General Blue Jays Thread, 2019

[Cyrus]

Good articles on our past few years of deadline moves, for the most besides the Osuna for Giles trade, got nothing in return for prospects in most cases for in double A or of the older age:

https://www.sportsnet.ca/baseball/mlb/looking-back-return-recent-blue-jays-trades/

[polo007]

How a Blue Jays reunion with Edwin Encarnacion could benefit young stars - Sportsnet.ca

NEW YORK – The most pressing leverage point right now for the Toronto Blue Jays is, of course, the upcoming trade deadline and that’s rightly where the club’s focus currently lies. Still, it’s never too early to start thinking about the ideas for the off-season, and one avenue worth examination is what the Minnesota Twins cleverly did to bolster their lineup last winter.

In signing Nelson Cruz to a $14.3-million, one-year contract with a $12 million club option for 2020, they inserted a reliable, professional and productive bat into the three-hole, providing a stabilizing force for a core of young hitters. It’s not solely because of him that Max Kepler, Jorge Polanco, Eddie Rosario and Byron Buxton have taken steps forward, but his presence has certainly been a factor, an experienced resource delivering on and off the field.

One school of thought around the Blue Jays is that Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Cavan Biggio, Lourdes Gurriel Jr., Danny Jansen and the soon-to-arrive Bo Bichette could similarly benefit from the addition of someone like Cruz.

At this point, the AL Central leaders appear sure to exercise the 39-year-old’s option, so he’s probably off the table. But an intriguing potential fit is old friend Edwin Encarnacion, who is currently tied for second in the American League with 25 homers and may end up a free agent as it’s no certainty that the New York Yankees pick up his $20-million option.

Imagine, a reunion between Encarnacion and the Blue Jays?

“It’s something I can’t control, man,” the slugger says when the idea is broached to him. “When I left Toronto, I loved Toronto. I love that place. I’ve got great memories in that place, but it’s something I can’t control. Right now, I’ve got that option. I don’t know what’s going to happen, we’re going to wait and see.”

The topic, obviously, is a difficult one for the 36-year-old to discuss while under contract to the American League East leaders, but his affinity for Toronto is an opportunity should the Blue Jays decide to go back down the road.

[BigLeagueChew]

Injured Blue Jays left-hander Ryan Borucki’s next start will come at the Major League level, manager Charlie Montoyo told reporters Thursday (Twitter link via Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet).

Finally.

[BigLeagueChew]

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[polo007]

Borucki motivated to get back to Blue Jays and make an impact

1:25 | July 18, 2019

Ryan Borucki talks about the long road back to pitching and wanting to help the Blue Jays win as soon as possible.

https://www.sportsnet.ca/baseball/mlb/borucki-motivated-get-back-blue-jays-make-impact/

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[Schad]

This is neat:

https://www.mlb.com/news/mariano-rivera-reflects-on-roy-halladay

COOPERSTOWN, N.Y. -- Among the more than 40,000 three-dimensional artifacts in the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, one stands out as profoundly poignant on this induction weekend.

It’s a baseball with two fingers and a thumb traced in blue ink over the curved red seams and white horsehide, demonstrating the grip for the legendary cutter Mariano Rivera used to rack up a record 652 saves and unanimous selection for the induction ceremony that takes place Sunday afternoon at the Clark Sports Center.

As the placard at the Hall notes, the late Roy Halladay carried that ball with him from the All-Star Game in 2008 through the rest of his Cooperstown-worthy career.

“When you have All-Star Games, you always chit-chat with the guys,” Rivera said here Saturday. “So I was talking to Halladay, and he asked me how I throw a cutter and would I teach him?”

We all know what happened next.

“He did good,” said Rivera, putting it lightly. “And my guys [on the Yankees] got mad at me.”

I've always enjoyed the degree to which the enjoyment of craft seems to transcend the competitive nature of the sport. There are a rather staggering number of pitchers who learned a weapon over an All-Star appearance, or off-season workout, or chance meeting, from a player on a competing team.

[BigLeagueChew]

Halladay was awesome. Could carve the plate on either side with that cutter and 2 seamer. then throw in the curveball or changeups. Would hear stories where he'd do leg workouts before throwing a bullpen, he wanted to be tired before starting to throw.

[BigLeagueChew]

[SharoneWright]

Pompey DFA’d. Don’t let the overhead bats hit you on the way out, I guess.

[polo007]

Pompey DFA’d. Don’t let the overhead bats hit you on the way out, I guess.

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[Cyrus]

Pompey DFA’d. Don’t let the overhead bats hit you on the way out, I guess.

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Don't get why we didn't just give him a look to see what we have? It's not like we are any closer to winning with the big club, we couldn't send a scrub off the main roster?? Like I mean send down Drury or Billy M, see what you got for 2 months or 2 weeks with Dalton, then DFA if he can't hit, etc.

[Schad]

The 40-man is the issue. Because Pompey was on the 60-day DL, he didn't occupy a spot on that roster. Activating him meant that they'd have to DFA someone to make room, and frankly Pompey isn't really worth doing that for at this point.

It's a shame to expose him to waivers, because he had real promise at one point, but there's also a very high degree of likelihood that he'll pass through waivers.

[So_Fresh]

Never understood why this organization gave this guy this much time to prove himself. Half ass effort on his swings and on defense and has had several concussions. Only real skill he had was his speed on the basebaths. Long shot at best to make it on another major league roster. Wish him all the best! Never was a fan of his anyways.

[Ado05]

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[guvernator]

Looking ahead to 2020 -2021 free agency (when jays can be reasonably expected to be in the WC race) - Best UFA is Bauer (then stroman, paxton and ray). There are some interesting arms, on the wrong side of 30, with player options like Strasburg (although he will be giving up 3 yrs 75 mil), Tanaka, Kluber and Archer.

After the first 2 yrs, I'm sure the contract will be regrettable, but Jays will have plenty of cash. So the ownership won't have any excuses.

[polo007]

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[polo007]

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[polo007]

Blue Jays' Grichuk escapes major injury after unlucky foul-ball scare - Sportsnet.ca

BALTIMORE – First things first, Randal Grichuk is fine. A couple cuts inside his mouth, a couple bent teeth that needed some dental work, no stitches, no structural damage and most importantly, no concussion.

“I told them I wanted to play today,” Grichuk said Friday.

“Charlie said just take the day. I tried to fight Nikki (Huffman, the head trainer) on it a little bit. She said she was scared I might start getting a pretty throbby headache if I ran around today. I just talked to Charlie and I expect to be back in there (Saturday).”

Still, as lucky as Grichuk is that the damage wasn’t worse, he’s also incredibly unlucky that it happened in the first place. It took a perfect storm of pitch movement, body placement and bat path for a ball to fly up from his bat handle right into his jaw.

“I saw the ball in but it had a lot of sink on it,” said Grichuk. “If you watch the replay, it moved quite a bit and kind of looked like it was going to be over the corner, inside. Then it just kind of took off. One of those got to finish the swing types to save myself. Unfortunately, I might have done more damage.”

The first question he got from Blue Jays training staff was, “did I black out or lose consciousness,” relayed Grichuk. “I was there the whole time. It hit me, I felt blood, spit it out. The only thing that really scared me was when I bit down, the two teeth that were pushed back were the only teeth that were hitting my bottom teeth. I couldn’t bite down, that was the only scary part. Other than that, I felt fine.”

There’s a chance he may need to have a tooth removed down the road, but just like a year ago, things didn’t turn out nearly as bad as they could have.

“Hopefully (that’s it) for this year, at least,” said Grichuk. “We’ll see what happens next year. Hopefully this isn’t a yearly thing now.”

[polo007]

Blue Jays to consult Andrews on Borucki injury

BALTIMORE -- Blue Jays manager Charlie Montoyo said Friday that the team will consult noted orthopedic surgeon Dr. James Andrews on the future of left-handed pitcher Ryan Borucki, who felt something amiss in his elbow during a side session Wednesday.

This does not necessarily mean that Borucki, who was placed on the injured list Wednesday, retroactive to July 28, with left elbow inflammation, is headed toward the second Tommy John surgery of his career. But it is also not an auspicious sign for the 25-year-old who owns a 4.31 ERA across 19 starts in two Major League seasons.

“We are going to involve Dr. Andrews now to see where we are with [Borucki] and what’s the plan long-term,” Montoyo said. “We are just gathering information to see where we are going to go, how he feels.”

After throwing a side session at Kauffman Stadium ahead of Wednesday afternoon’s 4-1 victory over the Royals, the southpaw felt something was amiss. He has been diagnosed with left elbow inflammation, after starting the season on the sidelines with what was originally described as inflammation but was later discovered to be a bone spur.

“There’s always a concern,” Montoyo said Wednesday. “That’s why we thought, 'OK, hold on, let’s put him on the IL and see how he’s doing, and then we’ll go from there.'”

Borucki has made two starts for the Blue Jays this season, and he has allowed 10 runs (eight earned) on 15 hits over 6 2/3 innings, with six walks and six strikeouts. He had been scheduled to start on Saturday in Baltimore.

“It just didn’t feel right, so we decided to shut it down for now and re-evaluate from there,” Borucki said Wednesday. “It is what it is. My body is just saying 'no' right now, so I’ve got to try to get as much treatment as I can to try to get back.”

[SharoneWright]