Headlines

Go To Pro Hockey Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

Blue Jays Rumors

34 Players Elect Free Agency

By | at

As the offseason nears, a number of players elect minor league free agency each week. These players are separate from six-year MLB free agents, who’ll reach the open market five days after the conclusion of the World Series. Eligible minor leaguers can begin electing free agency as soon as the regular season wraps up. These players were all outrighted off a team’s 40-man roster during the year and have the requisite service time and/or multiple career outrights necessary to reach free agency since they weren’t added back to teams’ rosters.

Electing free agency is the anticipated outcome for these players. There’ll surely be more to test the market in the coming weeks. We’ll offer periodic updates at MLBTR. These transactions are all reflected on the MiLB.com log.

Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders

Designated Hitter

Pitchers

Blue Jays Making Several Changes To Coaching Staff

By | at

Oct. 1: In addition to Martinez, the Blue Jays are reassigning field coordinator Gil Kim and assistant pitching coach Jeff Ware, reports Shi Davidi of Sportsnet. It seems they’ll remain with the club in other capacities but will no longer have direct roles on the major league staff. Assistant pitching coach David Howell is also slated for reassignment, per Davidi.

Kim was hired back in 2016, taking on the role of director of player development. He’s been on the big league staff since 2020. Ware was a minor league pitching coordinator and pitching coach in the Jays’ system for several years before joining the big league staff with a particular focus on the team’s bullpen in 2023. Howell was in his third season on the big league staff, and his focus has been on general pitching strategy.

Toronto will be on the lookout for some new staffers heading into the 2025 season and it’s possible that additional changes will be made.

Sept. 30: The Blue Jays are parting ways with hitting coach Guillermo Martinez, reports Scott Mitchell of TSN (X link). It’s the first change to John Schneider’s staff on the heels of a disappointing season.

Martinez has been Toronto’s hitting coach since the 2018-19 offseason. The Jays have also employed Don Mattingly as bench coach and offensive coordinator for the past couple seasons. However the Jays divided responsibilities between Mattingly and Martinez, they’ll look for a new voice at hitting coach.

The Jays had high expectations this year after winning between 89 and 92 games in each of the previous three seasons. Instead, Toronto finished at the bottom of the AL East with a 74-88 showing. The offense was a big part of that. The Jays finished 23rd in MLB with 671 runs. Their rate stats were closer to average. They hit .241/.313/.389, finishing between 13th and 20th in the slash categories. The Jays were 26th in home runs, though, certainly not providing the kind of power they’d anticipated. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. connected on 30 homers; no one else on the team reached 20.

Guerrero looks like a top 10 hitter in MLB. The Jays got promising work out of rookie infielder Spencer Horwitz. There wasn’t a ton else that went right for the team offensively. Isiah Kiner-Falefa and Justin Turner were traded midseason. Leo Jiménez was the only other hitter (minimum 200 plate appearances) with a better than average wRC+, and his .229/.329/.358 line was marginally above par. Toronto’s biggest focus on the offensive side is getting Bo Bichette back on track. The star shortstop entered the 2024 campaign as a career .299/.340/.487 hitter. He hit .225/.277/.322 this season around a trio of injured list stints.

AL Notes: Reinsdorf, Blue Jays, Rays, Diaz

By | at

The White Sox won five of their last six games but couldn’t avoid history, as the 41-121 club had the most losses of any team in the modern era.  In an open letter to fans today, White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf described the season in such terms as “a failure,” “embarrassing,” “completely unacceptable,” and others, while noting that “as the leader of this organization, that is my ultimate responsibility.  There are no excuses.”

In terms of what is next, Reinsdorf said the team is “embracing new ideas and outside perspectives” to get things on track.  “This will include further development of players on our current roster, development within our system, evaluating the trade and free agent markets to improve our ballclub and new leadership for our analytics department, allowing us to elevate and improve every process within our organization with a focus for competing for championships….When named general manager in 2023, Chris Getz and his staff immediately began conducting a top-to-bottom evaluation of our existing operations.  Chris is rebuilding the foundation of our baseball operations department, with key personnel changes already happening in player development, international scouting, professional scouting and analytics.  Some of these changes will be apparent quickly while others will need time to produce the results we all want to see at the major-league level.”

More from around the American League…

  • John Schneider listed catching, bullpen, and power hitting as the Blue Jays’ biggest offseason needs, the manager told The Athletic’s Kaitlyn McGrath and other reporters today.  “I think you need a little bit more than just a [catcher] that’s going to play once or twice a week,” Schneider said, implying that Toronto will be looking for a timeshare partner for Alejandro Kirk rather than a backup.  Finding help behind the plate could be tricky in a typically thin free agent catching market, though Kirk’s offensive improvement in the second half of the season provides some hope that Kirk can get back to his All-Star form from 2022.  Basically any improvement is needed for a bullpen that was one of the worst in baseball, but Schneider specified that “I think that you need unique looks and unique stuff — stuff that complements one another, guys that can do different things.”  How the Jays address these needs and several other roster holes will be a challenge for a team that is still largely reliant on such core players as Kirk, Bo Bichette, George Springer, and others to be much better than they were in 2024.
  • The Rays are another AL East team with an underachieving lineup, and Yandy Diaz unsurprisingly feels that “one or two more bats” are needed this winter, the infielder told Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times.  Diaz’s own production dropped from the highs of his 2022-23 seasons, as a slow start diminished his numbers even if Diaz returned to his usual form over time.  In fact, Diaz’s most productive month (.879 OPS) came in September, even though he said he was dealing with patellar tendinitis in his left knee.  Diaz isn’t worried that the injury will require any surgical treatment, and said “I need to work on my strength, my knee and exercises, and get ready for Spring Training, and hopefully everything’s going to be OK.”
  • In other Rays news from Topkin, the team intends to retain its coaching staff for next season.  Of course, outside factors could complicate these plans, as rival clubs routinely interviews Rays coaches for other jobs, such as managerial or bench coach vacancies.

Bo Bichette To Undergo Surgery On Fractured Finger

By | at

Blue Jays manager John Schneider told reporters (including Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet) that shortstop Bo Bichette is slated to undergo surgery to repair a displaced fracture in his right middle finger. Bichette was placed on the injured list due to the fracture last week in a move that had already brought his 2024 season to a close, and Schneider indicated that Bichette “should be good to go” come Spring Training in February.

Bichette, 26, endured the worst season of his career this year as he battled injuries and ineffectiveness all year. The two-time All-Star was limited to just 81 games this season due to multiple IL stints caused by calf strains this year, and even when healthy enough to take the field he hit a lackluster .225/.277/.322 (70 wRC+) in 336 trips to the plate. That’s a less than ideal slash line for any regular big leaguer, but it’s especially troublesome for a young star who has never posted a wRC+ below 120 in his major league career prior to this year.

Prior to this year’s injury-marred blip, Bichette has been among the most consistent stars in the league with a career slash line of .299/.340/.487 (127 wRC+) entering the 2024 campaign. That strong pedigree was enough to generate some trade buzz regarding Bichette ahead of this year’s trade deadline as the Blue Jays fell out of the postseason picture, though the club seemed hesitant to deal either him or fellow star Vladimir Guerrero Jr. before Bichette’s injury woes ultimately snuffed out whatever possibility for a deal to come together there may have been.

Looking ahead to the offseason, the Blue Jays have generally indicated that they hope to return to contention in 2025, and if truly the club is committed to putting the best possible team on the field for next season it’s hard to imagine that being possible while also dealing either Bichette or Guerrero this winter. Of course, that doesn’t mean a trade of either or even both stars is impossible with one year left before the pair heads to free agency, and it seems likely that this surgery will do little to dissuade interested parties from pursuing the shortstop given that he’s expected to be ready to go by the time Spring Training rolls around.

The Blue Jays also provided an update on the status of center fielder Daulton Varsho today in the aftermath of his previously announced surgery to repair a rotator cuff injury in his shoulder. As noted by Scott Mitchell of SportsCenter, no further damage was discovered in Varsho’s successful rotator cuff surgery today, leading to a standard procedure. That said, Toronto was unwilling to commit to Varsho being ready for Spring Training when his surgery was first announced, and Mitchell indicates even with the procedure completed his readiness for the start of camp is still up in the air.

According to Mitchell, Varsho’s current timeline has him “toeing the line” to be fully ready for this spring even in the event that he avoids any setbacks over the offseason. Still, even a delayed start to Spring Training wouldn’t necessarily stop the outfielder from being back in time to make the club’s Opening Day roster in 2025. The 28-year-old enjoyed a solid season in 2024, slashing a roughly league average .214/.293/.407 (99 wRC+) while also chipping in ten stolen bases and playing superb defense in center field.

Blue Jays Reinstate, Option Orelvis Martinez

By | at

The Blue Jays announced Tuesday that they’ve reinstated top prospect Orelvis Martinez from the restricted list and optioned him to their spring training complex. Daulton Varsho, who recently underwent shoulder surgery, was moved to the 60-day injured list to open a spot on the 40-man roster.

It’s a procedural move. Martinez was hit with an 80-game PED suspension earlier this season and has completed that lengthy ban. Varsho’s season is obviously over, so moving him to the 60-day injured list creates roster space in the short-term while kicking the more pressing decisions regarding 40-man openings down the road a bit. Varsho, Will Wagner, Alek Manoah and Jordan Romano will all need to be reinstated from the 60-day IL at the beginning of the offseason. Ryan Yarbrough reaching free agency will open one spot, but the Jays will need to open a trio of other spots, which will likely be accomplished by outrighting some fringe players.

Martinez, 22, appeared in just one major league game before his suspension was handed down. He’s long rated among not just the top prospects in Toronto’s system but in the entire sport. He posted a .267/.346/.523 slash in Triple-A this season before being called up — numbers that align neatly with the .263/.340/.507 line he put up in a half season of Triple-A games in 2023.

The 2024 season should have marked an opportunity for Martinez to establish himself as a key piece of the Jays’ future. Toronto traded veterans like Isiah Kiner-Falefa and Justin Turner at the deadline. Shortstop Bo Bichette has endured three different IL stints and will finish the season with only 81 games played. Instead, Martinez watched idly after testing positive for a banned substance, creating questions about his future both because he couldn’t seize the opportunities that would’ve otherwise presented themselves and because PED bans naturally trigger questions about the legitimacy of prior performance.

As it stands, the Jays will head into the 2025 season with Bichette, Wagner, Ernie Clement, Addison Barger and Leo Jimenez in the mix for infield reps. There’s been some speculation about a potential trade of Bichette, but all indications are that Toronto wants to take another stab at contending in 2025. Bichette would presumably be a large part of that effort, and selling low on him would be tough for the front office anyhow. Clement has had a strong season, particularly with the glove, but none of those infielders have played so well that they’d stand as a firm impediment to Martinez in the event that the top prospect forces his way into the mix. He’ll need to earn a look next year, particularly after sitting half the current season on the sidelines for disciplinary reasons, but the unsettled infield mix should create some opportunities — even if the Jays are likely to bring in some veteran help over the winter.

Blue Jays Outright Brian Serven

By | at

The Blue Jays sent catcher Brian Serven outright to Triple-A Buffalo, per the transaction log at MLB.com. Toronto designated him for assignment on Monday when they brought Tyler Heineman back via waivers.

Serven has occupied a 40-man roster spot since the end of Spring Training. He has spent a chunk of the season on optional assignment, hitting .265/.390/.379 with a trio of homers in 40 games for Buffalo. Serven appeared in 28 MLB contests and ran a .179/.243/.222 slash over 71 plate appearances. He’s a career .187/.247/.293 hitter across 101 games split between the Jays and Rockies.

The Arizona State product owns a .244/.325/.435 mark over parts of four seasons in Triple-A. Serven isn’t much of an offensive threat, though he has graded highly by public defensive metrics in 730 career innings. As a player with multiple career outright assignments, he has the ability to elect free agency. Even if he sticks in the Toronto organization for the last week of the season, he’ll be a minor league free agent at the start of the offseason. Serven’s defensive reputation should land him a minor league deal with a Spring Training invite.

Bo Bichette Placed On Injured List Due To Fractured Finger

By | at

The Blue Jays announced Thursday that shortstop Bo Bichette suffered a fractured middle finger and has been placed on the 10-day injured list, ending his 2024 season. Bichette was scratched from yesterday’s lineup after suffering a hand injury during pregame fielding drills. Outfielder Jonatan Clase has been recalled from Triple-A Buffalo to take Bichette’s spot on the active roster.

The broken finger caps off a nightmare season for Bichette — one that’s seen the two-time All-Star weather a pair of IL stints due to calf strains that have severely hobbled him. Bichette only just returned from the injured list Tuesday and played in one game after a nearly two-month absence due to that ailing calf. He’ll close out the year with a wildly uncharacteristic .225/.277/.322 batting line and four homers — a far cry from the .299/.340/.487 batting line he carried into the 2024 campaign.

Bichette was the subject of trade rumblings early this summer, but Toronto GM Ross Atkins quickly shut down any real notion of selling low on his star shortstop when he said in mid-June that trading Bichette (or teammate Vladimir Guerrero Jr.) “[didn’t] make any sense” for the Jays. While the Blue Jays ultimately operated as deadline sellers, they mostly moved players who’d have been up for free agency at the end of the current season.

All indications have been that Atkins & Co. want to retool the roster and take aim at a return to contending next season. Bichette, who recently voiced a strong desire to stay with the Jays, will presumably be a part of those efforts — although other teams around the league will likely at least inquire about the possibility of prying him loose from the only organization he’s known to this point in his career.

The 2025 season will be Bichette’s final year before reaching free agency for the first time. The Jays signed him to a three-year, $33.6MM deal buying out all three of his arbitration seasons back in February of 2023. That contract, which did not delay his path to the open market, calls for Bichette to earn $16.5MM next season in what will be his age-27 campaign.

Blue Jays Notes: Wagner, Bichette

By | at

The Blue Jays placed Will Wagner on the 60-day injured list yesterday, bringing his rookie season to an early close. Keegan Matheson of MLB.com tweets that the infielder will undergo a left knee scope tomorrow. It’s a minor arthroscopic procedure that is expected to prevent Wagner from participating in baseball activities for a month. He should have ample time to progress through most of the offseason and be ready for Spring Training.

Toronto acquired Wagner alongside Jake Bloss and Joey Loperfido in a strong trade package for rental starter Yusei Kikuchi. Wagner was in Triple-A with the Astros at the time of the trade. The Jays briefly sent him to their top affiliate before calling him up in mid-August. The lefty-hitting second baseman made a strong first impression, running a .305/.337/.451 slash with a pair of homers in 24 games.

Wagner had a very strong year in Triple-A to earn the MLB look. He combined for a .315/.432/.444 line through 355 minor league plate appearances. Wagner drew 59 walks while striking out just 37 times. Assuming the surgery rehab goes as planned, he could compete for the second base job in camp. Davis Schneider, Leo Jiménez and Ernie Clement should split the remaining time there this season.

On the other side of the infield, the Jays scratched Bo Bichette minutes before Wednesday’s loss to the Rangers. The shortstop suffered a contusion on his right middle finger. Manager John Schneider said after the game that Bichette was injured while taking grounders in pregame warm-ups (link via Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet). He’ll go for x-rays tomorrow.

Bichette just returned from the injured list on Tuesday. A calf strain had sidelined him since the middle of July. That was the second calf-related IL stint of what has been an extremely frustrating season. If he did suffer any kind of finger fracture, the Jays would presumably shut him down for the year. Bichette has appeared in 81 games and owns a career-worst .225/.277/.322 batting line.

Daulton Varsho To Undergo Shoulder Surgery

By | at

Daulton Varsho will undergo surgery to repair a rotator cuff injury in his right shoulder, he tells Hazel Mae (X link). Toronto manager John Schneider told the Toronto beat (relayed on X by Keegan Matheson of MLB.com) that the Jays will have a clearer timeline once Varsho completes the procedure. Schneier didn’t rule out the possibility that the rehab process carries into next year’s Spring Training.

That brings an early end to the outfielder’s second year in Toronto. Varsho hit .214/.293/.407 with 18 homers, 21 doubles and seven triples through 513 plate appearances. That’s league average offensive production, by measure of wRC+, with Varsho’s power helping to offset the poor on-base mark. It’s a better year than he had in 2023, when he hit .220/.285/.389 despite offense being higher around the league than it has been this season.

Varsho may not recapture the 27-homer form that he showed during his final season with the Diamondbacks. He can still be a very productive player even with league average offense. The former catcher has developed into one of the game’s premier defensive outfielders. Varsho had fantastic marks for his 672 innings of center field work and his 400+ frames in left field. Statcast has him tied for second among outfielders (behind Washington’s Jacob Young) in Outs Above Average. Defensive Runs Saved credited Varsho with an incredible 28 runs above average — not only the best in MLB but five runs clear of second-place Jarren Duran.

Those defensive metrics should earn Varsho his first Gold Glove. He’ll go into next season as Toronto’s everyday center fielder if he’s healthy. Any kind of offseason setback could put that in doubt, but for now, there’s no indication the Jays will need to look outside the organization for center field help.

Nathan Lukes, who has taken over in center, looks like a solid fourth outfielder. He’d be an option to pick up some early-season starts if Varsho falls behind schedule. George Springer has plenty of center field experience but he has only played one game there this season. As he enters his age-35 season, Springer seems firmly committed to right field.

Varsho is under team control for another two seasons. He made $5.65MM in his second of four years of arbitration. He’ll likely land somewhere in the $8-10MM range next year.

Blue Jays Claim Nick Robertson

By | at

4:10pm: The Jays have now made it official, announcing that they have claimed Robertson and optioned him to Triple-A Buffalo. Infielder Will Wagner was placed on the 60-day injured list with left knee inflammation to open a 40-man roster spot. That also created an active roster spot for shortstop Bo Bichette, who has been reinstated from the 10-day IL, as expected. The Jays also placed outfielder Daulton Varsho on the 10-day IL with a right shoulder strain, retroactive to September 14, and recalled Steward Berroa in a corresponding move.

2:00pm: The Blue Jays have claimed right-hander Nick Robertson off waivers from the Angels, reports MLBTR’s Steve Adams on X. The Halos had designated him for assignment a couple of days ago. The Jays have a full 40-man roster and will need to make a corresponding move to make the claim official.

Robertson, 26, has a bit of major league experience with poor baseline results though more encouraging peripherals. He has pitched for the Dodgers, Red Sox and Cardinals over the past two seasons, with a 5.45 earned run average in 34 2/3 innings. His .386 batting average on balls in play and 65.1% strand rate are both on the unlucky side, while his 25.3% strikeout rate and 7% walk rate are both solid figures. His 4.12 FIP and 3.49 SIERA suggest he may be capable of posting better results than he has managed so far.

It’s a somewhat similar story in the minor leagues. From 2021 to the present, he has tossed 203 innings on the farm with a 4.39 ERA, 27.8% strikeout rate, 9.5% walk rate, .326 BABIP, 66.6% strand rate and 4.01 FIP.

Despite the runs crossing the board, teams have clearly been intrigued by the encouraging strikeout to walk ratios. The Red Sox acquired him from the Dodgers in last summer’s trade that sent Enrique Hernández to Los Angeles. Just a few months later, the Cardinals acquired him from the Sox as part of the December 2023 deal that sent Tyler O’Neill to Boston.

Robertson only got limited big league action with the Cards this year, tossing 12 1/3 innings. He struck out 26.9% of batters faced and only walked 3.8% of them, but gave up three homers in that limited time. That and a .364 BABIP led to an 85.9% strand rate and 4.38 ERA in that time. In the minors, he tossed 21 2/3 innings but had control problems, an oddity for him, posting an uncharacteristic 15.7% walk rate.

The Cards put him on waivers just over a month ago, with the Angels putting in a claim. He was sent to Triple-A Salt Lake and tossed 13 innings there, striking out 25.8% of batters faced with a 12.1% walk rate, improved control from his previous Triple-A stint but still a bit worse than average. A .438 BABIP and 58.6% strand rate were once again culprits in a small sample, leading to a 6.92 ERA but 4.30 FIP. The Angels put him back on waivers just over a month after claiming him with the Jays now swooping in, bringing Robertson to the same city as his hockey namesake.

Perhaps the Jays feel the results will even out in time or maybe they have a plan to limit the damage that hitters are doing against Robertson. They don’t need to commit a major league roster spot to him, as he will still have another option season remaining after this one. For now, they can get a close-up look at him and see if they can find a way to translate those strong peripherals into better results. If things work out, he has less than a year of service time and can be cheaply retained well into the future.

The Toronto bullpen was undone by injuries and underperformance earlier in the year, with the club then subtracting from the group by trading Yimi García, Trevor Richards and Nate Pearson prior to the deadline. To compensate for the many absences from trades and injuries, they have been taking fliers on all sorts of relievers, having acquired Ryan Burr, Tommy Nance, José Cuas, Joel Kuhnel, Luis Frías, Yerry Rodríguez, Easton Lucas, Dillon Tate, Emmanuel Ramírez, Brett de Geus and now Robertson in waiver claims or small trades. Some of those guys have since lost their roster spots but the club is clearly willing to turn over any stone as they attempt to find paydirt.

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