Rockies Reportedly Unlikely To Trade Ryan McMahon
The Rockies have the second-worst record in the National League and will again head into deadline season without a chance to compete for a playoff spot. Colorado has been reluctant to move players in past summers even when they’ve looked to be clear deadline sellers.
It remains to be seen how general manager Bill Schmidt and his front office will approach the coming months, yet it doesn’t seem they’re keen on dealing their best position player. MLB Network’s Jon Morosi tweeted this morning that the Rockies are unlikely to make Ryan McMahon available. They’ll certainly get calls from other clubs inquiring about the possibility; Morosi reports that the Blue Jays are among the teams already showing interest in the veteran third baseman.
As part of a reader mailbag, Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post also suggests he doesn’t anticipate the Rockies dealing McMahon. Saunders floats second baseman Brendan Rodgers and catchers Elias Díaz and Jacob Stallings as more realistic possibilities. The returns for any of those players would be minimal, though. Colorado could seek a much better prospect package for McMahon than they’d receive for any of Díaz, Stallings or Rodgers.
Of course, that’s a testament to McMahon’s talent and excellent start to the 2024 campaign. In 234 plate appearances, he’s hitting .286/.366/.483 with a team-leading 10 home runs. McMahon is on pace for personal-best marks in all three slash stats. He ranks in the top 10 among qualified hitters in hard contact rate, topping a 95 MPH exit velocity on a massive 55.2% of batted balls. McMahon is drawing walks at a lofty 11.5% rate and has cut his strikeout percentage by six points relative to last season. While he’s still punching out at a higher than average clip (25.6%), this level of swing-and-miss is more than reasonable for a player with his power and plate discipline.
Even after accounting for Coors Field, McMahon has been produced as a middle-of-the-order bat. His defensive grades in this season’s 467 innings are around average, but he’s been one of the sport’s best defensive third basemen over the course of his career. McMahon has been a solid regular since 2021 and is playing at an All-Star level this season.
That arguably makes this the best opportunity for the Rockies to move him. He’s amidst a career year at age 29. Colorado has no playoff hope this season; it’s hard to see a path to even fringe Wild Card contention next year. The Rox probably won’t have a meaningful postseason chance until his age-31 season at the earliest. It’s unlikely McMahon would be as valuable a trade candidate at that point as he is now. Even if he maintains this increased performance level, he’ll be deeper into the slightly backloaded six-year extension that he signed in Spring Training 2022.
McMahon is under contract for three and a half more seasons. He’s playing this season and next on $12MM salaries and will make $16MM annually in 2026-27. He could technically play his way into an opt-out opportunity, but that requires a top five finish in MVP balloting that seems unlikely even with his current production.
The extra three seasons make it unsurprising that the Rox don’t seem eager to deal McMahon, even if this summer could be a sell-high window. Colorado held onto Trevor Story and Jon Gray when they were impending free agents a couple seasons ago; they did the same with Brent Suter last summer. They’ve extended other potential trade candidates like Díaz, Antonio Senzatela and Kyle Freeland in recent years. The Rockies have steadfastly resisted taking trades that they consider to be below a player’s value, even if it meant losing them in free agency not long after. That strategy generally hasn’t yielded good results, but the Rox could justifiably distinguish their past inactivity on rentals from holding onto a key player they have signed for another three years.
Díaz, Stallings and Rodgers would be much less significant subtractions. The veteran catching tandem has produced well, but they’re each impending free agents who are into their mid-30s. Rodgers is under arbitration control through 2025. The former #3 overall pick has never developed into the caliber of player that the Rockies anticipated. He’s hitting .266/.308/.342 with just one homer in 50 games this season; it’s not out of the question he’s simply non-tendered next winter.
As for the Jays, they’re a sensible suitor for offensive help even if the Rockies don’t want to move McMahon specifically. The Jays entered the season with questions at third and second base. Offseason pickup Isiah Kiner-Falefa has done a nice job at the hot corner, hitting .269/.315/.410 in 169 plate appearances. He’s capable of playing essentially anywhere, so the Jays could move him around the diamond if they added third base help. Using Kiner-Falefa more frequently at second base would push Davis Schneider more definitively to left field and allow the Jays to cut into the playing time of the struggling George Springer.
Toronto is in last place in the AL East at 25-29, but they’re not likely to pivot towards selling until it’s absolutely necessary. The Jays have a veteran-laden roster seeking a third consecutive playoff berth and their fourth trip in five years.
Blue Jays Option Erik Swanson
Prior to yesterday’s game, the Blue Jays announced that they reinstated right-hander Chad Green from the injured list. In a corresponding move, fellow right-hander Erik Swanson was optioned to Triple-A Buffalo.
Swanson getting sent down is something that would have been hard to fathom just a few months ago. The righty made 57 appearances for the Mariners in 2022 and only allowed 1.68 earned runs per nine innings. He struck out 34% of batters faced that year and only gave out walks at a 4.9% clip.
After that tremendous season, the Blue Jays traded outfielder Teoscar Hernández to the Mariners for Swanson and pitching prospect Adam Macko. Swanson largely carried over his excellent results into 2023, appearing in 69 games with a 2.97 ERA, 28.6% strikeout rate and 8% walk rate. That included plenty of late-game action, as Swanson earned 29 holds and four saves for the Jays last year, largely serving as the primary setup guy to closer Jordan Romano.
The expectation was that Swanson would continue in that role here in 2024 but that hasn’t been the case. Swanson and the Jays got a scare back in February when the pitcher’s son Toby was hit by a car and taken to a local hospital. Thankfully, Toby was eventually released but Swanson was away from the club for a while and dealt with some forearm tightness when he returned.
He started the season on the injured list but missed just the first two weeks, getting reinstated in mid-April. Unfortunately, he hasn’t been able to get into a good groove so far this season. He’s made 17 appearances, tossing 13 2/3 innings, but has allowed 14 earned runs on the year. His 6.1% walk rate is good but he’s only punched out 15.2% of batters faced and has already allowed five home runs, whereas he only allowed eight all of last year and just three the year prior.
It doesn’t appear as though the injury is creating lingering effects, as Swanson’s velocity isn’t significantly different. His fastball averaged 93.7 miles per hour last year with his splitter at 85.1. Those numbers are down this year but just barely, to 93.6 and 85.0.
Speculatively speaking, perhaps he’s tipping his pitches or hitters have figured out some other way to get a read on him. His chase rate was around 34% in each of the past two years but is down to just 22.8% this year. When he has thrown the ball in the zone, hitters made contact around 72% of the time in the previous two campaigns but that number is up to 84.4% this year. That combination of less chase and more contact in the zone tracks with the significant drop in his strikeout rate. Even when players have chased, they are making contact 71.4% of the time, a big jump from last year’s 55.9% clip. It’s not as though he’s been leaving more pitches over the plate, as his “meatball” rate at Statcast has actually fallen from last year’s 7% to 5.7% this year. However, opposing hitters are swinging at those meatballs 92.9% of the time, a massive increase over last year’s 74.3%.
For whatever reason, opposing hitters appear to be seeing the ball well out of Swanson’s hand, striking out less and barreling the ball up more. He had a barrel rate around 6% in each of the past two years but has more than doubled that this year to 15.4%. That’s been one piece of a larger bullpen slide for the Jays, as the relief corps has gone from a strength to a weakness since last year. The club’s bullpen had a 3.68 ERA last year, putting them in the top ten among MLB clubs. This year, their ERA is up to 4.92, which is better than just the Rangers and Rockies.
That’s not all on Swanson, of course, as pitchers like Romano and Tim Mayza have also seen their numbers trend in the wrong direction, but not to the same degree as Swanson’s. With Green coming off the IL, the Jays could have optioned younger pitchers like Zach Pop or Nate Pearson but the fact that they opted to give Swanson a breather speaks to how rough his season has gone so far.
The Jays will undoubtedly be hoping that a brief reset can get Swanson back on track, whether they can hang around the playoff race or not. The club is having a bit of a disappointing season to this point, with the bullpen struggles playing a role in that. They are currently 25-29, last place in the American League East and five games out of a Wild Card spot.
There’s already been speculation that the club could consider pivoting to a selloff prior to this summer’s deadline. Climbing in the standings would take that off the table but it will be hanging over the club in the months to come if they stay on the fringes of contention.
Swanson came into this season with four years and 96 days of major league service time, putting him 76 days shy of the five-year mark. He added another 61 days this year prior to getting optioned, leaving him 15 shy of crossing that mark.
Assuming he comes back at some point this year, he’ll have no problem crossing that threshold and staying on track for free agency after 2025. Though if his struggles continue down in the minors and he doesn’t earn his way back, he could end up shy of the line and have his free agency delayed by another year.
The Jays would surely love if that’s not a scenario they have to consider. If Swanson can quickly get back on track, he can return to being a key part of their bullpen for a playoff push. Or if he is succeeding while the club is faltering, he could be marketed to other clubs at the deadline with an extra year of control. But for now, he and the club will have to figure out a plan for putting this rough patch behind him.
Cubs Sign Jackson Tetreault To Minor League Deal
The Cubs have signed right-hander Jackson Tetreault to a minor league deal, as noted by Talk Nats on X earlier today. Talk Nats adds that Tetreault had interest from multiple teams, including “advanced talks” with the Blue Jays, before ultimately settling in Chicago.
Tetreault, 28 in June, was a seventh-round pick by the Nationals back in 2017 and worked his way through the club’s minor league system to make his big league debut back in 2022. In four starts with the club that year, Tetreault struggled to a 5.14 ERA and 6.16 FIP in 21 innings of work before suffering a stress fracture in his shoulder that sidelined him for the remainder of the 2022 season. Tetreault was outrighted off the Nationals’ roster that November but remained with the organization for the 2023 season as he rehabbed the injury, ultimately making two appearances at the High-A level, though he struggled badly in the appearances with ten runs (eight earned) allowed over 5 2/3 combined innings as he allowed two walks and fourteen hits including three home runs against four strikeouts.
Those appearances in May of last year were Tetreault’s most recent professional outings, as he was placed on the injured list in June and has not pitched since. He elected free agency back in November but didn’t land a deal anywhere until today, when he signed with the Cubs on a minor league pact. Prior to his injury, Tetreault had the look of an intriguing potential back-end starter with the Nationals, pitching to a 4.34 ERA in 28 starts at the Double-A level and a 4.04 ERA in 14 appearances at Triple-A.
Given his extended layoff in recent years, it’s not clear how healthy Tetreault is or what role he may take up now that he’s signed with Chicago, although the club could surely benefit from upper-level pitching depth with key pieces of the club’s bullpen such as Julian Merryweather, Adbert Alzolay, and Yency Almonte all on the injured list in addition to rookie starter Jordan Wicks. Tetreault figures to act as that sort of non-roster, upper level depth alongside fellow minor league signings such as Julio Teheran, Edwin Escobar, and Carl Edwards Jr.
The Blue Jays May Have Some Tough Decisions To Make
The Blue Jays are obviously not having the season they envisioned in 2024. The club played at a 90-win pace over the previous four years, making the playoffs in three of those seasons and falling just one game short in 2021. But here in 2024, they are 21-26, last in the East and ahead of just the Athletics, Angels and White Sox in the American League standings.
The Playoff Odds at FanGraphs currently give them a 17.9% of getting into the postseason, though the PECOTA Standings at Baseball Prospectus are more bullish and still give the Jays a 30% shot. A sudden hot streak could certainly change those numbers in a hurry, but as the sand keeps falling through the hourglass, the club will have to think about how they handle a summer where they are unexpectedly out of contention.
Right-hander Kevin Gausman didn’t mince his words when assessing the situation yesterday, per Rob Longley of The Toronto Sun. “The reality is if we don’t play well, this team will not be together for much longer,” Gausman said. “It might make another year. It might make another year and a half. It might make a couple of months. That’s just the reality.”
There are various ways to play things when dealt a hand like that. Last year’s Cardinals, for instance, decided to only trade away impending free agents and keep the core intact for another shot at contention in 2024. They flipped impending free agents Jack Flaherty, Jordan Montgomery, Chris Stratton, Jordan Hicks and Paul DeJong to add some younger players to the system but kept most of the roster in place, then added to it by signing veterans like Sonny Gray, Kyle Gibson and Lance Lynn.
If the Jays were to take that path, their impending free agents are Yusei Kikuchi, Justin Turner, Kevin Kiermaier, Yimi García, Daniel Vogelbach, Danny Jansen and Trevor Richards. Kikuchi had a 3.86 earned run average last year and is down to 2.64 this year, so he would certainly have interest. García is striking out 35.3% of batters faced this year and has a 0.47 ERA. Richards has a 2.91 ERA and 29.4% strikeout rate. Trading catchers is a bit tricky midseason because of the challenges of learning a new pitching staff, but Jansen hits enough that he could appeal to a club looking for a guy to serve as a designated hitter and occasional backup catcher. Kiermaier isn’t hitting much this year but could certainly make for a glove-first fourth outfielder on a contending club. Turner and Vogelbach aren’t having great years and would need to get hot to have some trade value.
Even with trading Kikuchi, the club could go into 2025 with a strong starting rotation to build around. Gausman, José Berríos, Chris Bassitt and Alek Manoah are still under contract or club control next year, as are Yariel Rodríguez, Bowden Francis, Ricky Tiedemann and Adam Macko.
The larger and more difficult questions for the Jays will involve looking deeper into the future. They have a large number of players who are set to be free agents after 2025, with Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Bo Bichette being the most notable, though the list also includes Bassitt, Jordan Romano, Chad Green, Isiah Kiner-Falefa, Cavan Biggio, Tim Mayza, Erik Swanson and Génesis Cabrera.
Mark Feinsand of MLB.com recently explored the idea of Bichette and Guerrero being available and asked an anonymous executive about it. “I don’t think they’re opposed to it,” the executive said of the Jays. “They’ve talked to teams about it. The asks were ridiculous, but I think they’re going to try to retool a lot, and using those guys to get pieces may be the way to do it.”
There’s nothing necessarily surprising in that. Front office members discuss all kinds of trade scenarios that never come to fruition. Given where the Jays are in the standings, it’s logical that general manager Ross Atkins and his team would explore their options. And it’s also sensible that they would set a massive asking price with still over two months until the deadline.
Whether they pull the trigger on a deal for Guerrero or Bichette or both will depend on various factors. The club’s record here in 2024 would obviously be one factor, as would the organization’s perspective on their chances at another shot at contention in 2025. Naturally, the kinds of offers being put on the table will also be significant and it’s fair to wonder what kind of shape they would take right about now.
Bichette hit .299/.340/.487 in the past five seasons for a 127 wRC+ but is slashing just .226/.284/.327 here in 2024, which translates to a 77 wRC+. He has lowered his strikeout rate to 14.8%, which would be a career low by a significant margin, but he has just two home runs so far. His .257 batting average on balls in play is well below the .349 mark he carried into the year but he’s also not squaring the ball up like before. His 4.2% barrel rate this year is less than half his career clip of 9.4%. His exit velocity and hard hit rates still look comparable to previous years, so rival clubs would undoubtedly have interest in acquiring Bichette and getting a bounceback, but the Jays wouldn’t exactly be selling high if these kinds of numbers hold for the next few months.
Guerrero’s not in a hole like Bichette, as he’s slashing .279/.374/.385 for the year. He only has four home runs but is drawing walks at a 12.6% rate. His overall offensive production translates to a 123 wRC+. That’s nothing to sneeze at but it’s also not the elite production he showed back in 2021, when he hit 48 home runs and slashed .311/.401/.601, and it just barely cracks the top ten among qualified first basemen in the league this year. Given the gap between his ceiling and his current performance, perhaps the offers from other clubs won’t match up with what the Jays are expecting.
There’s also the public relations question of whether the club wants to send out the two players who have been the collective faces of the franchise since before they even made it to the major leagues. There are some players putting up intriguing numbers in Triple-A Buffalo this year, with each of Addison Barger, Nathan Lukes, Spencer Horwitz, Steward Berroa, Leo Jimenez, Will Robertson and Orelvis Martinez currently having a 112 wRC+ or higher in more than 100 plate appearances this year. Perhaps there’s an argument for opening up playing time for some of the guys in that group, but none of them have the same level of prospect pedigree nor the name recognition of Guerrero or Bichette, making it a questionable move from both a roster construction angle and a PR point of view.
Perhaps the Jays won’t get an offer that’s enticing enough to make them cross this threshold. Maybe they keep the gang together for another shot in 2025. Perhaps they go on a hot streak and make this all moot. After all, they are only 3.5 games back of a playoff spot at this moment.
But if they stay on the fringes of the race, they have some tricky decisions to make. Trading rentals would be the easy part if they stay behind the rest of the Wild Card pack. Whether to move on to guys with extra control will be a trickier decision. It would likely reduce the club’s chances in 2025 but could be their best path to restocking their farm system, depending on what kind of offers they get. With so many players set to hit free agency either this year or next, there would surely be some temptation to infuse the system with young and controllable talent at this year’s deadline, if the opportunity to do so is there.
They would also free up a bit of payroll space in the process. Bichette is making $11MM this year and will make $16.5MM next year. Guerrero is making $19.9MM this year and will be set for a raise via arbitration into the $25-30MM range next year. The Jays could then pivot to the free agent market, as they don’t have a massive amount on the long-term books. Only Gausman, Berríos, Rodríguez and George Springer are under contract past 2025. By 2027, Berríos is the only significant contract on the books. His deal only goes through 2028 and he can also opt out after 2026.
Taking all of that into account, it will be an important summer for the Blue Jays. In the months to come, the games on the field and the conversations taking place off of it will undoubtedly be playing a huge role in the future of the franchise.
AL East Notes: Mata, Mayo, Gausman
The Red Sox are approaching a crossroads with regards to right-hander Bryan Mata. As noted by Chris Cotillo of MassLive, Mata has begun a rehab assignment as he works his way back from a hamstring strain that he suffered back in February. The 25-year-old was once one of the club’s top pitching prospects but has struggled with injuries and ineffectiveness over the past two seasons, pitching to a combined 6.39 ERA in 31 innings of work across all levels of he minors since the start of the 2023 campaign.
While the rehab assignment for a struggling pitcher who has yet to make his big league debut wouldn’t typically be especially notable, Mata’s rehab assignment is particularly worth noting because the righty is out of options. Given that, the Red Sox will have to make a decision regarding his future in the organization once his rehab clock runs out on June 12. If the club isn’t willing to offer Mata a spot on the active roster, they’ll need to designate him for assignment and risk losing him on waivers to get the chance to outright the young righty to the minor leagues. MassLive’s Sean McAdam reported back in February that the Red Sox expect Mata to be claimed if he’s exposed to waivers, though it’s possible that could change depending on how he looks throughout his rehab assignment.
Losing Mata on waivers would be a frustrating outcome for the Red Sox given the tantalizing talent he flashed prior to injuries sidetracking his career. In his most recent healthy season, the right-hander pitched to a strong 2.49 ERA in 83 innings while advancing through four levels of the minor leagues, including a 1.85 ERA in 10 appearances at the Double-A level and a 3.47 ERA in five starts at Triple-A. That season, Mata struck out a whopping 30.3% of batters faced, albeit with an elevated 13.3% walk rate. If the righty can get anything close to those huge strikeout numbers during his rehab assignment, it could certainly make sense for the club to offer him a role in the bullpen given the number of optionable relief arms they’re currently utilizing.
More from around the AL East…
- Orioles fans received some tough news from down on the farm on Friday, when the club announced that top third base prospect Coby Mayo suffered a fractured rib and has been placed on the minor league injured list. The Orioles indicated that Mayo will be out for “several weeks” due to the injury. It’s a frustrating setback for the 22-year-old, who is a consensus top-30 prospect in the sport and has impressed with a .291/.359/.605 slash line in 42 games at the Triple-A level this year. It was certainly plausible that the club could turn to Mayo as a starting option at some point in the near future given his fantastic play and the struggles of fellow top prospect Jackson Holliday, though this injury surely represents a setback for Mayo’s timeline to be called up to the majors. Jorge Mateo is currently rounding out the club’s starting infield mix in the majors alongside youngsters Jordan Westburg and Gunnar Henderson.
- Blue Jays ace Kevin Gausman has been off to a rough start this season, with a 4.89 ERA through nine starts despite a decent 3.50 FIP. Gausman’s struggles this season are particularly surprising given his utter dominance in recent years; from 2021 to ’23, the right-hander pitched to a 3.10 ERA (132 ERA+) with an even better 2.79 FIP. Gausman spoke to reporters (including MLB.com’s Keegan Matheson) yesterday about his frustrating results this season and described the campaign as an “uphill battle” to this point before suggesting that he “probably should have gone on the IL” at the start of the season. The righty battled shoulder soreness throughout Spring Training but nonetheless opened the season in the club’s rotation amid injuries sidelining much of the club’s starting pitching depth, including Alek Manoah and Yariel Rodriguez.
GM Ross Atkins Discusses Blue Jays’ Slow Start
The Blue Jays have had among the more disappointing early season performances in the league so far this season, as they entered play today with a record of just 19-24 that leaves them at the bottom of the AL East, more than ten games back of the Yankees for the division crown. As noted by Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet, club GM Ross Atkins spoke to reporters on the field prior to today’s game against the Rays about the club’s tough start and the path forward. Atkins acknowledged that the club’s struggles can’t continue if they hope to have a successful season, even as he expressed confidence in the club’s internal options.
“We believe in this talent,” Atkins said. “There is time left, but there is a massive sense of urgency and we need to get it turned around soon.”
It’s easy to see why the club has struggled in the standings when looking at the underlying performance of the talent on both sides of the ball. Toronto’s bats rank bottom three in the AL with a collective wRC+ of just 93, which is a far cry from last year’s 107 figure. Making matters worse is a struggling pitching staff that has posted a 4.45 ERA this season that’s good for fourth-worst among all AL clubs. While the club’s rotation has a decent 4.15 ERA that’s within spitting distance of league average, they’ve been dragged down by brutal performances in the bullpen that have left the club’s relievers with a combined 4.92 ERA that ranks better than just the Angels and Rangers among all MLB clubs.
Given the club’s deep struggles in all aspects of the game, there’s plenty of room for improvement both internally and externally all around the roster. That being said, significant trades this early in the season are somewhat rare. While they’re not completely unheard of, as the recent swap that sent Luis Arraez from the Marlins to the Padres demonstrates, notable deals at this point in the calendar typically require the buy-side team to pay a premium in order to convince the selling club not to wait out the market in hopes of a bidding war closer to the deadline. Atkins acknowledged that reality, but even as he did so he refused to shut the door on making a move should it prove necessary.
“If we were to acquire a player at this point, you obviously are paying a premium. We can do that. We have the players to trade for that level of talent,” Atkins said, as noted by Nicholson-Smith. “We [presently] feel that the best contributions that could create that change in run scoring are going to come from within our clubhouse or triple-A, with the players that are here. But the dialogue is steady on the alternatives that that could happen.”
That the Blue Jays believe they have the pieces necessary to get a jump on the trade market is a notable development, and it’s easy to see why an aggressive move early in the calendar could make sense for the club. While the team’s performance on the field this year may not reflect it, Toronto is clearly in a win-now mode with catcher Danny Jansen set to become a free agent after the 2024 campaign and key pieces like Bo Bichette, Jordan Romano, and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. ticketed for the open market the following offseason. Speculatively speaking, acquiring additional talent ahead of trade season could not only give the club the best chance of winning this year, but even potentially allow them to recoup some of the capital spent to acquire that talent later this summer should the team’s struggles continue and the playoffs appear out of reach by late July.
At least for the time being, however, it seems that Atkins and the Blue Jays appear content to rely on internal improvements. That could come both in the form of stronger production from key pieces like Bichette, Romano, George Springer, and Kevin Gausman, all of whom have struggled this year, but Atkins also acknowledged the farm system as a potential source of internal production. Outfielder Nathan Lukes, infielder Orelvis Martinez, and first baseman Spencer Horwitz are all already on the 40-man roster and have enjoyed success at Triple-A to this point in the season.
Blue Jays, Aaron Sanchez Agree To Minor League Deal
The Blue Jays are in agreement with right-hander Aaron Sanchez on a minor league contract, reports Sportsnet’s Jamie Campbell (X link). He joins Beau Sulser as recent non-roster signees to add rotation depth to the organization.
Sanchez returns to the team with which he’s had by far the most success. The Blue Jays selected him 34th overall in the 2010 draft. The sinkerballer made it to the big leagues late in the ’14 campaign. He worked in a swing role during his first full MLB season before a full-time move to the rotation in 2016. Sanchez had a career year, turning in an AL-best 3.00 ERA over 30 starts. He earned an All-Star nod and finished seventh in Cy Young balloting.
Things went downhill from there. Sanchez lost a good portion of the 2017 season to injury. He struggled between 2018-19 and was moved to the Astros in something of a sell-low deadline deal for outfielder Derek Fisher. Sanchez has never found his footing since leaving Toronto. He has appeared for four teams since the trade, logging a cumulative 114 innings. He owns a 5.21 ERA with a modest 16.5% strikeout rate. His last MLB work came with the Nationals and Twins in 2022.
Sanchez spent last season in Triple-A between the Minnesota and Arizona systems. He started 20 of 22 appearances and threw 89 1/3 innings but allowed 5.54 earned runs per nine. He struck out 16.1% of opponents while issuing walks nearly 15% of the time.
While Sanchez might need some time to work into game shape, he’ll presumably report to Triple-A Buffalo within the next few weeks. Toronto has lost depth starters Yariel Rodríguez and Bowden Francis to the injured list recently. Rodríguez’s placement coincided with Alek Manoah’s return, so the Jays still have a defined front five with Kevin Gausman, Chris Bassitt, José Berríos, Yusei Kikuchi and Manoah. They’re light on depth beyond that group, with Paolo Espino standing as the only other experienced starter on the 40-man roster.
Blue Jays Sign Beau Sulser To Minors Contract
The Blue Jays have signed right-hander Beau Sulser to a minor league contract. Sulser made the start for Triple-A Buffalo today, which happens to be his 30th birthday.
Sulser’s only MLB experience came during the 2022 season, when he posted a 3.63 ERA across 22 1/3 combined innings with the Pirates and Orioles. He was a 10th-round pick for Pittsburgh in the 2017 draft, was claimed off waivers from Baltimore in May 2022, and then was claimed back by the Pirates following the season before then landing a deal with the KT Wiz of the Korea Baseball Organization. The righty’s 2023 campaign was split between pitching in South Korea and then yet another stint with Pittsburgh, since Sulser signed with the Bucs last June after his release from the Wiz.
Over 413 innings in the affiliated minors, Sulser has posted a 4.31 ERA and a 6.64% walk rate. Sulser has relied more on control, grounders and soft contact than missed bats, as he has a modest 19.49% strikeout rate. He struggled during his brief time in the KBO League, with a 5.62 ERA over nine starts and 49 2/3 innings.
Besides the nine KBO starts, Sulser has also started 49 of his 145 career appearances in the minors. Most of those starts have come within the last three seasons, though Sulser’s flexibility as a swingman could help him find another path back to the majors. Starting depth is an issue for a Blue Jays team that has both Yariel Rodriguez and Bowden Francis on the injured list, plus Alek Manoah is still a big question mark after all his struggles since the start of the 2023 season. If Manoah can’t get on track or if the Jays have another rotation injury, swingman Paolo Espino might be the next man up from Triple-A, but Sulser might not be far behind in line given Toronto’s lack of options.
Blue Jays Activate Alek Manoah From Injured List
TODAY: The Blue Jays announced Manoah’s activation today, and optioned left-hander Brendon Little to Triple-A in order to make room for the righty on the active roster. Little, 27, has just four innings of work at the big league level under his belt from his time with the Cubs and Blue Jays and has surrendered seven runs in that time, with four strikeouts and two walks.
May 4: Alek Manoah is set to make his return to the majors on Sunday, as MLB.com’s Keegan Matheson (X link) reports that the Blue Jays will officially activate Manoah from the 15-day injured list. Manoah will start against the Nationals in his season debut, and the right-hander is already in Washington and in the Jays’ clubhouse today in preparation.
Manoah hasn’t pitched in the Show since August 10, when he allowed four runs in four innings in a 4-3 Blue Jays loss to the Guardians. He was optioned to Triple-A the next day, which was the second time that he was sent to the minors during his disaster of a 2023 season. After struggling badly at the start of the season, Manoah was sent to the Complex League for a deeper dive on his mechanics, and he spent about a month working things out. Toronto recalled him last July but the results weren’t much better, so Manoah was against optioned to Triple-A yet he didn’t actually pitch during the assignment.
These many months later, it still isn’t exactly clear why Manoah’s 2023 season came to such an abrupt end, amidst some rumors of a possible injury or service time-related displeasure over his demotion. The questions continued in Spring Training when Manoah made just one (rough) appearance before being sidelined with shoulder problems, and he began the season on the 15-day IL in order to make up for that lost spring prep time. The results were mixed at best over five rehab starts, as Manoah posted an 8.69 ERA over 19 2/3 innings.
Manoah’s most recent Triple-A outing, however, was easily his best. On April 30, Manoah allowed a run on two hits and two walks over six innings, while recording 12 strikeouts. Since the Jays had to make a decision anyway on Manoah since his rehab window was about to close, the righty’s strong start helped make things easier on the team, plus Toronto is also facing a rotation vacancy.
Yariel Rodriguez was placed on the 15-day IL earlier this week, and with Bowden Francis also on hurt, Manoah was the most logical option if the Jays didn’t want to opt for a bullpen game. Because the Jays have four off-days within the first 16 days of May, they didn’t technically need a fifth starter, and could’ve just kept the other four starters on their usual turns. Adding a fifth arm gives the others extra rest, and it also shows some faith on the team’s part that Manoah has overcome some of the problems that have inexplicably set back his career.
Manoah pitched really well as a rookie in 2021, and was even better in 2022 while posting a 2.24 ERA in 196 2/3 innings and finishing third in AL Cy Young Award voting. All signs pointed to the former first-rounder becoming a staple of Toronto’s rotation, except his numbers suddenly plummeted downward in 2023. Batters were suddenly making tons of hard contact against Manoah’s offerings (after he had some of the best hard-hit ball stats in the league in 2021-22), and his walk rate skyrocketed to 14.2%.
As surprising as it was to see Manoah sharply regress, it would be equally surprising to see him quickly revert to his ace form over the course of the 2024 campaign. Just pitching well enough to stick in the majors would count as a nice sign of progress that Manoah was getting closer to being on track, plus that scenario would naturally be a huge help for the Blue Jays’ rotation depth. If Manoah is able to last as a fifth starter, Rodriguez and Francis could be deployed as swingmen when healthy, adding enough length to keep the relief corps fresh over the course of the season.
In a more immediate Blue Jays roster move, Kevin Kiermaier was activated from the 10-day injured list today, with outfielder Nathan Lukes sent down to Triple-A. Kiermaier ended up missing only a minimal amount of time due to hip flexor inflammation, which is a relief given how Kiermaier underwent hip surgery in 2022. The IL trip might well serve as a reset on Kiermaier’s season, as he was hitting only .193/.246/.228 in 62 plate appearances before being sidelined.
Blue Jays Acquire Joel Kuhnel
The Blue Jays have acquired right-hander Joel Kuhnel from the Astros in exchange for cash considerations, per an announcement from both teams. Toronto optioned Kuhnel to Triple-A Buffalo following his addition. The Blue Jays had an open space on their 40-man roster for Kuhnel, who was designated for assignment earlier this week, and do not need to make a corresponding move to add him to the roster.
Kuhnel, 29, has now changed teams via cash deal for the second time in as many seasons. An eleventh-round pick by the Reds in the 2016 draft, Kuhnel made his debut with the Reds back in 2019 and pitched to a decent 4.66 ERA (103 ERA+) with a 4.25 FIP in 9 2/3 innings of work. Despite that solid cup of coffee at the big league level, the right-hander wouldn’t get regular playing time in the majors until the 2022 season, when he posted a brutal 6.36 ERA despite a much stronger 3.96 FIP. He remained with the Reds until he was traded to Houston in June of last year but has not received much run in the big leagues since, with a 7.20 ERA and 5.84 FIP in 15 innings of work across the past two seasons, including a spot start with the Astros earlier this year that saw him allow four runs in two innings of work.
Overall, Kuhnel heads to Toronto with a career 6.30 ERA that’s nearly 30% worse than league average but a much more manageable 4.53 FIP along with decent strikeout and walk rates of 19% and 6.3% respectively suggest he could still be a valuable depth piece for the club’s bullpen. That possibility is further backed up by solid results at the Triple-A level with the Astros this year, as he’s posted a 3.18 ERA in 11 1/3 innings as a multi-inning relief arm in the highly inflated offensive environment of the Pacific Coast League this year.
The Blue Jays have struggled to a 16-18 record this season in part thanks to brutal production from their bullpen, which has a league-worst 5.28 FIP to go with a 5.11 ERA that sits in the bottom five among all major league relief corps. Kuhnel is unlikely to impact the back of the club’s bullpen alongside the likes of Jordan Romano and Yimi Garcia, but it’s at least feasible to imagine him offering an alternative to a struggling arm such as Genesis Cabrera.