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Blue Jays Designate Zac Rosscup, Select Justin Shafer

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The Blue Jays announced Tuesday that they’ve designated left-handed reliever Zac Rosscup for assignment in order to open a spot on the roster for right-hander Justin Shafer, whose contract has been formally selected from Triple-A Buffalo.

It appears that Rosscup’s tenure with the Jays will be a brief one. Toronto claimed him off waivers from the Mariners last week, but he appeared in just two games. In that time, he was knocked around for four runs on three hits and a pair of walks with two strikeouts in an inning of work. Rosscup had previously notched a 3.21 ERA in 14 innings with Seattle, but he also walked 14 hitters in that time. Rosscup’s huge swinging-strike rate on his slider and his general knack for missing bats have stood out over the past two seasons, but this year’s control troubles are also quite pronounced.

The 26-year-old Shafer will be stepping up for his second stint with the Blue Jays, who selected his contract last August but later outrighted him off the 40-man roster when he cleared waivers. He’s allowed just two earned runs with a 16-to-6 K/BB ratio in 18 2/3 innings for Buffalo this season.

Aaron Sanchez Leaves Start With Finger Issue

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In what has become an all-too-frequent occurrence for Aaron Sanchez, the Toronto right-hander left his start Monday with a finger injury. It’s a “right middle finger nail avulsion,” to be exact, per Hazel Mae of Sportsnet.

Sanchez threw three innings and 64 pitches against the Rays on Monday, yielding one earned run on six hits and two walks prior to his exit. Monday’s start was Sanchez’s second since May 17, when he departed an outing against the White Sox with a blister.

Finger problems consistently haunted Sanchez from 2017-18, during which he only totaled 141 innings, and have continued to weigh him down this year. Thanks in part to those troubles, Sanchez hasn’t been able to replicate the outstanding 192-inning season he enjoyed in 2016. Sanchez registered a 3.00 ERA/3.55 FIP with 7.55 K/9, 2.95 BB/9 and a 54.4 percent groundball rate that year, which stands as the Blue Jays’ most recent playoff campaign.

Toronto was a contender earlier in Sanchez’s career, but it’s now in a rebuild. As such, Sanchez could be a summer trade candidate if teams are remotely confident in his health. With a 3.75 ERA/4.54 FIP, 8.4 K/9 and a 51.7 percent grounder mark in 60 innings, Sanchez hasn’t pitched poorly this season. The soon-to-be 27-year-old’s walk rate (4.95 per nine) is far too high, but that alone may not scare off other clubs. At $3.9MM, Sanchez is affordable, and he’s under control through next year.

Mariners Claim Jimmy Cordero

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The Mariners announced that they’ve claimed right-hander Jimmy Cordero off waivers from the Blue Jays. Seattle also transferred righty Gerson Bautista from the 10-day injured list to the 60-day IL.

Cordero will report to Triple-A Tacoma with his new organization, though maybe he shouldn’t get too comfortable. The Jays just claimed Cordero off waivers from the Nationals on May 15, only to designate him May 23. Interestingly enough, Toronto jettisoned Cordero to grab lefty Zac Rosscup off waivers from his new team, the Mariners.

The 27-year-old Cordero debuted in the majors with the Nationals last season, when he threw 19 innings out of their bullpen. He added another 1 1/3 with the Blue Jays before they cut him. Between the two teams, Cordero has pitched to a 5.75 ERA/5.96 FIP with matching strikeout and walk rates of 5.31 per nine and a strong groundball percentage (53.4). The hard-throwing Cordero has been better at the Triple-A level, where he owns a 3.41 ERA with 10.4 K/9 and 4.7 BB/9 over 63 1/3 frames.

Blue Jays Outright Ryan Feierabend

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  • The Blue Jays outrighted left-handed pitcher Ryan Feierabend to Triple-A, per Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet. The knuckleballer cleared waivers after he was designated by Toronto on Friday. In two outings for the Blue Jays, including one start, Feierabend was largely ineffective, conceding seven runs in 5 2/3 innings, including two home runs.

Blue Jays Designate Ryan Feierabend For Assignment

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The Blue Jays announced Friday that they’ve designated lefty Ryan Feierabend for assignment and optioned both Billy McKinney and Richard Urena to Triple-A Buffalo. Those moves pave the way for the previously reported promotion of prospect Cavan Biggio, the addition of Zac Rosscup (claimed yesterday from the Mariners) to the active roster and the return of Lourdes Gurriel Jr. Toronto also placed righty Elvis Luciano on the bereavement list and recalled lefty Thomas Pannone in his place.

It was a brief return to the Majors for Feierabend, who is looking to resurrect his big league career as knuckleballer. The two games in which he appeared were his first in the Majors since he made six appearances for the Rangers in 2014. Prior to that, he’d been out of the big leagues since 2008.

The 33-year-old Feierabend enjoyed a four-year run in the Korea Baseball Organization in that 2014-18 gap between MLB stints. If he passes through waivers, he could very well return to the Jays’ Triple-A club and work toward another look. He began throwing a knuckler while pitching overseas and was reasonably sharp in 16 2/3 innings with Buffalo before being promoted earlier this week (2.70 ERA, 13 strikeouts, six walks).

Blue Jays Promote Cavan Biggio

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May 24: The Blue Jays have made Biggio’s promotion official.

May 23: The Blue Jays will promote infield/corner outfield prospect Cavan Biggio, Shi Davidi of Sportsnet.ca was among those to report on Twitter. He’ll be joined in the majors by Lourdes Gurriel Jr.

Cavan Biggio

With a need for two roster spots, the Toronto organization will send down two players. Outfielder Billy McKinney and infielder Richard Urena will be optioned out.

It’s fun to see Biggio and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. share a MLB roster. They’ll likely be joined before too long by fellow top prospect Bo Bichette, at which time the Jays will be in position to compile a fearsome father-son softball team. (For the record, Cavan’s dad out-WAR’ed Vlad’s dad. Both are recent Hall of Fame inductees.)

If that trio can do anything to the 2020’s like their dads did to the 1990’s and 2000’s, it’ll make for heady times in Toronto. For now, the focus is on finishing off the development of these talented youngsters.

Biggio is the least hyped of the group, though he has already exceeded the expectations placed on him as a fifth-round draft pick. Entering the present season, he graded out as one of the ten or so best prospects in the Blue Jays system, but wasn’t considered an elite youngster on a leaguewide scale.

Notably, however, the 24-year-old has increased his offensive output at each step up the minor-league ladder. Through 168 plate appearances at Triple-A, he owns a robust .306/.440/.507 batting line with six home runs.

Having put the ball over the fence 26 times last year at Double-A, Biggio obviously possessed more power than might have been expected. He’s now combining that with the plate discipline that had long been his calling card — and doing so at the highest level of the minors. Biggio has ramped his walk rate all the way up to 19.0% while dropping his strikeout rate to 16.7% thus far in 2019.

Though he has primarily appeared at second base in the minors, Biggio also has experience at third, first, and the corner outfield. He and Gurriel could both appear at multiple positions in the big leagues. The latter was introduced to the outfield (where he has some prior experience in Cuba) after being optioned down due to his struggles at the plate and some yips that arose at second base.

Blue Jays Claim Zac Rosscup, Designate Jimmy Cordero

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The Blue Jays have claimed lefty Zac Rosscup off waivers from the Mariners, per a club announcement. In order to open a spot on the 40-man roster, Toronto has designated right-hander Jimmy Cordero for assignment.

Rosscup, 30, inked a Major League deal with the Mariners this offseason, although that came with a modest $610K guarantee at the MLB level, so the Blue Jays aren’t really adding any salary to the books. Through 14 innings in Seattle, Rosscup pitched to a palatable 3.21 ERA with a whopping 20 strikeouts, but he also walked 14 batters and threw a pair of wild pitches.

As noted yesterday, Rosscup had some appealing qualities to him — namely a hefty 40 strikeouts and 18.3 percent swinging-strike rate in his past 25 1/3 big league innings. He’s fallen behind way too many hitters this season but has also generated a swinging strike on 30 of the 101 sliders he’d thrown, so there’s certainly some level of intrigue surrounding his ability to miss bats. If the Jays can sort him out, he’d be controllable through the 2021 season.

Cordero, meanwhile, was a recent waiver claim himself but barely lasted a week in his return to the Blue Jays organization. He appeared in one game with the Jays and allowed a solo homer in 1 1/3 innings pitched. Cordero has a 5.75 ERA, 12 strikeouts and 12 walks in 20 1/3 MLB frames to go along with a career 3.41 ERA, 10.4 K/9 and 4.7 BB/9 in 63 1/3 innings of Triple-A ball. The 27-year-old has averaged 97.5 mph on a blistering heater in his limited big league action over the past two seasons and can be optioned freely for the remainder of the 2019 season, but he’ll be out of minor league options come 2020.

Nationals Claim Javy Guerra, Designate Dan Jennings

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WEDNESDAY: Jennings has elected to become a free agent, the Nationals announced.

MONDAY: The Nationals announced that they’ve claimed right-hander Javy Guerra off waivers from the Blue Jays and designated veteran lefty Dan Jennings for assignment to open a spot on the 40-man roster. Toronto had designated Guerra for assignment last week.

Guerra, 33, appeared in 11 games with the Jays to open the season and has turned in 14 innings of 3.86 ERA ball with a 15-to-5 K/BB ratio and a 27 percent ground-ball rate. It’s a solid showing, though it comes on the heels of a 5.55 ERA in 35 2/3 frames with the Marlins last season. The Nationals, however, need bullpen help perhaps more than any club in the game and will hope that Guerra can maintain his early success from Toronto and stabilize a relief corps that has been the worst in MLB in terms of ERA (6.60) and xFIP (5.15) as well as 25th in FIP (5.03).

Washington brought the 32-year-old Jennings aboard last month under similar circumstances, hoping that he could help to smooth things over. That didn’t prove to be the case, however, as he was tagged for seven runs on eight hits and seven walks with nine strikeouts in just 4 2/3 innings. A team in less dire circumstances might’ve given Jennings a bit more leash given his strong track record, but the Nats are eight games under .500 and eight games back in the NL East.

Blue Jays Release Ben Revere

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The Blue Jays have released veteran outfielder Ben Revere from their Triple-A club, per Baseball America’s Kegan Lowe. He was in his second stint with the Jays after signing a minor league deal in late April. He’d previously had a brief but solid run as a regular in left field with Toronto after being acquired prior to trade deadline in 2015.

Revere initially reported to extended Spring Training upon signing, and he appeared in just eight games before returning to the open market. He collected multiple hits in four of those eight contests and hit .286/.286/.371 with only three strikeouts in his 35 plate appearances back in the Jays organization.

Revere, who turned 31 a couple of weeks ago, hasn’t played in the Majors since hitting .275/.308/.344 in 308 plate appearances with the Angels in 2017. He spent last season with the Halos’ Triple-A affiliate and batted .277/.319/.406 in a limited sample of 40 games. He’s long been known for his blistering speed and knack for putting the ball in play, although he’s swiped just three bags in those 48 games at the Triple-A level across the past two seasons. Revere is capable of handling all three outfield positions and was playing in games as recently as this past weekend, when he recorded consecutive multi-hit efforts, so he could land with another organization in need of some upper-level depth and step directly into a lineup in Triple-A.

Tepera Placed On IL, Headed To See Specialist

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  • A right elbow impingement has landed Blue Jays righty Ryan Tepera on the 10-day injured list, per an announcement from the team. Right-hander Jimmy Cordero is up from Triple-A Buffalo in his place. The outlook on Tepera is of at least some concern, as Sportsnet’s Shi Davidi tweets that Tepera says he’s been unable to get the proper level of extension on his release of his pitches. He’s headed to see a specialist for further evaluation. The 31-year-old Tepera had quietly emerged as a very solid setup piece for the Jays over the past few seasons but has been torched for a 6.55 ERA with nine strikeouts against six walks (two intentional) through 11 innings this season. His average fastball has dipped from 95 mph in 2017-18 to 93.7 mph this season. A healthy Tepera would make for a nice trade chip for the Jays this summer, given that he’s controlled through 2021, so his diagnosis and recovery timetable are well worth monitoring despite the fact that the Jays are on pace for nearly 100 losses.
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