Josh Fleming, Austin Voth Elect Free Agency
Left-hander Josh Fleming and right-hander Austin Voth have both cleared waivers and elected free agency. Both were designated for assignment by the Blue Jays this week. Arden Zwelling of Sportsnet was among those to relay the news.
As of a few days ago, both pitchers were with the Jays on minor league deals. The club’s pitching staff suffered a few notable blows, forcing them to cycle through some depth. Cody Ponce suffered a knee injury that eventually required surgery. Lazaro Estrada was recalled when Ponce landed on the injured list. Estrada made one appearance in a bullpen game on Saturday, logging four innings, then got optioned back to the minors.
Voth was one of the pitchers who came up when Estrada went down. Eric Lauer, battling through the flu, started on Sunday but only went two innings. Voth tossed 2 2/3 innings in relief. He was designated for assignment the next day when Fleming was selected. On Monday, Max Scherzer started but he was pulled after two innings due to some right forearm tendinitis, which led to Fleming coming in to pitch three frames. Fleming was designated for assignment when the Jays recalled Patrick Corbin, who will start tomorrow’s game.
A player has the right to reject an outright assignment and elect free agency if he has a previous career outright or at least three years of service time. Each of Voth and Fleming qualify on both accounts. The two of them now head into free agency to see what offers await them.
Both pitchers generally have passable career numbers in swing roles. Voth has thrown 363 big league innings over 208 games, including 39 starts. He has a 4.69 earned run average, 22% strikeout rate, 8.3% walk rate and 34.4% ground ball rate. Fleming has thrown 257 2/3 innings in 81 games, including 25 starts. He has a 4.86 ERA, 14.4% strikeout rate, 7.6% walk rate and 58.5% ground ball rate.
It’s possible that one or both pitchers will re-sign with the Jays, as that’s a common outcome in these situations, but they can explore alternatives. The Jays do have Trey Yesavage, José Berríos and Shane Bieber working back from injuries but their depth is a bit perilous in the short term and Scherzer’s status is still up in the air, meaning the pitchers would have decent paths back to the majors. Estrada is now on the minor league IL, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com, so that’s one fewer competitor with the Jays. Though on the other hand, they’re certainly not the only club dealing with pitching injuries.
Photo courtesy of Nick Turchiaro, Imagn Images
Cody Ponce Diagnosed With ACL Sprain
5:22pm: The Jays have officially placed Ponce on the 15-day IL and recalled Estrada, per a club announcement.
3:25pm: Blue Jays manager John Schneider provided an update on right-hander Cody Ponce, who departed yesterday’s game with an injury. Ponce has a sprain of the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee. He has avoided a full tear and it’s still to be determined whether surgery will be necessary. Even if he does avoid surgery, he will miss “significant time” regardless, though the Jays are holding out hope he can pitch later in the year. Hazel Mae of Sportsnet and Mitch Bannon of The Athletic were among those to relay the information.
Time will tell exactly how it plays out as the Jays are still gathering medical opinions but it seems like Ponce is likely to miss a few months even in a best-case scenario. It’s a brutal blow for Ponce and the team. Ponce had spent the past few years overseas. He had an excellent 2025 season in Korea, giving the Hanwha Eagles 180 2/3 innings with a 1.89 ERA.
He parlayed that into a three-year, $30MM deal with the Blue Jays but that deal has begun in one of the most agonizing ways possible. Ponce was making his team debut last night when he tried to field a grounder in the third inning. He fell to the ground in obvious pain and was later carted off the field. The team initially announced his injury as right knee discomfort. It now appears he will miss the majority of the 2026 campaign, meaning his triumphant return to the majors will have to wait.
For the Jays, this adds another layer to the challenges they have been facing with their rotation depth. Each of Trey Yesavage, Shane Bieber and José Berríos began the season on the injured list. The Jays were able to start the season in decent shape even without those guys, having a five-man group consisting of Kevin Gausman, Dylan Cease, Eric Lauer, Ponce and Max Scherzer.
Now that Ponce is out, the Jays will have an opening, at least for the short term. Yesavage, Bieber and Berríos are all throwing and could potentially be back in the mix in the near future. Yesavage seems to perhaps be the closest, as he is expected to throw 45 innings over three innings in a simulated game this week.
Until one of those three is ready to return, the Jays will need a fifth starter. Per Keegan Matheson of MLB.com, the Jays don’t plan to use their off-days to run a four-man rotation, so they’ll need someone to take Ponce’s spot on Sunday. Ricky Tiedemann won’t be an option since he is also injured at the moment. The same goes for Bowden Francis, who will miss all of 2026 due to Tommy John surgery. Jake Bloss is recovering from last year’s surgery. Schneider listed Lazaro Estrada, Adam Macko, CJ Van Eyk and Chad Dallas as possibilities to start Sunday’s game.
Estrada seems likely to be recalled today, as Francys Romero of BeisbolFR reported last night. Multiple reporters, including Bannon, noted today that Estrada has a locker in the clubhouse. Ponce hasn’t been officially placed on the IL but it seems like Estrada will be recalled when that does happen. Whether Estrada is available to pitch on Sunday perhaps depends on if he is needed to log any innings between now and then. He made two appearances for the Jays last year, allowing seven earned runs in 7 1/3 innings. He also posted a 5.73 ERA in Triple-A last year.
Macko is another option already on the 40-man, although he hasn’t yet made his major league debut. He had a 5.06 ERA at Triple-A last year, pitching in a swing role. He pitched two innings of relief for Buffalo on Friday.
Van Eyk and Dallas are not on the 40-man roster, though that shouldn’t be an issue. The Jays already have two vacancies with Leo Jiménez and Angel Bastardo getting designated for assignment last week. They effectively have two more open spots since Anthony Santander and now Ponce are candidates to be moved to the 60-day injured list. Van Eyk had a 4.79 ERA in 126 Triple-A innings last year. Dallas had a strong 2023 on the farm, posting a 3.65 ERA. However, his ERA spiked to 6.21 in 2024 in a season that was cut short by injury, ultimately requiring Tommy John surgery. He just pitched three innings on Sunday, his first official game action since July of 2024.
The Jays will hope that whoever takes the spot in the coming days will be bumped out after a few turns, making it a short-term issue. The Ponce injury could also impact them in the long term. Each of Gausman, Bieber, Scherzer and Lauer are slated for free agency after this season. Berríos can opt out of his deal, though that seems unlikely at the moment. That means the 2027 rotation currently projects to include Cease, Yesavage, Ponce and Berríos, with some of the aforementioned young guys potentially stepping up.
In a perfect world, Ponce would have had a strong 2026 and established himself as a legit MLB arm going into 2027. If he ends up missing most or all of the remainder of the schedule, he will still be a question mark going into next season.
Photo courtesy of Kevin Sousa, Imagn Images
Cody Ponce Going For Imaging With Knee Discomfort
9:36pm: Ponce is going for an MRI tonight, manager John Schneider said postgame (relayed by Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet). Francys Romero reports that the Jays are recalling Estrada from Triple-A Buffalo. That seems likely to be the corresponding move for a Ponce injured list placement, though it’s possible they’re simply looking for a fresh arm in the bullpen after Brendon Little and Rule 5 pick Spencer Miles logged 30+ pitches in tough outings tonight.
8:20pm: Blue Jays starter Cody Ponce left tonight’s season debut on a cart in the third inning. The team has only announced the injury as right knee discomfort.
Ponce stumbled while trying to field a chopper off the bat of Rockies center fielder Jake McCarthy (video provided by Shi Davidi of Sportsnet). The big righty was unable to field the ball cleanly, then tried stopping abruptly to pick it up. He tweaked his right leg, took a few more steps, then went down on the dirt a little to the left of first base.
After spending some time on the ground in clear discomfort, Ponce was able to get to his feet with help from trainers and teammate Vladimir Guerrero Jr. He walked gingerly but under his own power to a cart and was taken off the field at Rogers Centre. Louis Varland was called upon from the bullpen.
The Jays will provide more details after Ponce goes for testing. He’ll surely be sent for imaging to determine whether there are any ligament issues. A timetable won’t be known until then. At the very least, it’s tough to see Ponce avoiding a stint on the 15-day injured list.
Toronto has one of the deeper rotations in MLB, as they arguably have eight viable starters. They’ve needed it with season-opening injured list stints for Shane Bieber, Trey Yesavage and José Berríos. None of those are expected to be long-term absences. Yesavage, who is behind with a shoulder impingement, is set for a 45-pitch simulated game later this week. Bieber will progress to throwing off a mound on Friday, while Berríos is scheduled for a bullpen session tomorrow (all updates courtesy of the MLB.com injury tracker).
Even if he avoids serious injury, it’s a brutal break for Ponce. The 31-year-old was making his first big league start since 2021. Ponce pitched three seasons in Japan and had a dominant ’25 season with the Hanwha Eagles in Korea. He leveraged the numbers and improved stuff into a three-year, $30MM free agent deal with Toronto. Ponce had fanned three hitters across 2 1/3 innings of one-run ball before the injury.
Kevin Gausman, Dylan Cease, Max Scherzer and swingman Eric Lauer are penciled into the rotation. Toronto has off days on April 3rd, 9th, and 14th. They could get by using a four-man rotation and just one bullpen game into the middle of April. They’d probably prefer to stay on a five-man starting staff and take advantage of the extra days of rest early in the season.
Toronto doesn’t have much rotation depth in the upper minors. Jake Bloss and Ricky Tiedemann are also injured. Prospects Lázaro Estrada and Adam Macko are the other options on the 40-man roster. They each worked a couple innings out of the bullpen in their Triple-A season debuts over the weekend. Grant Rogers, Chad Dallas, CJ Van Eyk and recent minor league signee Austin Voth are non-roster possibilities for a spot start.
Blue Jays Release Connor Seabold, Option Lazaro Estrada
The Blue Jays announced that they have granted right-hander Connor Seabold his release, making him a free agent (link via Mitch Bannon of the Athletic). Per Arden Zwelling of Sportsnet, Seabold exercised a release clause in his contract. Right-hander Lazaro Estrada has also been optioned to Triple-A.
Seabold was in camp on a minor-league deal which he signed two months ago. He covered 6 2/3 innings in six spring appearances for Toronto, albeit with a 6.75 ERA and three hit batters. He did strike out 13 hitters in that small sample, but he also walked four and generally did not show much improvement over his limited major-league numbers from 2025. He was strictly a reliever in that sample and a swingman in prior MLB seasons, though he didn’t show enough for the Blue Jays to keep him in the organization as a depth option.
His biggest MLB exposure came in 2023 with the Rockies. Pitching 87 1/3 innings across 27 appearances (13 starts) that year, Seabold had an unsightly 7.52 ERA and expected stats in the low to mid-5.00s. His 6.9% walk rate was impressive, though that was about the only thing that went right for him in Colorado. His 16.4% strikeout rate was below average. He also allowed nearly two home runs per nine innings, which was worse than average even taking into account the hitter-friendly environment of Coors Field.
Seabold fared much better upon moving to the Korea Baseball Organization in 2024. He posted a 3.43 ERA in 160 innings with the Samsung Lions that year, striking out nearly a batter per inning and cutting back dramatically on his walks. He returned to MLB in 2025, but he only made seven relief appearances between the Rays and Braves organizations. For now, it seems he is more likely to catch on as a reliever if he focuses on MLB opportunities.
Estrada, 26, was signed out of Cuba in 2018 and spent the early part of 2025 in Triple-A. He saw his contract selected in early July and made his big-league debut with a four-inning relief appearance against the Angels on July 5. He only made it into two games overall, allowing seven earned runs in 7 1/3 innings but also displaying a penchant for strikeouts. Estrada has a four-pitch mix featuring a 93 MPH four-seamer, which he complements with a slider, sinker, and occasional curveball. He has less than a year of service time and has two minor-league option years remaining.
Photo courtesy of Kim Klement Neitzel, Imagn Images
Blue Jays Place Andres Gimenez On 10-Day Injured List
The Blue Jays announced a flurry of roster moves this morning, headlined by their move to place second baseman Andres Gimenez on the 10-day injured list with an ankle sprain. Outfielder Joey Loperfido was recalled to the big league roster to replace Gimenez. In a second set of moves, right-hander Ryan Burr was activated from the 60-day injured list. Right-hander Lazaro Estrada was optioned to Triple-A and outfielder Will Robertson was designated for assignment to make room for Burr on the active and 40-man rosters respectively.
Gimenez suffered an ankle injury on Wednesday, and aggravated the issue further on Friday after initially attempting to play through it. He was viewed as day-to-day initially, but Arden Zwelling of Sportsnet noted yesterday that Gimenez was being sent for an MRI. That MRI revealed a sprain, and the Blue Jays evidently felt the issue was severe enough to warrant a trip to the injured list. Gimenez’s exact timeline for return is not yet known, but the timing of the injury means he won’t be back until after the All-Star break at the very earliest.
It’s a tough blow for the division-leading Blue Jays, as while Gimenez is batting just .218/.300/.322 on the year he’s offered his trademark strong glove at second base and has heated up considerably since returning from a quad strain at the start of June. In 25 games since returning, Gimenez had slashed .253/.340/.349 with a wRC+ of 101. A combination of league average offense and Gimenez’s stellar defense is enough to make him an extremely valuable player, as seen in 2023 when he posted 3.8 fWAR for the Guardians despite a 97 wRC+.
While Gimenez is on the shelf, the Jays appear likely to rely on some combination of Will Wagner, Leo Jimenez, and Davis Schneider at the keystone. Loperfido is replacing Gimenez on the roster after posting a 111 wRC+ at the Triple-A level throughout this season, but he hit just .214/.264/.350 in 81 games for the Jays last year and seems unlikely to be much more than a depth option for the club during this return to the majors. Acquired from the Astros as part of the Yusei Kikuchi trade, Loperfido does actually have some experience at second base in the minors but has been limited to the outfield and first base at the big league level.
As for Burr, the right-hander is now poised to make his season debut after being sidelined by a bout of right shoulder inflammation during Spring Training. Burr posted a 4.08 ERA in 75 innings with the White Sox between 2018 and 2022 before spending the 2023 campaign in the Rays’ minor league system. He joined the Blue Jays for the 2024 season and posted a 4.13 ERA in 32 2/3 innings of work with an impressive 33.6% strikeout rate. Toronto is surely hoping Burr can leverage that high strikeout rate into stronger results going forward, and if he can it wouldn’t be hard to see him become a late-inning option for the Jays to help set up Jeff Hoffman.
Making room for Burr on the 40-man roster is Robertson, who crushed the ball at Triple-A this year to the tune of a .288/.410/.582 slash line (159 wRC+) in 51 games to break down the door to the majors and force himself onto the big league roster for the first time in his career. He ultimately appeared in just three games at the big league level, however, and struck out in seven of his 12 plate appearances in the majors. He did notch his first big league hit before getting sent back down, however, and since then he’s continued to hit at a high level in the minors. The Blue Jays will now have one week to either trade Robertson or attempt to pass him through waivers. If he goes unclaimed, he can be outrighted to the minor leagues as a non-roster depth option for the remainder of the season.
Blue Jays Select Lazaro Estrada, Transfer Anthony Santander To 60-Day IL
2:53 PM: The Blue Jays have made it official and selected Estrada’s contract from Triple-A Buffalo. To free up room on the 26 and 40-man rosters, the team optioned left-hander Justin Bruihl to Triple-A and transferred outfielder/DH Anthony Santander from the 10-day IL to the 60-day IL. Santander will now not be eligible to return until late July.
7:10 AM: The Blue Jays are set to select the contract of right-hander Lazaro Estrada today, according to a report from Yordano Carmona of Pelota Cubana USA. Toronto’s 40-man roster is full, so a corresponding move will be necessary to make room for Estrada on both the active and 40-man rosters. Should Estrada make an appearance while on the roster, it would be his big league debut.
Estrada, 26, was born in La Habana, Cuba and made his pro debut with the Blue Jays back in 2018. After losing a season of development to 2020’s cancelled minor league season, Estrada managed just 39 1/3 innings of work total between 2021 and ’22 due to injuries. That slowed his ascent up the minor league ladder considerably, and he only cracked the Double-A level just last year. Despite that slow-going path to the majors, however, Estrada posted a 3.29 ERA across three levels of the minors last year and has followed that up by more or less holding his own at the Triple-A level this year. He has a 4.75 ERA through 15 starts, but his 24.8% strikeout rate is quite strong for a starter while his 7.8% walk rate is roughly average.
It’s not entirely clear what role Estrada will play now that he’s headed to the majors. The Blue Jays have a full rotation for the first time in a while, with Max Scherzer back from the injured list and southpaw Eric Lauer having more than earned a spot in the starting five after posting a 2.60 ERA on the season, including a 3.32 ERA in four starts since moving to the rotation last month. That duo is joined by Kevin Gausman, Chris Bassitt, and Jose Berrios. While each of those three is having somewhat middling seasons overall, none of them should be expected to move out of the rotation barring a trip to the injured list.
That makes the most likely outcome for Estrada a move to the bullpen. The right-hander could serve as a solid complement to Lauer, who for all his effectiveness has capped out around 85 pitches this year. That could make having a multi-inning righty able to piggyback off of Lauer an attractive option, and Estrada would also be able to more generally provide length to a bullpen that has been leaned on heavily in recent days.