Despite the sun about to rise on another baseball season, the end of Spring Training can be a dark time for many baseball players as the number crunch results in many being handed their releases.
There are always casualties at the end of March as teams must cull their rosters down to the 25 or so (several players will land on the DL to start the season) that they need for each of a team’s full-season rosters.
While I wasn’t looking for it specifically, a several young pitchers, Javier Avendano, Deivy Estrada and Alvido Jimenez were released by the Jays on March 21, Carlos Pina was released on March 17 and word has come from Ian Kadish that he was released today.
As far as the first four go, Avendano is probably the biggest surprise. He was dominant in 2012 in Vancouver and showed some promise with Lansing in 2013. He was thought to have some potential as a bullpen arm but it looks like the numbers game got the better of him. I saw Jimenez in Bluefield last season and he looked very good and was very effective, posting a 1.17 ERA and sub-1.00 WHIP between Vancouver and Bluefield. I saw a little bit of Estrada and Pina in Spring Training and Estrada was very effective, throwing a lot of strikes while Pina was was very erratic in the inning I saw him pitch.
The move that took me by the most surprise was the news, coming from the man himself, that Ian Kadish was released.
Well guys I was released this morning by the Blue Jays based on the numbers game. Even though my time with them has come to an end, I can’t
— Ian Kadish (@TheBearJew_36) March 28, 2014
Kadish is a favourite of many people around the club because of his outgoing, positive personality as well as his tremendous effectiveness for the Lansing Lugnuts last year. I named Kadish the reliever of the year for the Lansing Lugnuts last year after a season that saw him post an exemplary 5.27 K/BB ratio along with a 3.36 ERA and 1.16 WHIP.
To hear more from Kadish himself, give him a follow on Twitter (@TheBearJew_36) and check out the Blue Jays from Away Podcast Episode 18 for my interview with him.
UPDATE: The bombshells keep coming as Chuck Ghysels also tweeted that he was released today. Chuck was one of the first players I met in the Lansing clubhouse last year and was always positive despite some struggles there. He was demoted to Vancouver last season and found his groove, striking out 51 batters in just 29 1/3 innings and saving 11 games for the Northwest League champions Vancouver Canadians.
This morning I was released by the Toronto Blue Jays was a great ride with them and I want to thank them for the opportunity
— ⚓️ Chuck Ghysels ⚓️ (@CloserMentality) March 28, 2014
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