Toronto Blue Jays Designate Ryan Tepera for Assignment, Send Devon Travis to Buffalo Outright

Devon Travis

The day that they acquired starting pitcher Chase Anderson from the Milwaukee Brewers, there were some other “housekeeping” measures that the Blue Jays undertook for their 40-man roster that included sending infielder Devon Travis outright to Buffalo and designating reliever Ryan Tepera for assignment.

 

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Not only was today the deadline for executing or buying out team options (so that the Blue Jays would have had to pick up the $8.5 million option on Anderson), but it was also the day that the injured list ceases to be used. That meant that the Blue Jays had to make roster decisions on five Blue Jays on the 60-day IL.

 

 

For Tim Mayza (Tommy John surgery), Matt Shoemaker (knee surgery), Lourdes Gurriel Jr. (appendectomy) and Ryan Borucki (elbow inflammation), that means that they were added back to the 40-man roster today but for Devon Travis, it means that his time with the Blue Jays could be up. According to MLB Trade Rumors, Travis was estimated to get $1.95 million in arbitration while Ryan Tepera is expected to earn $1.6 million.

 

For Travis, something like this was expected, as he has been unable to stay on the field, pretty much since he was acquired (in exchange for Anthony Gose) back in November of 2014 (yes, it’s been almost five years since the trade), playing just 316 games in five seasons since and he didn’t play at all in 2019. Travis will be able to elect free agency at this point in his career.

 

Ryan Tepera

I’m a little more surprised about the move to DFA Ryan Tepera as he had been one of the better relief arms when healthy. But Tepera was limited just 21 2/3 innings in 2019 and his strikeout rate, which had topped 9 K/9 innings in the previous two seasons, fell to just 5.8 K/9 and he gave up five home runs in limited action. This is probably an unhappy birthday present for Tepera who turned 32 yesterday (November 3).

 

With these moves, the Blue Jays’ roster now sits at 40 after the acquisition of Anderson and the waiver claim of Anthony Bass. They’ll need to move guys off the roster in advance of the Rule 5 draft in order to protect some other players (see our previous post about who we think will be protected).

 

What do you think about these moves?

 

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