Roster moves R Us.
One more day and we get actual(ish) games. Absent that, I’ve been really glad to have the Winter Olympics to pass the time. It hasn’t been a great year for Canada, although a gold medal in men’s hockey on Sunday morning would do a lot to improve the feeling. That got me thinking about the […]
After that Canada/Finland, I’m sure I’m five pounds lighter. Tomorrow, we get our first real fake baseball game of the year. The Jays are playing the Philles in Dunedin. It is a 1:00 pm start time and it will be on Sportsnet 1. Eric Lauer is listed to start the game. And speaking of Lauer, […]
Kazuma Okamoto is a 29-year-old, right-handed hitting corner infielder from Gojo, Japan. He’s played 11 seasons in the Nippon Professional Baseball. The Jays signed him to a four-year, $60 million contract (Ben Clemens at FanGraphs figured him to sign four years and $72 million). Not that it means much, but he’s shown a nice sense […]
We are going to try something new. Thursdays, I’m going to put up an open thread to let us all talk about… whatever we feel like. Baseball-related or not. Thursdays are a particularly busy day for me, so something that can be posted quickly works well. You have something about the Jays you want to […]
The Jays have claimed Ben Cowles off waivers from the Cubs. The Cubs DFAed him Sunday. The Jays put Bowden Francis on the 60-day IL to make room on the 40-man roster. Francis is going to be out all season. Cowles has two options. He’s a right-handed-hitting infielder, 26 years old. He hasn’t played in […]
Tommy Nancy is a 34-year-old (35 in March), right-handed reliever, from Long Beach, California. He was undrafted (is that a word?), and signed as an amateur free agent in 2016 by the Cubs, after playing in an independent league in 2015. He had a rather slow climb up the minors. When you are undrafted, you […]
Happy Wednesday. I have the Canada/Czechia game on this morning. As I’m watching, it is tied in the second. It is far too intense at the moment. The Jays’ news of the morning is that Anthony Santander told reporters that MRIs, last season, didn’t show the tear in his shoulder, but when he started up […]
It is John Mayberry’s 77th birthday. Mayberry was drafted in the 1st round (6th pick overall) in the 1967 amateur draft. The number 1 pick that year was Ron Blomberg by the Yankees, so the Astros could have done much worse. Only Ted Simmons and Bobby Grich, also first-round picks, had better careers than John […]
Spencer Miles is a 25-year-old right-handed pitcher. The Blue Jays picked him up in the Rule 5 draft on December 10th, 2025 from the Giants. Miles was a fourth-round draft pick in 2022. He missed the 2023 season after back surgery and made just four appearances in 2024 because of a flexor strain, which ended […]
Something vaguely resembling a Toronto Blue Jays baseball game will occur on Saturday. Until then, we’re in grainy cell phone video of batting practice land. I’ve actually never been to the Jays’ spring training home in in Dunedin (the Cactus League in and around Phoenix is much more accessible from here in Calgary), but I […]
There isn’t a lot of news coming out of the Jays camp yet. The first spring game is this Saturday, 1:00 Eastern, against the Phillies. We get a lot of games with the Phillies, as their spring home is about a 15-minute drive from Dunedin. The big baseball news is that Tony Clark is resigning […]
AdAdam Macko is a 25-year-old, left-handed pitcher. The Jays added him to the 40-man roster in November 2023, protecting him from the Rule 5 draft. He was born in Bratislava, Slovakia (he grew up in Ireland). A quick Baseball Reference search shows that the Jays have never had a player born in Slovakia. The most […]
A DangYouToHeck recollection It’s been a long off season, folks. We’re pretty tired of minor trades and the doings of other teams. I mean, since when did a Joey Loperfido trade warrant 300+ comments? He’s a nice kid by all accounts, and he puts in a solid effort. But he’s no team superstar. He’s not […]
Russell Martin turns 43 today. Drafted by the Dodgers in the 17th round in 2002, Martin reached the majors in 2006. By 2014, he’d already played for three MLB teams and made the playoffs seven times—enough to earn any player, but especially a catcher, a reputation as a winner. In 2014, the Blue Jays already […]
Nathan Lukes is a left-handed-hitting, 31-year-old outfielder. He was a 16th round draft pick by Cleveland in 2015. The Jays added him to their 40-man roster in November 2022. He had his first full season in the majors last year, playing in 135 games, hitting .255/.323/.407 with 12 home runs, and a 2.0 bWAR. He […]
Brendon Little is a 29-year-old, left-handed reliever. The Jays picked him up from the Cubs in November 2023. When we picked him up, he had less than an inning of major league experience. The Jays liked that got ground balls. Lots of ground balls, thinking that would be a nice combination with their good infield […]
So this I didn’t expect. The Jays traded 26-year-old left-handed hitting, outfielder Joey Loperfido to the Astros for 28-year-old, left-handed hitting Jesús Sánchez. Sánchez has played six seasons in the MLB, 580 games, for the Marlins and, last year, the Astros, hitting .239/.307/.420 with 73 home runs. Last year, he hit .199/.269/.342 with 4 home […]
Chase Lee is a 27-year-old, side-arm, right-handed reliever we picked up in trade from the Tigers in December. The Tigers needed a spot on the 40-man roster. And I had totally forgotten he was on the 40-man. I think this is the first one I totally forgot about. I’m not sure if this is true, […]
Former Blue Jays starter Chris Bassitt agreed to terms on a one year, $18.5 million contract with the Baltimore Orioles today. Bassitt, who turns 37 next Sunday, spent the last three seasons with the Blue Jays. He was originally drafted by the White Sox, but spent the bulk of his MLB career as an Oakland […]
Eric Lauer is a 30-year-old (31 in June, so this will be his age 31 season), left-handed pitcher. The Jays signed him to a minor league contract in December of 2024. He had been a Jays draft pick in 2013, but he elected to play college ball instead and then was drafted in the first […]
On Monday, Tom and I asked your thoughts about the Jays’ most exciting and most concerning moves (or non-moves) of the winter. Now, how do you think they did overall?I’m sure the vibes would have been better on this question 48 hours ago, before we knew that Anthony Santander was out for most of the […]
Not news we wanted to hear. Anthony Santander will miss 5 to 6 months after labrum surgery (a ring of cartilage around the should socket). I was hoping he could make up for last season, but that’s not going to be happening. We really could have used his power. Also Shane Bieber will not be […]
Alejandro Kirk is a 27-year-old, right-handed hitting catcher from Tijuana, Mexico. He’s played the last five seasons (plus 9 games) with the Jays. In 564 MLB games, he has a .268/.345/.398 batting line with 51 home runs, 1 stolen base and a 11.3 bWAR (fWAR likes him better, 14.9 career). When he came up, we […]
Pitchers and catchers report to Dunedin tomorrow, so I wanted to ask who you’re most interested in watching this spring? All eyes are going to be on Dylan Cease and Cody Ponce, as the big offseason signings. We know that Cease will look great, it’s just a matter of seeing whether his stuff translates into […]
This is a thing SB Nation is trying for February (or at least the three weeks that are left, oops…). Each weekday, I’m going to ask our readers a question to see how everyone’s feeling about the team, and to get to know each other a little bit better. I’m even more excited tha our […]