The Blue Jays have claimed outfielder Matt Tuiasosopo off waivers from the Diamondbacks and released left-hander Luis Perez in order to clear room on the 40-man roster, according to Alex Seixeiro of Sportsnet (on Twitter).
The 27-year-old Tuiasosopo spent the 2013 campaign with the Tigers, batting .244/.351/.415 with seven homers in 191 plate appearances. That was by far his best season at the plate, having spent parts of three years with the Mariners but slashing just .176/.234/.306 in 210 PAs with Seattle.
As a right-handed swinger, the natural assumption would be that Tuiasosopo could platoon with Adam Lind, but that's not necessarily the case; Tuiasosopo has actually been less effective against opposite-handed pitching than same-handed pitching throughout his career, and that was the case in 2013 as well. He batted just .216/.336/.371 against lefties — clearly demonstrating a keen eye at least — and a robust .313/.389/.521 against right-handers. The latter of those splits came in a sample of just 54 plate appearances and was bolstered by a .481 batting average on balls in play, which is sure to regress going forward.
Perez, 29, tallied just five innings for the Jays last season and allowed a pair of runs in the process as he returned from Tommy John surgery. He was an important part of the club's bullpen in 2012 prior to that operation, posting a 3.43 ERA with 8.4 K/9, 3.4 BB/9 and 47.8 percent ground-ball rate in 42 innings. He's held lefties to a .239/.311/.341 batting line in his career, but he underwent surgery this January to remove some scar tissue from his surgically repaired elbow.
umm, ok…kinda liked Luis Perez but ok then
Agreed. Tuiasosopo didn’t have an awful 81 games from an OBP/OPS perspective and is a utility player who can play the OF, first and third. I’m wondering if this is insurance if Kawasaki and Izsturis can’t handle the utility role that they’re likely to be in.
Does he have any options?
Update: no options left on Tuiasosopo or Perez. source: mlbtraderumors.com/out-of-options-2014/
my guess. perez gets claimed.
he was granted outright release, he can sign anywhere. however, he is injured so he wont be signing and playing anywhere anytime in the immediate future….
Perez has not recovered from tommy john surgery still, and had more surgery this offseason. He has no feeling in a couple of his fingers, as of the moment, and was sent down to minor league camp at the beginning of spring training. He is likely indefinitely injured, and has been granted his outright release.
Kinda scary to think that Tuiasosopo is probably not even one of the 5 best athletes in his family.
Nope but of course the baseball player is the only still playing.
Same family that scammed Manti Te’o
Wouldn’t mind tigers getting Perez.
Anyone but Coke
Yea and Hardy has looked very good this spring and I’m rooting for him to beat out coke.
Hardy has allowed 7 runs in his last 2 outings, (3 earned), but I’d still take him over Coke. Hardy has at least shown flashes of competence, whereas Coke has been bailed out by his defense when he isn’t getting rocked.
He might be able to fill Smyly’s role from last year if claimed. Probably not as effectively, but he can help
Never been a big Perez fan–he always scared me on the mound. Tuiasosopo probably gets waived in a few days. Sierra’s a better option to platoon with Lind, and Gose is probably more valuable than him as well, due to his speed.
Perez had TJ in 2012 about a month after Brandon Beachy. Beachy goes back under the knife today. I understand that Perez had some “scar tissue” touch-up work done over the winter on his elbow.
Maybe Luis Perez just hasn’t recovered from TJ.
Tigers should have reclaimed him to piantoon him in LF with Davis.
Tui is a righty, so he wouldn’t fit what they are missing in the OF: (left handed power bat).
Jays have a higher waiver priority than the Tigers
I really hope Arizona didn’t make Tuiasosopo fly all the way down to Australia only to DFA him before they even played a game.
You mean AA actually drooped another pf his reclamatiom projects??? This guy accumulates more 4A pitchers than any in the league!!
One less out-of-options pitcher to worry about…