10:25am: Espinosa exercised an opt-out clause in his contract with the Jays, tweets Shi Davidi of Sportsnet.
8:25am: Veteran infielder Danny Espinosa has been released by the Blue Jays organization, per an announcement from Toronto’s Triple-A affiliate in Buffalo.
The 31-year-old Espinosa opened the 2017 season at the big league level with the Angels but has since bounced to four other organizations in that time. He saw brief stints in the Majors with both the Mariners and Rays (eight games apiece) before season’s end in 2017, and he was with the Yankees in Spring Training before being granted his release and latching on with the Jays on a minor league pact.
Espinosa has had a rough start to the Triple-A season with the Bisons, hitting .232/.271/.286 with 15 strikeouts against three walks in 60 trips to the plate. That inauspicious slash comes on the heels of a combined .197/.286/.344 batting line in 896 plate appearances at the big league level across the 2016-17 seasons.
Though the past couple years have been a struggle at the plate for the switch-hitter, he’s long carried a strong defensive reputation and is capable of playing both middle-infield spots. He’s also just a season removed from slugging 24 homers for the Nationals in 2016, indicating that there’s still some pop in his bat.
Toronto’s offseason pickups of Yangervis Solarte, Aledmys Diaz and Gift Ngoepe created plenty of middle-infield competition within the organization, and the promotion of international signee Lourdes Gurriel Jr. to the Majors only further impeded Espinosa’s path to a potential roster spot. He’ll now look to latch on with what will somewhat remarkably be his sixth organization of the past calendar year — presumably one with lesser middle-infield depth than the Jays have at present.
Must have been a reaction to Travis being optioned down.
Yeah, I’m sure many other teams will want you in the majors if you can’t even hit in AAA.
With Panik out for an extended time & not so great alternatives, wouldn’t surprise me to see Sabean & the Giants sign this guy to minor league deal.
They love acquiring lifeless corpse’s……
Maybe he could pitch relief for the giants.
He’s definitely a Giants kinda guy, and they’d keep bringing him back, too. Problem is they are so tight against the luxury tax threshold that they can’t even afford this bum right now.
Everyone knows what Danny Espinosa is. little hit very good glove. Good guy too. Belongs somewhere in the game. I hope he lands somewhere where he can make a lviing at it. He is not done yet.
The game has changed with pitchers now occupying a larger than before % of the roster. As it stands now, a player like Espinosa actually could be more valuable in the playoffs to have on your bench but becomes a wasted 25th man during the regular season.
Orioles?
Probably sign him to AAA. With Sardinas Beckham and schoop out our depth is a little thin. Seems like his best shot to ever see the big leagues again. Don’t have to be very good to be better than Engelb Vielma or Luis Sardinas.
The guy cant hit, even in aaa. Id rather give a kid who has potential upside with the bat who can play d instead of some 30yo +.