The Blue Jays’ injury woes have forced a little bit of a shuffle in the minor leagues with a player getting the call to Triple-A who is most deserving.
Maicer Izturis‘s injury makes things somewhat complicated, particularly since the Blue Jays decided to put him on the 15-day DL rather than the 60-day DL. What this means is that the Blue Jays needed to clear the 40-man roster of one spot in order to call up Munenori Kawasaki from the Bisons.
But let’s go back a little further. Jeremy Jeffress, who has cleared waivers, appears to have accepted an outright assignment to Triple-A Buffalo. Because he was outrighted last year, he had the ability to opt for free agency rather than accept the outright assignment.
CORRECTION: Jeffress did indeed choose free agency over an outright assignment to the minors. I was a little hasty in making the assumption that he accepted the assignment after looking over the Blue Jays’ transaction page.
Because the Blue Jays couldn’t call up Neil Wagner or Chad Jenkins when they DFA’ed Jeffress (because neither had been in the minors on optional assignment for 10 days and the reason for the roster move wasn’t an injury), they purchased the contract of Marcus Walden who wasn’t on the 40-man roster. Walden sat in the bullpen and didn’t pitch and then the Blue Jays sent him back to Buffalo when they were able to recall Neil Wagner.
Fast forward to a few days ago when the Blue Jays needed to clear some room on the 40-man for Munenori Kawasaki and the Blue Jays DFA’ed Walden but this time, Oakland came calling and put in a waiver claim.
With Kawasaki coming up to the Blue Jays, SS Kevin Nolan earned a promotion to Buffalo from Double-A New Hampshire. Additionally, the Bisons activated OF Ricardo Nanita from the DL and placed 3B Andy LaRoche on the DL with a lower back strain.
For most people, the loss of Marcus Walden is the end result of a huge bungle by the Blue Jays. Apparently they didn’t know that they couldn’t promote either Jenkins or Wagner right away and, with that knowledge, could have either waited several days before DFA’ing Jeffress or could have promoted a player who the manager would have been willing to use. In the end, the Blue Jays lost a pitcher who would never have been on the 40-man roster to begin with had they not made the mistake.
UPDATED: It has been made official that CF Anthony Gose will be called up to Toronto for today’s double-header against the Minnesota Twins. Gose is only eligible to play in the second game (and will probably start and take over for Jose Bautista in center field). Austin Bibens-Dirkx has been promoted from New Hampshire to Buffalo and, I’m sure that we’ll get a move to add a pitcher to New Hampshire’s roster soon.
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I WOULD LIKE TO KNOW WHY ERIC KRAZ ISN’T ON THE REGULAR ROSTER HE’S A BIG FAVORAT OF OUR FAMILY. HE’S FROM MY AREA IN PA. PLEASE LET ME KNOW. M.I A B
I wish I could tell you M.I A B. My guess is that the Blue Jays think that the catcher who can get more out of R.A. Dickey is the one who is going to be on the major league roster and, at least in their minds, it’s Josh Thole. I think Kratz should also be on the major league team too but neither of us make those decisions!