2:26 PM EDT, Thu March 28, 2024
Bluebird Banter

Better Know Your Blue Jays 40-Man: Yosver Zulueta

Photo by Tim Nwachukwu/ Yosver Zulueta is a 26-year-old right-handed pitcher from Cuba (and the last on our run through the 40-man roster until they make some changes in the next couple of days). He signed as an international free agent and received $1,000,000 from the Jays in 2019. In November 2022, he was added to the Jays' 40-man roster. Zulueta is missing much of the playing time we would like to see when judging a player. Soon after signing with the Jays, he missed playing time after needing Tommy John surgery. Then, there was the cancelled minor league season due...

Bluebird Banter

Happy Birthday: Dustin McGowan and Dirk Hayhurst

Photo by Abelimages/ Two of my favourites have birthdays today. Dustin McGowan turns 42 today. Dustin was a first-round pick back in 2000, 33rd overall. Although not the Blue Jays’ first first-round pick, we had the number 18 pick that year, and we chose Miguel Negron, an outfielder who never made the majors, having a career line of .263/.326/.358 in 1019 minor league games. Dustin was a supplemental pick for the loss of free agent Graeme Lloyd. Dustin was doing well in the minors until needing Tommy John surgery early in the 2003 season. The Jays called Dustin up at...

Bluebird Banter

Better Know Your Blue Jays 40-Man: Mitch White

Photo by Mike Carlson/MLB Photos via Mitch White is a 29-year-old right-handed pitcher who came to us in a trade from the Dodgers on August 2nd, 2022. We sent Moises Brito and Nick Frasso to LA for him and Alex De Jesus. I was a fan of Nick Frasso, so I wasn’t thrilled with the trade. Frasso is now 25 and ranked #97 on Baseball America’s top 100 prospects list. He spent most of 2023 in Double-A and made four starts at Triple-A at the end of the season. In 25 starts, he had a 3.77 ERA, 31 walks, and 107 strikeouts in 93 innings. Brito pitched in the Dominican...

Bluebird Banter

Better Know Your Blue Jays 40-Man: Daulton Varsho

D. Ross Cameron-USA TODAY Sports Daulton Varsho is a 27-year-old left-handed hitting outfielder. (turns 28 July 2nd). The Jays picked him up in a trade with the Diamondbacks for Lourdes Gurriel and Gabriel Moreno when they were trying to remake the team. Varsho helped the defense part of the equation, and when he got on base, he was fast. But he didn’t get on base enough. It didn’t help Daulton that the players he was traded for each had a good season in Arizona: Gurriel: 145 games, 24 home runs, .261/.309/.463 line, 3.0 bWAR. Moreno: 111 games, 7 home runs,...

Bluebird Banter

Jays Trade Espinal To Reds

Kim Klement Neitzel-USA TODAY Sports The Blue Jays have traded Santiago Espinal to the Reds for pitcher Chris McElvain. McElvain is a 23-year-old right-handed pitcher who was an 8th-round pick in 2022. Last year, he pitched in Dayton A+ and Daytona A. He pitched in 23 games, 19 starts, and had a 3.75 ERA. In 96 innings, he allowed 85 hits, 9 home runs, 41 walks, and 87 strikeouts. FanGraphs says: McElvain spent his first couple of years at Vanderbilt in the bullpen, then moved to the rotation in his draft year. He has a plus two-plane breaking ball and his fastball...

Amazin Avenue

Sean Reid-Foley could claim a spot in the Mets’ Opening Day bullpen

Jim Rassol-USA TODAY Sports The 28-year-old is in his fourth season in the Mets’ org. It’s been a little over three years since the Mets traded Steven Matz to the Blue Jays, and Sean Reid-Foley is the only piece of the trade that remains with the Mets. In each of the three seasons since the trade, Reid-Foley has logged some major league innings. Easily identifiable by his unique pre-delivery crouch and tattooed arms, Reid-Foley showed some promise at the major league level early in the 2021 season before finishing that year with a 5.23 ERA in 20.2 innings with the...

Bluebird Banter

Better Know Your Blue Jays 40-Man: Erik Swanson

John E. Sokolowski-USA TODAY Sports Erik Swanson is a 29-year-old right-handed reliever. The Blue Jays picked him up in a trade from the Mariners, along with minor leaguer Adam Macko, in exchange for Teoscar Hernandez. I have always hated trading everyday players for relievers, but such is life. Hernandez played 160 games for the M’s, hitting .258/.305/.435 with 26 home runs. Baseball reference has him at a 2.1 WAR last year. Now he’s a Dodger. Macko made 20 starts for the Vancouver Canadians. He had a 4.49 ERA, with 76 hits, 40 walks and 106 strikeouts in 86...

Bluebird Banter

Blue Jays Birthdays: Raul Mondesi and Jerry Howarth

Nick Turchiaro-USA TODAY Sports Raul Mondesi turns 53 today. Raul had a 13-year MLB career, spent mostly with the Dodgers, but he spent two and a half seasons with the Blue Jays. We traded for Mondesi from the Dodgers (with Pedro Borbon) for Shawn Green. The Green trade wasn’t something the Jays wanted to do, but Green demanded a trade when the team hired Cito Gaston as the hitting coach. Green didn’t get along with Cito when he first came to the majors, and Cito was the manager. Cito liked players to pull the ball, and Green preferred to hit to all fields. They...

Bluebird Banter

Better Know Your Blue Jays 40-man: Yariel Rodríguez

Photo by Mike Carlson/MLB Photos via Yariel Rodríguez is a 27-year-old right-handed pitcher from Cuba. In February, he became a free agent. The Jays signed him to a 5-year, $32 million contract, making him the team’s biggest free agent signing of the off-season. It is a little concerning when the team’s biggest signing is a guy who hasn’t played major league baseball before. Yariel throws a 96.2 mph fastball, a slider, curve, splitter and change-up. He spent three years in Japan throwing for the Chunichi Dragons, pitching out of the bullpen. In 2022, he had a...

Bluebird Banter

Better Know Your Blue Jays 40-man: Wes Parsons

Steve Russell/Toronto Star via Like Brendon Little, Wes Parsons is someone I forgot was on the Jays' 40-man roster until he pitched in a spring game last week. Parsons is a 31-year-old right-handed pitcher who the Jays signed as a minor league free agent in May 2023. Before that? Well he played independent league ball (he was undrafted) and then the Braves signed him in 2013. He worked his way to the MLB with the Braves, pitching in one game for them in 2018. He pitched in 17 games for them in 2019. Then he was DFAed and picked up by the Rockies on waivers. He got...

Bluebird Banter

Better Know Your Blue Jays 40-man: Adam Macko

Aaron Cobb/Toronto Blue Jays-USA TODAY Sports Adam Macko is a 23-year-old, left-handed pitcher. The Jays added him to the 40-man roster in November at the deadline before the Rule 5 draft. He was part of the Teoscar Hernandez/Erik Swanson trade with the Mariners. They picked him out of the Vauxhall Academy here in Alberta in the 7th round of the 2019 draft. He was born in Slovakia, and then his parents moved to Ireland and then Alberta (because, of course, if you can live through an Alberta winter, you can live through anything). Vauxhall Academy does a good job...

The Marcus Stroman trade makes NO SENSE for the Mets | Time to Schein

Adam Schein gives his take on Marcus Stroman being traded from the Toronto Blue Jays to the New York Mets and how this unexpected deal does not make any sense. Adam Schein also discusses potential trade targets for the New York Yankees now that Marcus Str

Tulo released by Blue Jays, enters free agency

Troy Tulowitzki, a five-time All-Star and two-time Gold Glove winner, enters free agency after getting released by the Blue Jays About Major League Baseball: Major League Baseball (MLB) is the most historic professional sports league in the United States