The Blue Jays have cleared two 40-man roster spots by outrighting first baseman/outfielder Chris Colabello and infielder Andy Burns, the club announced. Both have cleared waivers, per the organization.
The writing was probably on the wall for Colabello when he was suspended last year for a positive PED test after a miserable start to the season. He continued to scuffle badly upon returning to the minors, putting his surprisingly excellent 2015 campaign further in the rearview mirror.
As for the 26-year-old Burns, he earned his first brief MLB stint last year. But he performed poorly at Triple-A, slashing just .230/.285/.352 with eight home runs over 454 trips to the plate.
Best of luck in your new career Colabello!
What happened to Colabello he had an ops north of 850 in 2015?
His 2015 is proof How effective Drugs can be
FACT
Nope. Didn’t fail a drug test in 2015. Only in his 2016 season did he test positive for PEDs.
He was suspended for peds
Used PEDs. Got an 80 day sus and couldn’t be on the post season roster, effectively becoming useless to the team.
That explains it
Didn’t help he was useless in the minors after the suspension.
Couple of good moves. Any non tenders released thus far that the Jays would be interested in, in terms of bullpen arms?
Keyvius Sampson, Louis Coleman and Chris Withrow are intriguing. I’d love to get Jacob Lindgren in the organization but he’s essentially out all of 2017 with TJS, I’d still roll the dice though on a 2 year minor league deal(assuming that’s still a thing).
Cody Ege could also be a potential LOOGY option as a depth BP piece.
Yep, I’d take Keyvius Sampson for depth. He was great in AAA last year.
Even though he was a PED guy, I wish Colabello the best in his future. I loved watching him when he played for my hometown independent team, the Worcester Tornadoes.
It’s a shame he had to make himself a PED guy. He was a cool story and easy to root for. Hit a HR on his moms birthday as part of one of the better months of April in Twins franchise history three or four years ago.
I’m actually kind of surprised the Jays are keeping Colabello after his terrible 2016 season and PED suspension. I guess he is kinda/sorta 1B depth in the event they can’t get a RH 1B bat but that’s an absolute worst case scenario.
Burns will in all likelihood find his way back onto the 40 man some time next season. He has a ton of positional flexibility despite his bat being subpar.
Who said they’re keeping him? He can become a free agent and sign with anyone now.
I was under the impression he didn’t qualify to reject an outright assignment. He’s yet to reach 5 years of MLB service so is there another reason he can reject the assignment that I’m forgetting or am not aware of?
After doing some research, I completely forgot he was designated and outrighted to AAA back in July. With that being the case, then yeah he’s gonna elect FA.
Colabello’s versatility will land him a job somewhere, but he’ll have to impress in Spring Training and keep himself clean as a nun’s conscience.
What versatility? It’s not like the guy can play 7 positions. He can barely play in the outfield and is a passible first baseman.
What versatility? *proceeds to mention that he plays multiple positions*
Maybe you didn’t understand.
I said he can barely even play in the outfield, aka he can’t play the outfield.
He’s a below average first baseman if anything
There’s your damn versatility.
Yeah, if playing a passable 1B and a lousy corner OF is versatility I think three quarters of the league is versatile
Now can they please DFA Smoak. Everytime I see him in a lineup I get violently ill. He’s the type of 1B found on AAA/AA teams that don’t have any young talent to develop.
Colabello>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Smoak.
He’s more of the type of player that will hit 70 homeruns in Korea, get a huge contract here probally by the Mariners, and disapoint once again.
I feel like Ben Revere would hit 25 HR in Korea.
Man Collabello was one of my favorites on the team.
Collabello’a reaction to getting caught, along with the reaction of many Jays fans, was altogether embarrassing. So, too, should Rogers media be ridiculed for their PR attempt on this matter.
Colabello is likable… he’s got that love-of-the-game kind of story about him, grinding away in indie ball for ages after going undrafted. Finally getting an opportunity in the majors and passing on a chance to make more money in Korea to stick around, and having some memorable hot streaks over a couple years.
Even if it was a little surprising from a character perspective, being a one-dimensional quadruple-A slugger makes him exactly the kind of player that stands to benefit from some PED. Which, of course, is exactly what happened. The “who, me?” story he was telling was kind of sad and after everything we’ve been through with PEDs in this sport that so many people bought it was rather pathetic.
… well said, JD.
BREAKING: Rays looking to sign Colabello to 2yr/10M deal.
No way!