Blue Jays Designate Eric Lauer For Assignment, Place Addison Barger On IL
The Blue Jays announced that left-hander Eric Lauer has been designated for assignment. His roster spot goes to right-hander Yariel Rodríguez. It was reported yesterday that the Jays would be selecting Rodriguez to the roster. The Jays also placed infielder/outfielder Addison Barger on the 10-day injured list, retroactive to May 10th, with right elbow inflammation. Outfielder Yohendrick Pinango has been recalled to take Barger’s spot.
It’s been quite a rollercoaster ride for Lauer and the Blue Jays. He signed a minor league deal with the club heading into the 2025 season. He was added to the major league roster in late April as the Jays were dealing with some injuries and some poor performances.
Lauer ended up sticking around and played a notable role in the club’s strong season. Often getting shuffled between the rotation and the bullpen, Lauer made 15 starts and 13 relief appearances. On the whole, he logged 104 2/3 innings with a 3.18 earned run average, 23.9% strikeout rate and 6.1% walk rate. He added another 8 2/3 innings in the postseason with a 3.12 ERA, as the Jays went all the way to Game Seven of the World Series.
From there, things have turned sour, both in terms of performance and Lauer’s relationship with the club. The Jays retained him for 2026 via arbitration but the two sides couldn’t agree on a salary, eventually going to a hearing. It was a unique case because Lauer had been in arbitration before and raised his salary to $5.075MM in 2023. But he struggled and lost his roster spot, spending 2024 in the minors and in Korea, before having a bounceback with the Jays in 2025.
He filed at $5.75MM and the Jays at $4.4MM. The club won. He appeared to be frustrated by that outcome, telling Hazel Mae of Sportsnet that he felt his earning power was damaged by getting bumped to the bullpen late in the year when the Jays acquired Shane Bieber and called up Trey Yesavage.
Coming into 2026, there was a time where it looked like Lauer would again be pushed to a bullpen role. The Jays had signed Dylan Cease and Cody Ponce, in addition to re-signing Max Scherzer. With those three joining Kevin Gausman, José Berríos, Yesavage and Bieber, it looked like quite a crowded group. Lauer again seemed less than enthused, telling reporters that he preferred to be a starter.
In the end, he got his wish. Berríos, Bieber and Yesavage started the season on the IL. Yesavage has since been activated but the Jays have also lost Ponce and Scherzer to the IL. The injuries were enough for Lauer to get a rotation spot, even with Patrick Corbin being signed to jump into the mix.
But Lauer’s results haven’t been nearly as good as last year’s. He has made eight appearances this year. Technically, only six of those were starts, as he pitched behind an opener twice. That was something he also wasn’t happy about, per Keegan Matheson of MLB.com. “To be real blunt, I hate it. I can’t stand it,” he said. He added that the switch messed with his habits as a starter.
Whether it’s due to his routine being messed up or residual effects from batting the flu earlier this year, Lauer has a 6.69 ERA on the season. His 16% strikeout rate and 9.9% walk rate are both significantly worse than last year. His fastball has only averaged 90.4 miles per hour on the year. That’s a big drop from last year’s 91.7 mph, which was on the low end to begin with.
Perhaps the combination of the poor numbers and Lauer repeatedly going public with his frustrations has prompted the Jays to move on, even though they don’t have an obvious rotation solution and the schedule is about to get tricky. Subtracting Lauer leaves them with Gausman, Cease, Yesavage and Corbin in four spots. It doesn’t appear as though any of the guys on the IL are close to returning, so the club will need to figure out something by next week. They start a series against the Rays tonight, with Gausman, Corbin and Cease lined up. They are off on Thursday but then play 17 in a row after that.
Perhaps they will opt for some sort of bullpen game and/or piggyback situation. Spencer Miles has been pitching reasonably well and went three innings in front of Lauer yesterday, though that would be risky since he is so inexperienced. Miles came into this year as a Rule 5 guy with only 14 2/3 minor league innings under his belt, none above Low-A. Rodríguez has starting experience and pitched two innings in his most recent minor league outing. They could call up someone else from Triple-A, with Josh Fleming, Austin Voth, CJ Van Eyk, Chad Dallas and Grant Rogers all pitching in the Triple-A rotation at the moment, though no one in that group is currently on the 40-man roster. They could scoop up an external addition, with Chris Paddack being one starter who just became a free agent.
Lauer heads into DFA limbo, which can last as long as a week. The waiver process takes 48 hours, so the Jays could take as long as five days to explore trade interest. Given his salary and recent performance, he probably doesn’t have a lot of trade value.
If he were to clear outright waivers, he has enough service time to reject an outright assignment and elect free agency while keeping his money. The Jays might skip that formality and simply release him. If that comes to pass, they would remain on the hook for the contract. Any other club could sign him and pay him the prorated league minimum, which would be subtracted from what the Jays pay.
Barger’s IL placement is frustrating, since he just came off the IL due to a separate issue. He got out to a slow start this year and hit the IL due to a left ankle sprain. He was reinstated off the IL and was only able to play one game before this elbow inflammation has put him right back on the shelf. That’s less than ideal for the Jays as injuries have played a big role in their season so far. In addition to the aforementioned pitching issues, they have seen Barger, George Springer, Alejandro Kirk, Nathan Lukes and Anthony Santander miss time. Those injuries have surely contributed to a lackluster 18-22 start this year.
Now that Barger is out again, the Jays will return to having an outfield group consisting of Daulton Varsho, Myles Straw, Davis Schneider, Jesús Sánchez and Pinango. They just optioned Pinango when Barger got healthy but he has quickly come back. Position players normally have to wait ten days after being optioned before being recalled but an exception is made when someone goes on the IL. Pinango has a .423/.444/.462 line this year but with an unsustainable .478 batting average on balls in play, so he’s surely due for some regression.
Photo courtesy of Nick Turchiaro, Imagn Images
AL East Notes: Contreras, Suarez, Barger, Rogers, Cole
X-rays were negative on Willson Contreras‘ right hand after the Red Sox first baseman was hit by a 94mph pitch from Nick Martinez. The bruised hand forced Contreras out of the game after the first inning, and Sox interim manager Chad Tracy told reporters (including the Boston Globe’s Tim Healey) that it isn’t yet known if Contreras will undergo an MRI or more in-depth testing. The Red Sox don’t play on Monday, so Tracy said the team will use the off-day to “kind of reevaluate and see how he feels.”
Contreras is off to a flying start in his first season in Boston, hitting .259/.380/.467 with eight homers through 166 plate appearances. The veteran first baseman has been one of the few bright spots in an underachieving Red Sox lineup, so the offense will be further hampered if Contreras has to spend any time on the injured list.
More from around the AL East…
- In other Red Sox news, Tracy said the teams plans to start Ranger Suarez on Thursday against the Phillies, Suarez’s former team. Suarez hasn’t pitched since a hamstring strain forced him out of his last start on May 3, but it appears as though the left-hander has avoided the injured list. After something of a dicey start to the season, Suarez has a sparking 1.17 ERA over his last five starts and 30 2/3 innings.
- Just one game after being activated from the Blue Jays‘ 10-day injured list, Addison Barger was scratched from today’s lineup and will undergo an MRI on his right elbow, Jays manager John Schneider told Sportsnet and other media. The elbow issue may have arisen from Barger’s tremendous throw from right field that nabbed Jorge Soler at the plate in Saturday’s game. That contest was just Barger’s ninth game of the season, as an ankle sprain sidelined the outfielder/third baseman for over a month.
- Trevor Rogers won’t come off the 15-day IL when first eligible tomorrow, but the left-hander believes he could be back Tuesday or Wednesday during the rest of the Orioles’ series with the Yankees. Rogers was placed on the IL while dealing with a rough case of the flu, and he told MLB.com’s Jake Rill that he doesn’t believe he’ll need a rehab start after throwing a “simulated bullpen” session on Saturday. In another Baltimore injury update, Heston Kjerstad started a minor rehab league assignment this weekend. The outfielder has yet to play this season due to a hamstring strain suffered in Spring Training.
- Gerrit Cole allowed two earned runs on four hits and a walk over five innings in today’s rehab start with Double-A Somerset. Cole recorded eight strikeouts over the 77-pitch outing, which was the fifth start of Cole’s rehab assignment. Greg Joyce of the New York Post writes that Cole is expected to make one or two more rehab starts before being activated from the Yankees’ injured list, which would make it a little over 14 month since Cole underwent a Tommy John surgery in March 2025.
Blue Jays To Select Yariel Rodriguez’s Contract
The Blue Jays will be selecting the contract of right-hander Yariel Rodriguez from Triple-A Buffalo, according to reporter Francys Romero. Sportsnet’s Ben Nicholson-Smith and Shi Davidi note that Rodriguez will be added to the roster prior to Monday’s game with the Rays. Toronto has only 39 players on its 40-man roster, so only a 26-man move will need to be made as the corresponding move for Rodriguez’s arrival.
After signing a five-year, $32MM contract with the Jays prior to the 2024 season, Rodriguez debuted in the Show by posting a 4.47 ERA, 23.1% strikeout rate, and 10.9% walk rate over 86 2/3 innings. While Rodriguez technically started all 21 of his games in 2024, he was used as an opener or piggyback starter on several occasions. Rodriguez then made just one “start” as an opener in 2025, and otherwise worked in a relief role while posting a 3.08 ERA, 22.1K%, and 11.4BB% over 73 innings and 66 appearances.
The poor walk rates are the most obvious red flag from Rodriguez’s first two MLB seasons, and his strikeout rates have sat only around league average. His 4.27 SIERA from the 2025 season is a better reflection of his performance than the 3.08 ERA, as Rodriguez benefited from a .228 BABIP and an 81.2% strand rate. On the plus side, the move to the bullpen helped Rodriguez bump his fastball up to 95.7mph (from 93.9mph in 2024), and he did a good job of limiting hard contact, though the righty allowed eight homers in his 73 frames.
The Blue Jays made the decision to outright Rodriguez to Triple-A back in December, removing him from the 40-man roster. The Jays probably wouldn’t have been too upset if another club had claimed Rodriguez off waivers and removed the $17MM in remaining salary off Toronto’s books, yet that same salary may have been the reason the Blue Jays felt confident in outrighting Rodriguez just to clear a 40-man slot.
After delivering a 1.50 ERA over six relief innings for Cuba during the World Baseball Classic, Rodriguez has a 2.63 ERA and a whopping 43.1% strikeout rate over 13 2/3 innings for Buffalo this season. These standout numbers are undermined, however, by a 15.5% walk rate, as Rodriguez’s control has become an even bigger concern. This makes Rodriguez an interesting addition to a Jays bullpen that entered Sunday’s action leading the majors in strikeout rate (26.1%) while also tied for the second-lowest walk rate (8.3%) for any relief corps in the sport.
Mason Fluharty hasn’t pitched well and he has two minor league options, though optioning Fluharty to make room for Rodriguez would leave Joe Mantiply as the only left-hander in Toronto’s bullpen. Among the right-handers, Tommy Nance is out of options, and Rule 5 pick Spencer Miles can’t be optioned to the minors without first being offered back to the Giants. (Miles is also pitching so well that the Jays are surely keeping him around.) Unless there is an unknown injury impacting the pitching staff, it will be interesting to see what the corresponding move is when Rodriguez is officially selected.
Bobby Cox Passes Away
The Braves announced that longtime manager Bobby Cox passed away at age 84. Cox led the Braves to the 1995 World Series title, and his 2504 wins rank fourth on the all-time list for managerial victories. As per the team’s official release to media….
“Bobby was a favorite among all in the baseball community, especially those who played for him. His wealth of knowledge on player development and the intricacies of managing the game were rewarded with the sport’s ultimate prize in 2014 – enshrinement into the Baseball Hall of Fame.
And while Bobby’s passion for the game was unparalleled, his love of baseball was exceeded only by his love for his family. It is with the heaviest of hearts that we send our sincerest condolences to his beloved wife, Pam, and their loving children and grandchildren.”
Before starting his journey to Cooperstown as a manager, Cox spent 12 seasons as a player, spending time in the farm systems of the Dodgers, Cubs, Yankees, and Braves. He broke into the majors for 220 games with the Yankees over the 1968-69 seasons, and the end of his playing career transitioned right into the start of his post-playing career — Cox appeared in four games with the Yankees’ A-ball affiliate in Fort Lauderdale in 1971 while also becoming the team’s manager. After six years of managing in the minors, Cox was the Yankees’ first base coach in 1977 when the team captured the World Series, earning Cox his first championship ring.
The Braves came calling with Cox’s first MLB managerial assignment, but Cox’s initial stint in Atlanta resulted in just one winning record over four seasons from 1978-81. Fired following the 1981 campaign, Cox landed in Toronto as the Blue Jays’ new manager, helping lead the recent expansion team to its first run of success. The peak was the AL East title in 1985, and yet after the Jays fell just shy of their first AL pennant, Cox opted to return to Atlanta, this time as the club’s general manager.
Cox’s five years as GM is an often overlooked chapter of his long tenure in Atlanta, in part because John Schuerholz took over following the 1990 season and was himself eventually elected to the Hall of Fame for his outstanding track record as an executive. But, while the Braves continued to sit below .500 during the 1986-90 seasons, Cox’s front office saw the team draft and acquire many of the players that would become franchise staples during the Braves’ forthcoming glory years.
Cox returned to the dugout partway through the 1990 season, and relinquished GM duties to Schuerholtz to focus solely on managing. With many of the pieces now in place, the Braves went from last place in the NL East in 1990 to NL champions in both 1991 and 1992.
As the media release simply put it, Cox’s “Braves managerial legacy will never be matched.” The 1991 campaign marked the beginning of 14 NL East titles over the next 15 seasons. The only interruption in this astonishing streak was the 1994 season, as the Braves were in second place behind the Expos when the players’ strike prematurely ended the season in August.
The World Series appearances in 91-92 were followed by three more pennants in 1995, 1996, and 1999. Championship glory came in 1995 when Atlanta outlasted Cleveland in six games, highlighted by a 1-0 win in the clinching Game Six that was powered by eight one-hit innings from Tom Glavine.
Atlanta’s NL East title streak finally ended in 2006 when the team went 79-83. Cox’s final five seasons as manager saw the Braves still post three winning records, and they made one final playoff appearance as a wild card team in 2010, falling in the NLDS to the eventual world champion Giants. Cox announced prior to the season that 2010 would be his final year in the dugout, and he remained involved with the Braves in an official and unofficial advisory role for years before health issues arose in the later years of his life.
Beyond his 2504-2001 managerial record, Cox also set an all-time benchmark that is unlikely to be topped — 162 career ejections, the most of any manager in history. Cox’s fiery personality and willingness to stand up for his teams made him both a beloved manager and even a mentor to many of his players, and the clubhouse cohesion (along with tremendous talent, of course) was a key factor in the Braves’ sustained success.
Between Cox’s passing and the passing of longtime Braves owner Ted Turner earlier this week, Atlanta has lost two baseball icons within a matter of days. Their legacies are intertwined amongst one of the greatest runs of sustained success in baseball history, and even after Cox and Turner were no longer directly involved with the organization, a clear path can be drawn between Cox’s teams and the successful Braves teams of recent years.
We at MLB Trade Rumors send our condolences to Cox’s family, friends, and many fans.
Blue Jays Notes: Barger, Pinango, Berrios, Scherzer, Bieber, Garcia, Kirk, Lukes
As expected, Addison Barger was activated from the Blue Jays’ 10-day injured list today. The team announced that outfielder Yohendrick Pinango was optioned to Triple-A Buffalo in the corresponding move.
The 2026 season has essentially been a wash for Barger to date, between his five weeks on the IL and his ice-cold start at the plate. Barger had only one hit and three walks in his first 23 plate appearances, resulting in an ugly .053/.174/.105 slash line. He hasn’t played since April 5, when he hurt both ankles while trying to beat out a grounder to first base. What was initially termed as “bilateral ankle discomfort” was officially designated as a left ankle sprain when Barger was placed on the injured list.
Barger returns looking to get his season on track, and to ideally return to the form that make him a breakout player during the 2025 regular season and especially during Toronto’s postseason run. With Kazuma Okamoto now firmly entrenching himself as the everyday third baseman, Barger will mostly be deployed in right field, though his ability to play third base in a pinch could be useful in late-game situations or if Okamoto is given a rest day or a DH day.
Since Barger is a left-handed hitter who will be handling corner outfield duty, Pinango was a little redundant on the active roster, but manager John Schneider told Sportsnet’s Arden Zwelling and other reporters that the team was impressed during Pinango’s brief stay in the majors. Pinango hit .423/.444/.462 over his first 27 plate appearances as a big leaguer, and is very likely to get another look in Toronto at some point in 2026.
Schneider provided more injury updates to the media (including The Athletic’s Mitch Bannon) yesterday, with some positive news on some other position players. Alejandro Kirk is throwing and started swinging this week in the latest steps of his recovery from thumb surgery, and Nathan Lukes has started running drills as he recovers from a hamstring strain.
On the pitching front, Shane Bieber will throw a live bullpen session on Tuesday, and Yimi Garcia started a minor league rehab assignment. Both right-handers started the season on the 15-day IL before being moved to the 60-day IL to give the duo more time to build up arm strength. Bieber dealt with forearm fatigue over the offseason while Garcia underwent surgery last September to fix scar tissue in his throwing elbow.
The outlook isn’t as clear for Jose Berrios, who is set to visit Dr. Keith Meister on Tuesday. An MRI on Berrios’ right elbow revealed inflammation but also “changes to his previous stress fracture.” What exactly this means for Berrios perhaps won’t be known until after his consultation, or if any kind of surgery might be under discussion.
At the very least, it doesn’t look like Berrios will be back on the mound in the near future, so the veteran right-hander’s 2026 debut will continue to be on hold for some time. What began as elbow inflammation and then a stress fracture in his right elbow put Berrios on the 15-day IL to begin the season, though it appears like he didn’t experience much actual discomfort until his most recent Triple-A rehab start.
Max Scherzer is also on the 15-day IL, sidelined by left ankle inflammation and tendinitis in his right forearm. The ankle problem looks to have largely subsided, while the forearm issue is being treated by a cortisone shot, so Scherzer won’t resume throwing for five days. Since his IL stint began on April 25, Scherzer will obviously miss longer than the minimum amount of time, and a loose return timeframe of late May seems possible if the cortisone shot is a fix and Scherzer’s throwing progression goes smoothly.
Blue Jays Notes: Berríos, Scherzer, Bieber, Barger
Blue Jays right-hander José Berríos has been trying to get healthy for a long time now but appears to have hit another setback. Mitch Bannon of The Athletic was among those to relay that the righty went for an MRI Tuesday night. His most recent rehab outing featured decreased velocity followed by increased pain for the veteran.
Berríos hasn’t really been healthy since late last year, due to varying maladies that may or may not be connected. Right elbow inflammation put him on the injured list with just a few days remaining in the 2025 season.
He started this year healthy, or so it seemed, as he was pitching in spring training games early on. In mid-March, he was going to join the Puerto Rico team in the World Baseball Classic and underwent a physical which found some elbow inflammation, apparently in a different spot than last year’s inflammation. It was an unusual situation because he wasn’t feeling any discomfort. Stranger still, he was then diagnosed with a stress fracture in his elbow.
Despite the ominous diagnosis and starting the season on the IL, he began a rehab assignment a few weeks ago, but it hasn’t been going well. He has allowed 17 earned runs in 14 1/3 innings. As mentioned, his velo has been down, with Bannon noting a drop of about 3 mph from his first rehab start to his most recent. And with Berríos experiencing more pain than expected, the signs are generally worrying. The Jays are off tomorrow and Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet notes that the Jays will likely have more information to share by Friday.
It doesn’t appear as though Max Scherzer is close to a return either. He hit the IL a little over a week ago due to both tendinitis in his right forearm and inflammation in his left ankle. He had been pitching through the tendinitis for a while but said the addition of the ankle issue was too much to juggle at once. Today, he expressed some frustration with the path forward.
“It’s confusing as heck because I have a clean MRI,” Scherzer said to Hazel Mae of Sportsnet. “That’s what has everyone pulling their hair out. The MRI is saying, ‘hey you should be good,’ and I’m like ‘No, the check engine light is on.'” Given that puzzling situation, it’s hard to say what the path forward is.
As for Shane Bieber, who has been on the IL all year due to forearm fatigue, there are some positive signs. Per Bannon, he did a “2-up” bullpen today, which effectively means he threw the equivalent of two innings with a break in between to simulate a game environment. He’ll do another bullpen like that next week and then could progress to live hitters. Presumably, he would be in line for a rehab assignment after that.
The Jays have been trying to get their rotation to a better state of health all year. They started the season with Berríos, Bieber and Trey Yesavage on the IL, leaving them with a rotation of Kevin Gausman, Dylan Cease, Eric Lauer, Cody Ponce and Scherzer. Ponce suffered a season-ending knee injury in his first start, prompting the Jays to quickly sign Patrick Corbin. Yesavage came off the IL at the end of April, which was supposed to push Lauer to the bullpen, but then Scherzer hit the IL instead.
Lauer has been struggling this year, with a 6.03 ERA so far. Corbin has been doing better, entering today with a 3.65 ERA, but it’s fair to wonder how much longer he can keep it up. He’s approaching his 37th birthday and has had an ERA above 5.00 in most of his recent seasons. Ideally, the Jays would get some of their veterans healthy to push Lauer and/or Corbin out of the rotation but that may not be imminent.
There’s a bit more positivity coming on the position player side, since Addison Barger seems close to a return. He has already begun a rehab assignment and the plan is for him to rejoin the big league club on Friday, per Bannon. He struggled through the first eight games before a left ankle sprain put him on the IL. He hit 21 home runs for the Jays last year and slashed .243/.301/.454, so they will obviously hope to get him back in good form.
Barger played a lot of third base last year but Kazuma Okamoto‘s signing means he’ll be mostly in the outfield going forward. With Barger, Nathan Lukes and Anthony Santander on the shelf, the Jays have had an outfield mix including Daulton Varsho, Myles Straw, Jesús Sánchez, Yohendrick Pinango and Davis Schneider.
The Jays will have to make room for Barger somehow, which could lead to an interesting decision. They have been playing a lot of matchups with this group, as Varsho, Pinango and Sánchez are lefties while Schneider and Straw are righties. Schneider isn’t hitting well and has options but sending him down for Barger wouldn’t be ideal in the sense that it would tilt the group to four lefties with Straw as the only righty.
Pinango is hitting better than Sánchez but the latter is more experienced and out of options, whereas Pinango’s recent surge has come in just a handful of games and with a .500 BABIP he won’t sustain. Sending down Pinango might be the easiest decision in a sense but it also may be hard to option a hot hand while the club isn’t scoring tons of runs.
Photo courtesy of Brian Fluharty, Imagn Images
AL East Notes: Springer, Slaten, Jax, Lux
Blue Jays designated hitter George Springer was forced out of Saturday’s game against the Twins after getting hit by a pitch on his left big toe. It’s the same digit Springer fractured in early April on a foul ball. Yesterday’s matchup in Minnesota was Springer’s fourth game back in the lineup.
Postgame X-rays did not reveal an additional fracture for Springer, per Keegan Matheson of MLB.com, which is a bit of positive news for an injury-riddled roster. “It’s not any worse than it was,” manager John Schneider told reporters. The skipper added that the 36-year-old Springer was likely getting Sunday’s game off anyway. Assuming that remains the plan, his next chance to play will be Monday in Tampa Bay.
Springer picked up four hits in his first three games since returning. He pushed his batting average above .200 for the first time all year. Toronto’s extensive health issues have skewed toward the pitching side, but the club is also missing a handful of key bats. Catcher Alejandro Kirk broke his thumb in early April. Outfielder Addison Barger is out with two injured ankles. Nathan Lukes hit the IL last week with a strained hamstring.
Here are a handful of additional items from around the division…
- Red Sox right-hander Justin Slaten will begin a rehab assignment on Sunday, relays Christopher Smith of MassLive.com, among others. The reliever has been sidelined for nearly a month with an oblique injury. Slaten posted four scoreless appearances to begin the season before the oblique issue popped up. He picked up two holds as one of the late-inning options ahead of closer Aroldis Chapman. With Slaten’s pending return, Boston could be less inclined to add veteran Tommy Kahnle to the roster, if the decision arises. Kahnle triggered his upward mobility clause on Friday.
- Rays right-hander Griffin Jax is stretching out as a starter. He tossed a season-high 2 2/3 innings on Saturday against the Giants. Jax and four relievers held San Francisco to just a run in the 5-1 victory. “This is an organization that’s had some success doing this in the past with Drew obviously, Littell recently, and even Jeffrey Springs. … So I felt this was the right place to do this because of the success this team has had,” Jax told reporters, including Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. After poor performance cost him a high-leverage role in the bullpen, Jax has now delivered five scoreless frames as a starter. He built up to 45 pitches yesterday.
- Rays infielder Gavin Lux is still experiencing stiffness in his left ankle, relays Topkin. The veteran picked up the injury in early April while rehabbing a shoulder issue. The ankle kept him out of the Triple-A lineup for a couple of weeks. He returned on April 24. Tampa Bay acquired Lux as part of a three-team trade with the Reds and Angels. The extent of his time in a Rays uniform has been limited to seven Spring Training games so far.
Photo courtesy of Nick Turchiaro, Imagn Images
Kazuma Okamoto Is Settling In Nicely For The Blue Jays
Kazuma Okamoto signed a four-year, $60MM deal with the Blue Jays this offseason after a long tenure as one of Japan’s top sluggers. Compared to Munetaka Murakami and Tatsuya Imai, whose deals with the White Sox and Astros were well below industry expectations, Okamoto’s contract was roughly in line with MLBTR’s four-year, $64MM prediction. Early into his major league career, the third baseman is proving to be a capable hitter.
Okamoto was best known for his power during his tenure with the Yomiuri Giants of Nippon Professional Baseball. He hit a total of 247 home runs from 2018-25, including 30 or more in every season from 2018-23. Impressively, Okamoto achieved this while also striking out at rates that would be much better than average by MLB standards. He did not strike out more than 18.8% of the time in every season from 2020-25, and he walked and struck out at even 11.3% rates in 2025.
Some adjustment was expected as Okamoto transitioned to the Majors. Even in that context, he was generally expected to be a solid hitter with better-than-average contact and power, plus serviceable defense at the hot corner. The early returns have been decent. Through his first 128 plate appearances, Okamoto has batted .228/.313/.430 with seven home runs and a 107 wRC+. His 29.7% strikeout rate is higher than the Jays would like, but Okamoto is also walking at a 10.9% clip and outpacing the league-average .320 wOBA by 11 points. Put simply, he could stand to make more contact, but he’s getting on base and doing enough damage on contact to make up for it.
Okamoto is also quieting concerns about his struggles against high-velocity pitching. As noted by FanGraphs’ Eric Longenhagen, Okamoto was inconsistent against fastballs thrown at 94 MPH or higher in Japan. That has not been the case in 2026. Per Statcast, Okamoto is batting .303/.361/.636 against four-seamers 94 MPH and above, with a .428 wOBA in those plate appearances. For comparison, the league output against 94 MPH+ four-seamers is .233/.333/.398 with a .330 wOBA.
That Okamoto is adapting so well to high-velocity pitching is great news for Toronto. The 29-year-old was their main offensive addition in a winter that saw Bo Bichette leave for the Mets and Kyle Tucker spurn the club’s $350MM offer for a short-term pact with the Dodgers. The net result was swapping Bichette for Okamoto, creating some downside risk for what was a Top-5 offense in the Majors in 2025. So far this year, the Jays’ offense is a Bottom-10 unit with a 92 wRC+. That is no fault of Okamoto, as he and Ernie Clement (108 wRC+) are the team’s only above-average hitters other than Guerrero. When you also consider that Okamoto has held his own on defense, he looks like a perfectly fine all-around player.
With Murakami dominating at the plate for the White Sox, Okamoto’s output may feel underwhelming by comparison. That said, he doesn’t need to be an otherworldly hitter to live up to his deal, even with his track record from NPB. By most estimates, Okamoto’s $15MM average annual salary is equivalent to 1.5-2 WAR – i.e., a decent regular rather than an All-Star. So far, he is hitting for power and providing serviceable defense, as he was expected to. There is room to grow, namely by cutting back on strikeouts and hitting non-four seam fastballs, against which Okamoto is hitting just .069/.182/.069. Overall, given the size of his contract and who he is replacing in the lineup, Okamoto has been about as valuable as could be expected.
Photo courtesy of Bruce Kluckhohn, Imagn Images
Eloy Jiménez Clears Waivers, Elects Free Agency
TODAY: Jiménez has cleared waivers and elected free agency, according to Keegan Matheson of MLB.com.
April 29: The Blue Jays have reinstated outfielder/designated hitter George Springer from the 10-day injured list. In a corresponding move, designated hitter Eloy Jiménez has been designated for assignment. Hazel Mae of Sportsnet was first to report the moves.
It’s the inverse of a transaction from a couple of weeks ago. Springer fractured a bone in his left big toe when he fouled a ball off of his foot. On April 12th, he was placed on the IL, with Jiménez selected to take his place on the roster. Now that Springer is healthy enough to return, Jiménez has been bumped off.
In the meantime, Jiménez wasn’t able to do much to secure a longer look. He didn’t play the field, continuing a recent trend of his. He only played eight innings in the outfield in 2024 and none in 2025. As a bat-only player, he needs to hit to provide value, but he wasn’t able to do much of that. His .290 batting average looks nice but he didn’t produce an extra-base hit, leading to a .290/.343/.290 slash line and 82 wRC+, indicating he was 18% worse than league average at the plate overall.
That’s a small sample size of 35 plate appearances but continues a trend that began a few years ago. Though Jiménez was potent slugger for much of the 2019 to 2023 window, he hasn’t been in good form since. In 2024, he hit just six home runs in 98 games, leading to a .238/.289/.336 line and 78 wRC+. He didn’t play in the majors last year, spending the season in the minors, where he hit a combined .247/.326/.347 between the Triple-A teams of the Rays and the Jays.
There was a bit of optimism among some Jays fans when Jiménez put up a decent .286/.333/.524 line in spring training this year, followed by a .257/.372/.371 line in 11 Triple-A games. But as mentioned, his big league numbers were uninspiring. With Springer now back and likely to be in the DH spot most of the time, there wasn’t going to be much use for Jiménez.
Jiménez now heads into DFA limbo, which can last as long as a week. The waiver process takes 48 hours, so the Jays could take as long as five days to field trade interest, but they could also put him on waivers sooner if they so choose. Given his recent track record, it’s likely he will clear waivers. As a veteran with at least five years of major league service time, he has the right to reject an outright assignment and instead elect free agency. It’s possible the Jays will skip that step and just release him.
For the Jays, their hope is that greater health can steady the ship for them. They are out to a shaky 13-16 start as they have been battling a large number of injuries. They just got Trey Yesavage back in the mix yesterday and now Springer has rejoined the roster as well. José Berríos and Addison Barger could be next, with guys like Nathan Lukes and Alejandro Kirk ideally returning to the club in the not-too-distant future as well.
Photo courtesy of Mark J. Rebilas, Imagn Images
AL East Notes: Volpe, Caballero, Crochet, Gray, Berrios
Sunday is the final day of Anthony Volpe‘s 20-day minor league rehabilitation period, and Yankees manager Aaron Boone told reporters (including The Athletic’s Brendan Kuty) that Volpe will remain at Double-A Somerset for the entirety of the 20-man window, and “then we’ll kind of reevaluate where we are.” Once the rehab period is up, the Yankees must either reinstate Volpe to the active roster or option the shortstop to Triple-A.
As Volpe finishes up his recovery from October shoulder surgery, it can’t be ignored that the Yankees haven’t really missed him at shortstop. Jose Caballero has delivered strong defense at the position, speed (a league-best 12 stolen bases), and a .266/.310/.422 slash line over 116 plate appearances. The offensive numbers translate to an above-average 105 wRC+, which is significantly better than the 85 wRC+ Volpe has posted over 1886 PA in three seasons in the Bronx. While the Yankees didn’t make a bigger addition over the offseason to officially bump Volpe out of the starting shortstop role, Caballero might’ve simply pipped Volpe out of the job, leaving Volpe in something of an uncertain state within the organization.
Some other items from the AL East….
- An MRI on Garrett Crochet‘s left shoulder revealed only inflammation, Red Sox interim manager Chad Tracy told MassLive.com’s Chris Cotillo and other reporters. Crochet won’t start throwing until at least Monday, as the southpaw will work on shoulder-strengthening exercises over the weekend. While Tracy said there’s “no timetable on” when Crochet could be back in Boston’s rotation, it remains possible the left-hander may still miss only the minimum 15 days on the IL, though obviously the team won’t rush their ace until he is fully ready.
- In other Red Sox rotation news, Sonny Gray threw a three-inning live batting practice session on Friday, in what could be the last step before his activation from the 15-day IL. Gray hasn’t pitched since April 20 due to a hamstring strain, but the injury is seemingly minor enough that Gray could be back in Boston’s rotation as early as Wednesday.
- Jose Berrios will make his fourth rehab start on Sunday with Triple-A Buffalo, Blue Jays manager John Schneider told reporters (including Sportsnet’s Arden Zwelling). It is possible this may be Berrios’ final tune-up, as the right-hander tossed 70 pitches in his previous outing on April 28, and felt good after throwing a bullpen session yesterday. A stress fracture in his right elbow has kept Berrios from pitching in the majors this season, and he also dealt with biceps tendon inflammation late in 2025 that kept him from participating in the Jays’ playoff run.