Headlines

Go To Pro Hockey Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

Blue Jays Rumors

Blue Jays Shake Up Scouting & Player Development

By | at

TODAY: Toronto has also relieved minor league field coordinator Doug Davis of his duties, Shi David of Sportsnet.ca. A part of the organization since 2006, Davis was one of the highest-ranking members of the player development staff.

YESTERDAY: The Blue Jays have made two significant changes at the top of their scouting department, Baseball America’s John Manuel reports. Scouting director Brian Parker and national crosschecker Blake Davis have been let go from their positions, per the report.

Parker has been with the Toronto organization since 2009 and took the seat atop the amateur scouting group in 2012. Davis has a history not only in scouting, but also as an agent, BP Toronto’s Gideon Turk explains in further detailing their respective roles.

The Jays’ drafting history over the last several years is somewhat mixed, though obviously it remains incomplete. As both of the above-cited pieces detail, the Parker-led drafts have focused on projectable righties. Among the selections, some have reached the majors (Manuel cites Matt Boyd and Kendall Graveman), while others have shown promise (e.g. Conner Greene, Sean Reid-Foley), but none appear particularly likely to be stars.

Regardless of how the work of these two men was assessed, their eventual departure from the organization was fairly likely with the installation of the Mark Shapiro/Ross Atkins-led front office. With this year’s draft recently going in the books — the Jays took right-hander TJ Zeuch with their first selection — it was an opportune time for Shapiro and Atkins to continue re-shaping their support group.

Blue Jays Designate Junior Lake For Assignment

By | at

The Blue Jays have activated outfielder Ezequiel Carrera from the disabled list and designated fellow outfielder Junior Lake for assignment, as Shi Davidi of Sportsnet tweets.

Lake, 26, has already been designated for assignment and outrighted by the Blue Jays once this season but returned to the big league roster on Aug. 10 when Jose Bautista joined Carrera on the disabled list. His second stint with the Jays was more brief than his first, and he’s now appeared in a total of 22 games with Toronto this season but collected just 39 plate appearances. In that time, Lake has batted .200/.282/.371 with a homer and three doubles. Toronto will have 10 days to make a decision on Lake, though an outright seems likeliest considering the fact that he’s already accepted one such assignment this year. In 703 plate appearances spanning parts of four Major League seasons, Lake is a .235/.278/.376 hitter.

Blue Jays Place Jose Bautista On 15-Day DL

By | at

The Blue Jays have placed right fielder Jose Bautista on the 15-day disabled list with a left knee sprain and recalled outfielder Junior Lake from Triple-A Buffalo to take his roster spot, according to Brendan Kennedy of the Toronto Star (Twitter link). Bautista is the second full-time Jays outfielder to hit the DL this week, joining Kevin Pillar (thumb).

This is the second DL stint of the year for Bautista, who previously missed over a month on account of a sprained toe. Bautista just returned from that ailment July 25 before suffering his latest injury Tuesday. In the 80 appearances Bautista has made this year, he has hit a disappointing .222/.349/.444 in 355 plate appearances, though he has added 15 home runs while continuing to show mastery over the strike zone (16.3 percent walk rate versus a 17.7 percent strikeout rate). Still, combining the decline in Bautista’s 2016 numbers – which are well below the figures he has posted since breaking out in 2010 – with his age (36 in October) and two DL placements doesn’t seem to bode well for the impending free agent’s earning power during the upcoming winter.

From a team standpoint, losing Bautista is clearly a notable blow for playoff-contending Toronto, which carries a 64-50 record into Tuesday and is mere percentage points behind AL East-leading Baltimore. Without Bautista and Pillar, the Jays’ outfield alignment will consist of recent pickup Melvin Upton Jr. in center field, Michael Saunders in right and Darrell Ceciliani in left, as their depth chart shows.

Blue Jays Release Franklin Morales

By | at

The Blue Jays have released left-hander Franklin Morales, the team told reporters (Twitter link via Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet). Morales was designated for assignment last Monday following the acquisitions of Scott Feldman and Francisco Liriano.

Morales inked a minor league deal with a $2MM base salary this offseason but spent the majority of the season on the disabled list prior to his DFA last Monday. The veteran southpaw totaled just four innings with the Blue Jays and allowed four runs on three hits and a couple of walks with two strikeouts. While the 2016 season obviously hasn’t been a positive one for Morales, one only needs to look to the 2015 campaign to find his last productive season in the Majors. Morales spent the 2015 season with the Royals and pitched to a 3.18 ERA in 62 1/3 innings. He worked in quite a few low-leverage spots due to last year’s trio of Ryan Madson, Kelvin Herrera and Wade Davis dominating the late innings for the Royals, but the overall work was among the best of Morales’ career. The longtime Rockies hurler has a career 4.87 ERA in 242 innings as a starter and a 4.25 mark in 248 innings as a reliever.

Injury Notes: Bochy, Pillar, Withrow, Guerra, Cobb

By | at

Giants manager Bruce Bochy was checked into hospital this morning after feeling ill, according to a statement from the team.  Bochy will be monitored overnight and is expected to return to the dugout tomorrow, while bench coach Ron Wotus will manage the Giants tonight against the Marlins.  Let’s check in on some on-field injury situations…

  • The Blue Jays have placed center fielder Kevin Pillar on the 15-day DL with a left thumb sprain.  Darrell Ceciliani has been recalled from Triple-A to fill a backup outfield role while Melvin Upton Jr. will take over regular duty in center.  [Updated Blue Jays depth chart at Roster Resource.]  Pillar told reporters, including MLB.com’s Alykhan K. Ravjiani, that he expects to be back after the minimum 15 days.  Even if it’s only a short-term absence, however, the Jays’ pre-deadline acquisition of Upton looms large in the wake of this injury, as Toronto previously lacked a solid backup center field option.  Upton hasn’t provided much at the plate since joining the Jays, and even his good center field glove will be a defensive downgrade from Pillar, who leads all MLB outfielders in UZR/150 (32.9) and is tied for second in Defensive Runs Saved (17).
  • The Braves placed righty reliever Chris Withrow on the 15-day DL with an inflamed elbow, and the recently-claimed Chaz Roe will take Withrow’s spot on the roster.  [Updated Braves depth chart at Roster Resource.]  Withrow has posted a 3.31 ERA, 6.9 K/9 and 1.79 K/BB rate over 32 2/3 IP for Atlanta this season.  He drew some trade attention from the Mets prior to the deadline, though this injury could scuttle the Braves’ chances of dangling Withrow as trade bait in the August waiver period.
  • The Brewers will place Junior Guerra on the 15-day DL on Tuesday due to right elbow inflammation, manager Craig Counsell told media (including Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel).  Wily Peralta had already been announced as the starter for Tuesday’s game, taking Guerra’s scheduled turn in the rotation.  Guerra, a 31-year-old rookie, has been a surprise breakout performer for Milwaukee this season, posting a 2.93 ERA, 7.55 K/9 and 2.43 K/9 over 107 1/3 innings for the Brew Crew.
  • Rays starter Alex Cobb will take the next step in his injury rehab by moving to Triple-A starts, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times reports (Twitter link).  Cobb will start for Triple-A Durham on Wednesday.  The righty underwent Tommy John surgery in May 2015 and his rehab has taken slightly longer than expected, though he is still tentatively slated to return to the Rays in late August or early September.

Mariners Acquire Pat Venditte From Blue Jays

By | at

The Mariners have announced that they’ve acquired switch-pitcher Pat Venditte from the Blue Jays for a player to be named. To clear space for him, they’ve designated righty Donn Roach for assignment. Venditte has been assigned to Triple-A Tacoma.

The 31-year-old Venditte had appeared in eight games with the Jays this season. He’d spent the bulk of the year with Triple-A Buffalo, where he posted a 4.37 ERA and 3.3 BB/9, but with a very high 13.4 K/9. He has a 4.58 ERA, 7.2 K/9 and 3.9 BB/9 in 37 1/3 career big-league innings, suggesting his highly unusual ability to pitch with either hand is more than a curiosity. He has, however, been much better as a left-handed pitcher in his brief big-league career, and that trend also existed in the minors this year. The trade for Venditte was the Mariners’ second acquisition of a reliever today, with the first being their trade for Arquimedes Caminero of the Pirates. Whereas that move seemed designed to immediately improve the big-league roster, though, it appears they’ll use Venditte primarily as depth for now.

The 26-year-old Roach has appeared in four games with Seattle in 2016, but he’s spent most of the year with Tacoma, posting a 4.75 ERA, 5.2 K/9 and 1.6 BB/9 while pitching 108 innings, mostly as a starter. He has a career 5.77 ERA, 4.6 K/9 and 4.2 BB/9 in parts of three seasons in the big leagues, during which he’s also appeared with the Padres and Cubs.

Blue Jays Going To Six-Man Rotation; Aaron Sanchez To Continue Starting

By | at

After months of debate surrounding emerging Blue Jays ace Aaron Sanchez, the team has made the decision to deploy a six-man rotation featuring Sanchez, Marcus Stroman, J.A. Happ, Marco Estrada, R.A. Dickey and newly acquired Francisco Liriano, per Toronto GM Ross Atkins (via Sportsnet’s Shi Davidi).

As Davidi points out, the solution isn’t perfect, as even with a six-man structure, Sanchez figures to make another eight starts or so, which would push him to 180 innings even if he tossed only five innings per outing. That wouldn’t factor in the postseason, either, and an ideal scenario for Toronto would include Sanchez starting well into a deep postseason run. It’s a similar conundrum that the Mets faced with Matt Harvey last season, though Sanchez isn’t coming back from Tommy John. Rather, he’s simply looking at a massive increase in his workload after throwing a total of 133 1/3 innings in 2014 (a career high) and an even smaller total of 102 innings in 2015. President of baseball operations Mark Shapiro recently told the media that there’s “no scenario” in which Sanchez would be allowed to pitch 220 to 230 innings, and indeed Atkins said that the team plans on avoiding such an extreme spike in his innings.

Atkins suggested to reporters that in addition to the six-man rotation, the Jays will be able to leverage expanded rosters in September in order to perhaps further limit Sanchez’s innings in advance of what the Jays hope will be a deep playoff run. He also implied that Sanchez’s ability to continue bouncing back from starts will impact the plan for the remainder of the season, stressing the importance of remaining “fluid and flexible” in this type of situation. “We have all the math, of course,” said Atkins in reference to various innings projections for Sanchez. “Like I said, we’ll get into an area, hopefully we get into that area. He feels good, he’s recovering well, we’re not seeing fatigue in any way and (if) we get into an area that’s unprecedented, we’re hopeful that happens.” Davidi goes on to report that the Blue Jays have been extensively studying dramatic innings increases from years prior, specifically examining Noah Syndergaard and Jon Lester, among others.

Of course, keeping both Sanchez and Liriano in the rotation comes with other roster construction implications. With six starters on board, the Blue Jays will have to either utilize a three-man bench or a six-man bullpen between now and Sept. 1, when rosters expand. The former of those two options is the current alignment, as can be seen on the Blue Jays’ depth chart, leaving the club with a bench consisting of light-hitting Josh Thole, defensive specialist Darwin Barney and a resurgent Melvin Upton Jr. With Troy Tulowitzki attempting to play through a chip fracture in his thumb and Jose Bautista fresh off the DL due to a foot injury, the possibility exists that the Blue Jays could be stretched thin on the position-player front, though rookie right-hander Danny Barnes could be optioned back to Buffalo should the need for an additional bench player arise.

In 139 1/3 innings this season, the 24-year-old Sanchez has pitched to an American-League-leading 2.71 ERA with 7.6 K/9, 2.6 BB/9 and a 57.5 percent ground-ball rate that trails only his own teammate, Stroman, among qualified Major League starters this season.

Brewers Claim Ben Rowen From Blue Jays

By | at

The Blue Jays announced that right-hander Ben Rowen, who was designated for assignment by Toronto following Monday’s acquisitions of Francisco Liriano and Scott Feldman, has been claimed off waivers by the Brewers. He’ll head to Triple-A, according to an announcement from the Brewers.

Rowen, 27, has spent the entire season with Toronto’s Triple-A affiliate and posted a very strong 2.47 ERA with 6.3 K/9 against 2.1 BB/9 in 47 1/3 innings of relief. Rowen’s submarine arm slot makes it exceptionally difficult to elevate the ball against him, as evidenced by the mere eight home runs he’s surrendered in 374 innings at the minor league level (0.2 HR/9). He’s generated ground-balls at a 64.9 percent rate this season at the Triple-A level and boasts a strong 1.85 ERA in his minor league career.

AL East Notes: Moncada, A-Rod, Yankees, Rays, Sanchez

By | at

Top Red Sox prospect Yoan Moncada may not quite be ready to follow Andrew Benintendi to the majors, but GM Mike Hazen says he is playing his way into the team’s near-term plans, as Jason Mastrodonato of the Boston Herald writes. Moncada’s big numbers at Double-A have prompted a move to third base, where he could play at the big league level in relatively short order. Hazen analogized the situation to that of Mookie Betts, who also shifted off of second base — in his case, to the outfield — because he was ready to play but was blocked by stalwart Dustin Pedroia. As for timing of a big league promotion, Hazen declined to offer an opinion, but did note that Moncada has had a very different path to this point than did Benintendi. Also, as Mastrodonato notes, he needs to polish his hitting approach and refine his mechanics from both sides of the plate.

A bit more from the AL East…

  • The Yankees have no plans to release Alex Rodriguez, general manager Brian Cashman said in a recent ESPN Radio appearance (transcript via the Post’s George A. King III). Cashman acknowledged that some of Rodriguez’s at-bats will go to other players, but injuries or matchups could get Rodriguez additional looks down the stretch. The contract of Rodriguez, which calls for him to earn another $27MM through next season, is a factor, Cashman admitted: “First and foremost, you just have to admit it’s not easy to go ahead and eat — meaning release — that kind of money. It’s not something you come to a quick decision on. There are players around the game with big contracts, well-below-average players, for many years, not just a year. Alex hit 33 home runs, I believe, last year. … If we choose to do something, that’s our right at any time, but right now that’s not being done.”
  • Cashman appeared on yesterday’s Baseball Tonight podcast with ESPN’s Buster Olney (audio link) and discussed the Yankees’ decision to act as sellers at this year’s deadline as well as the prospects he picked up in trades of Andrew Miller and Carlos Beltran leading up to the non-waiver trade deadline. Cashman also said he has a list of Pirates prospects at the lower levels of their system from which he’ll select a pair of players to be named later in order to complete the Ivan Nova trade, but they’re still in the process of evaluating their options.
  • Rays infielder Brad Miller tells Roger Mooney of the Tampa Bay Times that he was “extremely disappointed” to learn that newly acquired Matt Duffy will supplant him as the everyday shortstop upon his return from an Achilles injury. Miller considers himself a shortstop and sounds frustrated that he’ll be moved off the position for the second time in his young career. “I feel like I’ve done everything I needed to do to keep the job, and they didn’t see it that way,” he explains. “The same thing happened in Seattle.” Rays skipper Kevin Cash, though, stressed that Miller will still be an everyday player due to his bat. He’ll move over to first base until Logan Morrison’s return and then presumably see regular at-bats spread across several positions as a means of keeping his .252/.300/.484 slash line and 18 homers in the lineup.
  • Blue Jays president Mark Shapiro said in an appearance on MLB Network Radio on SiriusXM within the past hour (audio link) and said definitively that Aaron Sanchez won’t throw 220 innings this season. Shapiro added that GM Ross Atkins is on his way to discuss scenarios with Sanchez, manager John Gibbons and pitching coach Pete Walker at today. Said Shapiro of the innings limitation on Sanchez: “There’s no safe way to shut him down and ramp him up again. If you take that out, it’s simply do you let him start to a point where he either fatigues and mandates being shut down or he reaches some arbitrary inning amount — 190 or whatever it is — …or do we reallocate this innings in the bullpen and let him continue to contribute to this team in high-leverage situations?”

Deadline Notes: Yankees, Sanchez, Peavy, Moore, Rangers, Liriano

By | at

Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner had a long and interesting chat the Michael Kay Show (audio link) in which he discussed his organization’s rare sale-side moves at the deadline. Carrying three ace closers, he said, was an “incredible luxury, but not a necessity,” which seemingly helped to ease his mind in parting with Andrew Miller and Aroldis Chapman. He further explained that the organization didn’t simply decide at some point that it would undergo a sale, but instead considered each individual move on its own merit as opportunities arose. Generally, he emphasized that he looked closely at every player in every deal and suggested that the group of trades has helped position the organization for the near-future and beyond. There’s plenty more in the interview, which is well worth a full listen.

Here are few more notes coming off of the trade deadline …

  • As has been expected, the Yankees will call up catcher Gary Sanchez once again, per Shane Hennigan of the Scranton Times-Tribune (via Twitter). It’s not yet clear whether he’ll just provide a temporary DH option — as he did earlier in the season — or stick for good, but Steinbrenner did note that the organization believes he’s ready for extended big league time. The owner emphasized that fans can expect to see several fresh faces down the stretch as the Yankees look to see what they have in the upper-level prospects they have been developing — not to mention those just added over the last several days.
  • The Giants have moved veteran righty Jake Peavy to the bullpen to accommodate the acquisition of Matt Moore, as Andrew Baggarly of the Mercury News reports. Though Peavy has worked almost exclusively in the rotation over his long career, he seemingly took the news quite well. San Francisco has liked what it has seen of late from Matt Cain, who was the other candidate to move to a relief role, and thinks that Peavy will be better able to handle the transition, skipper Bruce Bochy explained.
  • Speaking of Moore, the Rangers turned their attention elsewhere given the Rays’ asking price on the lefty, per Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News (Twitter link). Texas would have needed to send not only Lewis Brinson and Luis Ortiz — each of whom were packaged to acquire Jonathan Lucroy and Jeremy Jeffress — but also Jurickson Profar, per the report.
  • Part of the calculus for the Blue Jays’ acquisition of Francisco Liriano was the opportunity for him to work again with backstop Russell Martin, Shi Davidi of Sportsnet.ca explains. Both GM Ross Atkins and manager John Gibbons noted the importance of that connection, and Martin offered glowing reports of Liriano’s stuff. As Atkins put it: “The experience of Russ and the familiarity, if we come up with a plan we should expect some correction. This is not on Russ Martin by any means, but we did see that as an added benefit.”
Show all

MLB Trade Rumors is not affiliated with Major League Baseball, MLB or MLB.com

Do not Sell or Share My Personal Information

hide arrows scroll to top