Semien of the Rangers were second and third in the voting, respectively.
The news hardly comes as a surprise, with Ohtani having delivered another two-way season for the Angels in which the only precedent was himself. He made 23 starts as a pitcher, tossing 132 innings with an earned run average of 3.14. His 10.4% walk rate was a bit on the high side but he struck out 31.5% of batters faced. Among pitchers with at least 130 innings pitched on the year, only Spencer Strider punched out opponents at a greater rate.
As a hitter, he launched 44 home runs and drew walks at a 15.2% clip. His .304/.412/.654 batting line translated to a wRC+ of 180, indicating he was 80% better overall than the average hitter. He accomplished all of these things despite having his season cut short by injury. Due to some finger issues and then a torn UCL, he only tossed 1 1/3 innings after August 9 and not at all after August 23. He continued hitting but he later suffered an oblique strain and his last game as either a hitter or pitcher was September 3.
That didn’t matter as Ohtani had already racked up enough accomplishments to take home the award for a second time, the first coming in 2021. If it weren’t for Aaron Judge‘s record-breaking 62 home runs last year, Ohtani would have gotten a hat trick. The BBWAA notes that this is the first time a player has won a unanimous MVP twice. The most unique baseball player of all time is now the most unique free agent of all time and is surely in line to break another record, or records, when he finally puts pen to paper.
Seager and Semien each had fine seasons in their own right, but had little chance to catch Ohtani here, though they have World Series rings to soften the blow. Seager hit 33 home runs and had a wRC+ of 169 while those numbers were 29 and 124 for Semien.
Other players receiving votes were Julio Rodríguez, Kyle Tucker, Yandy Díaz, Bobby Witt Jr., Gunnar Henderson, Adley Rutschman, José Ramírez, Gerrit Cole, Luis Robert Jr., Yordan Alvarez, Adolis García, Judge, Bo Bichette, J.P. Crawford, Cal Raleigh, Rafael Devers, Isaac Paredes, Sonny Gray, Alex Bregman and Josh Naylor.
Danny Jansen Undergoes Finger Surgery
Blue Jays catcher Danny Jansen underwent surgery yesterday to address his fractured right middle finger, the team announced (relayed by Scott Mitchell of TSN). He’s out for the rest of the regular season, though the club is leaving open the possibility for a return in the postseason if they qualify.
Jansen broke his finger last week when it was struck by a foul tip. The Jays promptly put him on the injured list, recalling Tyler Heineman from Triple-A to take the active roster spot. Heineman will remain in the #2 capacity while Alejandro Kirk takes the majority of the reps. The right-handed hitting Kirk had started the season slowly but has found his stride in the second half, posting a .296/.379/.463 line since the All-Star Break.
That positions the Jays better than virtually any other team to withstand the loss of a catcher, but it’s still disappointing for player and team alike. Jansen also missed time this year with a groin strain and has gone on the IL in each of the last three seasons. When healthy, the 28-year-old is one of the better catchers in the game. He owns a .228/.312/.474 slash with 17 homers in only 301 plate appearances this year.
In better news for Toronto, they reinstated Bo Bichette from the IL before this evening’s matchup with the Royals. Bichette missed a minimal amount of time with a quad strain. The star shortstop has been the Jays’ best player this year, so getting him back quickly is obviously a huge development for a team that entered play Friday half a game up on the Rangers for the last Wild Card spot in the American League.
Blue Jays Place Bo Bichette On IL, Select Mason McCoy
The Blue Jays announced that shortstop Bo Bichette has been placed on the 10-day injured list, retroactive to August 28, with a right quad strain. Infielder Mason McCoy has been selected to the roster in a corresponding move. The club already had a 40-man vacancy.
For Bichette, it’s his second trip to the IL this month, as he landed there in early August due to patellar tendinitis in his right knee. The Jays acquired Paul DeJong from the Cardinals to cover for Bichette’s absence but he hit just .068/.068/.068 for the Jays and was designated for assignment when Bichette returned just over two weeks later. Unfortunately, Bichette departed a game earlier this week due to quad tightness and it seems it’s serious enough that the club will give him at least a week-plus to rest. The club hasn’t provided any details on how long they expect Bichette to be out.
The move leaves the Jays without both of their regulars from the left side of their infield, as third baseman Matt Chapman landed on the IL yesterday due to a right middle finger sprain. That will leave the club improving solutions for those spots as they look to stay afloat in the American League Wild Card race. Perhaps the club has some regret over letting go of DeJong, but he hasn’t been thriving since signing with the Giants, hitting just .150/.143/.300 since signing with that club.
Ernie Clement played shortstop for the Jays yesterday and is in that spot again tonight. Davis Schneider was at the hot corner last night but Santiago Espinal gets the nod tonight, as Schneider moves over to second. Cavan Biggio has some third base experience and the club reportedly has some openness to using Vladimir Guerrero Jr. there as well, though it sounds like that might be limited to late-game defensive swaps based on in-game moves.
They will also add McCoy to their roster to serve as infield depth. He was just acquired a month ago from the Mariners with Trent Thornton heading the other way. The 28-year-old McCoy has long been considered a strong defender, though with his bat not drawing as much praise. In 467 Triple-A appearances this year, he’s walked at a 12% clip but also struck out 29.3% of the time. His .226/.324/.383 line amounts to a wRC+ of just 71, but he’s been able to play some shortstop, second base, third base and left field. He’ll give the Jays a glove-first option on the bench, making his major league debut as soon as he gets into a game.
Active rosters expand from 26 to 28 in September, which will provide the Jays an opportunity to potentially add another infielder into the mix. A maximum of 14 of the 28 players can be pitchers, meaning the Jays will have to add at least one position player, as they currently have a 13-13 split. Addison Barger, Orelvis Martinez and Spencer Horwitz are all on the 40-man roster and could be options. Barger and Martinez both have plenty of experience on the left side of the diamond but neither has made their major league debut yet. Horwitz was able to debut in the big leagues earlier this year but has mostly just played first base and left field. Outfielder Nathan Lukes is also on the 40-man but doesn’t have any infield experience.