The Blue Jays announced today that they’ve placed shortstop Troy Tulowitzki on the 60-day disabled list due to “bilateral heel bone spurs.” The team has also designated southpaw Sam Moll for assignment. The moves create a pair of 40-man roster spots for veteran relievers John Axford and Tyler Clippard, each of whom has had his contract formally selected by the Jays and will open the year in the Toronto bullpen.
Tulowitzki, 33, will be out for at least two months after being limited to 66 games in 2017 by injuries. Unlike the 2017 season, though, the Jays boast a fair bit of middle infield depth after picking up utility options such as Aledmys Diaz, Yangervis Solarte and Gift Ngoepe this winter — each of whom has played shortstop at the big league level.
A former third-round pick of the Rockies, Moll made his big league debut in 2017, though he was tagged for eight earned runs in a small sample of 6 2/3 innings. His work in the minors, however, is more solid. In 54 1/3 innings between the Triple-A affiliates for the Rockies and the A’s, Moll pitched to a 3.64 ERA with 7.8 K/9 against 3.1 BB/9. Moll has a history of missing bats and inducing grounders at an above-average rate through the Double-A level, though he’s bounced from the A’s to the Pirates to the Mariners to the Jays via the waiver wire this winter.
I get the feeling that this is only the first 60 day DL stint for Tulo this season.
You can take that feeling to the bank. This guy was born for the DL
I feel bad for Tulo…if he would have been healthy he is probably one of the best players to ever play the game
Water is wet,the sky is blue,Tulo is on the DL oh so true…
Tulo on the DL means that baseball is finally back!
Injured again. Shocking.
Honestly I’m confident that Solarte and Diaz would be better than a healthy Tulo
Sadly agree offensively the combo of Solarte and Diaz are better than Tulo, although defensively not a chance.
Diaz has yet to prove he can hit in the AL and hit with the pitchers knowing the holes in his swing. He has adjustments in his swing to make. If he doesn’t make those adjustments he’ll be back in the minors right away as the pitchers take advantage.
Diaz is not going back to the minors right away. They’re going to give him every chance to work through any issues he may face.
Tulo may not play this year and the alternative is Gift. Hard pass on that idea.
I agree that the Jays should give Diaz all the chance they can to work it out, both in the field and at the plate. The Cards moved him to 2nd because he booted so many at SS. And he still has one major hole in his swing, high and inisde he has wchosen to whiff at continually.
Ngoepe is terrible at the plate. He is a AA offensive player with a Major League SS glove. There is a reason he is 28 and couldn’t make any other club at the major league level. Back to the minors he goes.
That leaves Goins to play SS. Oh wait, they let him go. Dumb move.
I would say Urena is the answer. Since the Jays are winning nothing anyways, let’s try him while Diaz works out his kinks in the minors.
I like that JDGoat would prefer Solarte/Diaz to a healthy Tulo, but only because healthy Tulo still comes with the fear of injury at any moment, he can still play at just above average MLB SS caliber. Perhaps not after this surgery, but maybe this surgery will be a huge help and he’ll gain a couple more years of usefulness. His career is starting to feel more like Nomar with every passing year. Extra respect for guys like Jeter and Vizquel that played so many innings at shortstop!
Happy to see if Diaz can find something in between his first 2 seasons, and not suffer huge AL adjustments or find out that he truly can’t adjust back to MLB pitching. Liking Solarte as a backup all over the place and really liking his upside with the bat. Goins would have been a better backup option than Ngoepe but I’d sincerely hope that Urena gets the next shot after Diaz so that Solarte can stay as super utility and Ngoepe can stay as mostly defensive replacement.
The worries mentioned regarding Diaz are legit, but I’m happy to see if he can be a step ahead of AL pitching or maybe even have a lightbulb moment this year and take a step forward in general. Very glad that the organization at least learned and added all this MI depth. Mostly agree with jimmertee take but with a more optimistic feeling about the options available right now.
Until Urena can hit AA pitching we can hold off on calling him the answer at SS. Everything else you’re spot on. We can add Diaz’ love for chasing offspeed pitches outside and off the plate.
Glassowitzki…
Tulo is not playing one more game in Toronto.., by the time he’s back bichette will be ready for the show.
Bichette is not going to be the all-star many think he is going to be. That is Vlad jr. Bichette will be a below-average to average major leaguer. Right now he is doing well, but doesn;’t scout as an allstar at the MLBLevel.
The Jays have already tried to trade him once. #truth
This is 100% untrue, bichettes hit tool is higher than Mike trouts was, higher than Bryce harper’s. He absolutely 100% projects as an all-star and that is a consensus among scouts. Vladdys hit tool on the other hand, is the highest ever given to any player, so yes he projects as a better offensive player.
That science doesn’t mean anything unless he can make it work in the Majors, and I scout him as not being able to make that transistion to the elite level.
And Yes the Jays have already tried to trade him. It has been widely reported in the sports columns.
Good thing you’re not a scout
Bichette projects as a 55-60 FV. That is above average to well above major league player. Tulo is not that anymore even when he has been healthy. He probably starts the season with the Fisher Cats and be ready for the majors by the end of the season or start of 2019.
Jays management won’t do that. Even if Bichette tears it up in New Hampshire, management will bring him up slowly along with Vlad. Not necessarily agreeing with that decision but that’s the plan. Better question is whether or not they will be in Buffalo by the time Troy returns.
You’re making an assumption that they were trying to trade him. There hasn’t been any reports of the Jays trying to trade him, other than teams asking for Bichette in trade talks.
Whether you were a scout or not, I won’t question that. But why would he be ranked so high as a prospect if you believe he’ll be below average in the bigs? His bat is already well ahead of a typical 19 year old.
Paul, appreciate the comment. A couple of things.
Firstly all the metrics in the world in the minor leagues mean absolutely nothing until the batter is facing major league pitching. The biggest step in the development of all players is the step between AAA and the Majors because of the pitching difference.
Secondly on scouting. There are two types of scouts. [and yes I was a bird dog scout for the Twins and MLB scouting bureau]. The first scout is one that reads the metrics records the stop watch and radar gun readings and says this guy might be good. It is based on science and what has gone before in the past. Anyone can do that,
The second type of scout is the intuitve type or “gut” scout. It is not a science, it is a feel. It is based on a gift rather than head knowledge or analysis. There have been some elite intutive style scouts. I would say Pat Gillick was one of those. They follow a player for a while and can “read” his future by the gut rather than the head. The guy who scouted Nolan Ryan at 16 years old was one of them.
I am an intutive scout and my read on Bichette is that he will be a below average to average major league player vs major league pitching. He is a great prospect but not destined for greatness like Vlad Jr.
Isn’t a bird dog scout basically a volunteer position? I mean hell by that logic I could be a scout, after all I scouted kids in little league on my free time. And basically what you’re saying is that you have no evidence for your claim that bo bichette is going to be a bust other than you think he will be. I’m not even a jays fan but that is dumb, looking at his tools and stats so far he’s on his way to becoming a quality big leaguer. No offense man, but you sound super conceited and full of yourself
Given the advancements in technology, Bichette “should” be prepared to face major league calibre pitching if he knows how to study pitchers and does his homework. If he does, he should be fine. Yes he has a swing many scouts probably think won’t work in the majors. However, he would get by if he has high baseball IQ and understands major league pitching. If he puts in the off-field work and studies tape, he can succeed.
Gobbysteiner, there is never any valid reason to insult anyone in these blog pages.
As far as scouting goes, I have had a player that I recommended drafted by the Jays and by the Yankees. I still have my “Official MLB” recruitment letter from the Minnesota Twins.
As far as evidence goes, the very nature of intuitve based scouting is a feel not a science . It is right brain vs left brain if you like. I would suggest googling intuitive based decision making models and read up on how it woks. Analytics-Magazine dot org has a great article on intutive based decision makingt. Sometimes intutive decision making can know things that science cannot. Sometimes intutive making decision making can produce accurate “absolute” projections. There is often no “evidence” just a gut feel.
Bird was thought to have inflammation, but got surgery for what turned out to be bone spur in his ankle. Bone spurs are more common than you think.
But I have no idea what a bilateral bone spur is. Never heard that before. Good call putting that in brackets, Steve.
Thats a new injury tulo discovered
It means he has bone spurs on both heels.
Omg im so shock! This guy is so durable!!! What the Hell?!?!!!
Tulo reminds me a lot of Eric Davis. Started red-hot, all the potential in the world, then just couldn’t overcome injuries and got traded from his long-time team, then just couldn’t stay healthy and had scattered seasons for the rest of his career.
why did they wait until the season started before going for surgery?
Yeah really. Apparently Tulo’s bone spur injuries didn’t manifest until very recently. Yah right. Stinks of bad doctoring to me.