9:01AM: The Jays have officially announced that Jansen has been promoted (via their team PR Twitter), with Solarte going on the 10-day DL with his right oblique injury.
8:05AM: The Blue Jays are expected to call up top catching prospect Danny Jansen, Sportsnet.ca’s Shi Davidi reports. Jansen will take the roster spot of Yangervis Solarte, who suffered an oblique injury in yesterday’s game and is very likely headed for the disabled list. In addition to Jansen, the Jays are also expected to promote right-hander Sean Reid-Foley for his Major League debut on Monday in a start against the Royals.
Jansen, 23, was Toronto’s pick in the 16th round of the 2013 amateur draft. Thanks in part to a pair of hand injuries, Jansen’s first few pro seasons were fairly uneventful, though he broke out as a prospect to watch after a big 2017 season that saw him rise from high-A ball to Triple-A Buffalo. Jansen has continued to impress at the Triple-A level this year, hitting .275/.390/.473 with 12 homers over 360 plate appearances, racking up nearly as many walks (44) as strikeouts (49).
This quick development earned Jansen some notice in the prospect charts, with Baseball America’s midseason top-100 prospect ranking placing Jansen 71st, while MLB.com ranked him 73rd in its own top 100. The scouting reports on both sites give Jansen more credit for his offense than his defense, citing his good contact skills, plate discipline, and power potential (which BA says could lead to 10-15 homers a year at the big league level). From a defensive standpoint, Jansen has improved to the point that he looks at least solid at many aspects of catching, though in the words of MLB.com’s report, “his catch-and-throw skills may never be better than average.”
The Jays already have Russell Martin and Luke Maile as their regular catching combo, though Martin’s ability to play second and third base will allow him to essentially take over Solarte’s infield duties while Jansen gets regular playing time behind the plate. This early audition will help the Jays determine if Jansen could be ready for the starting job as early as next season, which could make Maile an expendable piece this winter. Martin’s $20MM salary for 2019 makes him essentially unmovable in a trade, so unless the Blue Jays are willing to just eat that contract, it is more likely Martin will be kept around as a veteran mentor for the young Jansen. (Martin’s ability to play a hybrid backup catcher/infielder role could also make Toronto more apt to pass on Solarte’s $5.5MM club option for 2019.)
Reid-Foley was himself a member of top-100 prospect lists prior to the 2017 season (MLB.com 64th, Baseball America 75th, Baseball Prospectus 85th) before his stock fell posting a 5.09 ERA over 132 2/3 Double-A innings last year. He bounced back this season to pitch much better in Double-A and earned himself a promotion, with the righty then posting a 3.50 ERA, 10.3 K/9, and 3.48 K/BB rate over 82 1/3 frames for Triple-A Buffalo.
Reid-Foley was a second-round pick in the 2014 draft, and the 22-year-old has long been seen as a future member of the Blue Jays rotation prior to his hiccups in 2017. Davidi notes that the decision to promote Reid-Foley was made “after days of deliberations,” though with the Jays well out of the playoff race and short on reliable starters to eat innings for the rest of the year, it makes sense to give Reid-Foley his first taste of Major League action. With at least two rotation spots up for grabs in the 2019 rotation, a good showing over the next six weeks will give Reid-Foley a leg up on earning a job next season.
Nice. Hope they stay up.
Fu-ture
congrats to SRF. Saw him last year in AA when he was really struggling, but he has really put it together this year.
But they’ll leave the best player on the planet in AAA
Mike Trout?
Mookie?
Mike Trout
Wilson?
*prospect
Danny Jansen earned it. Should have been promoted and learning from Russell Martin 2 months ago.
Not bringing up Vlad Guerrero because of “control”, yet the same rules do not apply to Reid-Foley? Don’t get me wrong, Reid-Foley coming up is a good thing and he’s pitched well. The front office logic seems to only apply to the one player that far and away deserves to be in the big leagues the most. I don’t care how young he is. If holding Vlad back means that much, why not do the same for Reid-Foley?
Could have brought up Reid-Foley a few weeks ago over Drake and the other dude they picked up from the scrub warehouse. More shenanigans from the Blue Jays brain trust.
Go look up foleys and Vlad jr ages first. Compare them. Next go look up which positions they play. Next go look up how often pitchers get injured compared to hitters. Literally comparing apples to oranges here. Two situations are completely different in virtually every way.
Iverbure I see you wrote this in anger. So I’ll answer your problem here…
Age: Age is not preventing Vlad from ripping AA and AAA pitching night in and night out. That excuse is out the window.
Positions: So suddenly Reid-Foley being a pitcher makes it different? Gee, where was this over 2 weeks ago when the Jays signed Oliver Drake? Suddenly Reid-Foley was ready for the big time!
Injury: Nearly every starting pitcher, if not all, will get hurt regardless of age. Not sure what you’re trying to prove here.
In fact, I’m not sure what your comment was attempting to prove anyway….
It’d be a terrible idea to put a top starting pitching prospect in the bullpen. The only time that ever makes sense is if you’re a contender.
Basically, there’s a chance SRF needs to go back to AAA or washes out so service time is less of a concern. Vladdy looks to be an impact talent so squeezing every day you can out of his prime is more important.
Trim iverbure isn’t that far off. pitchers are players you shouldn’t necessarily wait on when you think they are ready. pitchers do tend to get hurt more than position players. should vlad be up this year yes but he has less than 3 weeks of experience in AAA. give it time.
Who said anything about bullpen ?
PriceWasRight – again, the point about Vlad is more of a point toward bringing up Jansen and Reid-Foley now. Nobody should be banking on demotions to secure more service time either. Point is, if Jansen’s promotion was in the cards for this year he should have been up working with Martin back in mid-May when bodies were needed.
Sean Reid Foley would need to be added to the 40 man roster this offseason anyway to protect him from the Rule 5 Draft. Why not see what he can do?
Vlad Jr does not need to be added to the 40 man roster for a couple of more years and bringing him up before June 2019 will potentially cost the organization 15+ million in extra salary from arbitration/Super Two status AND you lose an extra year of club control. Let him mash in AAA for a few more months and, most importantly IMHO, get better at 3B. Be patient Jays fans, Vlad will be denting seats next summer before you know it…
Heck, leave him down there till June 2020 and they’ll control him even longer. June 2021 would be even better!
The Angels were stupid to call up Trout so early. They could’ve kept him in the minors years longer and kept him cheaper longer.
Service time talk makes me sad. I wish I never had to hear the words Super 2 and club control.
Trout needed 2011 to prep him for 2012.
Many of the people happy with the Jays organization should be giving you plenty of upvotes.
Why does it take “days of deliberations” to make these decisions? Atkins needs to get a clue.
The rebuild has taken too long to start and now that it has, let’s jump in full force.
Where is Vlad Jr? He should be at third the next game, not Martin. Yeeesh.
Mark, the Jays will be picking up Solarte’s option for sure. Why would they not?
Jimmer I’m with you. Front office continues to make baffling moves due to inconsistent thought and rationale behind these decisions.
Vlad should be at 3B. I understand why he isn’t, but after this he might as well come up. And start pushing the other prospects into AAA like Biggio and Bichette. That would show more seriousness from the front office regarding the youth movement.
At this point Solarte’s option will probably be picked up. I was hoping he’d be traded. I wouldn’t mind if they did not pick up the option on him and Garcia.
Next year they’ll have Tulo, Gurriel, Guerrero, Travis, and Diaz for three starting jobs and one or two back up spots. The only way picking up Solarte’s option makes much sense is if they’re trading it.
Tulo? Maybe for 5 games….
Add Drury and Bichette to that mix as well..and the off chance JD comes back on a qualifying offer. It’s very crowded.
Odds are Bo will be in AAA. That’s fine. Drury, absolutely. Bichette and Biggio should be in AAA and if they play well they will be charging hard after spots on the big league roster.
Wouldn’t worry about Travis…
Nah, Travis will slot in at second and that spot should be his. The only one I’m worried about is Tulo. That’s 20 million again that will probably provide either replacement level production or none at all like this year.
If Travis and tulo play a full season between the two of them it’s a mini miracle.
I’m really hoping Travis can. I could care less about Tulo. It’s probably better that he’s not playing and hopefully his contract is insured. Gurriel/Diaz> Tulo
Keep in mind next year the Jays are going nowhere unless they can come up with a new starting rotation and a new reliefs corps that are not usual retreads that atkins shoots for.
Having said that they can go into the winter meetings with Tulo, Gurriel, Guerrero, Travis, Diaz, Drury, Solarte and Donaldson from a QO..Let’s add Smoak’s option and Morales last year of his deal.
This situation is a good problem to have. All will likely be shoppable except Morales. Who knows what Atkins will do.
In Dec, I would trade Travis first[if possible for pitching].
In the Spring, move Diaz to 2nd. Try Tulo at SS but it will be Gurriel eventually. Tulo is likely done at SS, so that means he is either DH, 3B or 1B. Guerrero will start ’19 in the Minors. Donaldson will be played and shopped hard. That leaves Solarte and Drury and Morales and Smoak. Morales will need to be released or sold for int’l signing money…
The Bluejays have the dumbest fans. It’s almost as if they want their team not to win. Let’s constantly complain about how Vlad Jr isn’t playing in the majors and not listen to the baseball people who are very tired repeating the same thing over and over again
Yes, we can be dumb. We like to throw full cups at umpires and players on the field. We like to throw things on the field when we don’t get our way. We can be children.
Here’s the deal; majority of position players have growing pains in the major leagues. Vlad might not, but more than likely he will. Not bringing him up prolongs the development, but then again they won’t go anywhere in 2019 anyway.
Yes, we get the rationale behind not bringing him up. Flawed logic if he’s the only guy playing under those rules. They could avoid calling up Jansen and Reid-Foley because of what they are doing with Vlad. Wanna compare ages now? Ok, fine. Then why weren’t these guys called up sooner? Simple answer is these “baseball people” you referred to aren’t looking at the big picture with clarity. That’s all.
It’s called asset management. If they call up Vlad this year they should be fired immediately. You don’t call up a 19 year old ever unless you specifically need him for that season. How much do you think the Nats and Orioles wish they had Harper and Machado for one more year? End of discussion. Vlad will come up next late April/Early May. It would be neglegent to do otherwise.
flippin – You are missing the point; it’s really not about Vlad coming up now, it’s that Jansen and Reid-Foley ARE. Yet you’re ok with it? You’re ok with Jansen coming up now rather than mid-May? You’re ok with Reid-Foley starting his clock a bit too soon? I would have rather seen him come up with Vlad next year to be the #5 man in the rotation.
That’s your asset management; called mismanagement by the Jays organization.
nonsense, it’s very much asset management and it’s the right call. So your question Trimmy is::”why doesn’t that same a.m. rule apply to SRF and Jansen? It’s because having another year of a guy who (likely) hits .240 with 40 walks, 40 rbi’s, 0 stolen bases and 12 homeruns is easily replacement level so who cares about control and SRF, should he stay in the show, projects as a mid to back of the rotation starter ie. 8-8 with a 4.75 era and 120 strikeouts….again, replacement level. while vladdy is looking at +.300 batting avg., 25 – 30 homeruns, 25 doubles, 110 rbi’s,…that’s another extra year of that…
^Sorry Sparkle, I don’t understand what you are trying to say. Jansen should have been up a while ago to be mentored by Martin. Jansen should be slated as the starter next year. As of now. I wanted Jansen up sooner to learn from one of the best, and because Jansen earned it.
SRF should have been up before the Oliver Drake and Mike Hauschild signings. I was ridiculed for the idea of bringing a AAA pitcher up when the Drake signing happened. The same people on here are now applauding it. I believe the signings happened because SRF didn’t figure in the plans this soon. So I question the timing. I want SRF to be in the starting rotation in 2019.
The timing is the question. Vlad was the example. That’s all.
Actually we do want our team “not to win” as u say.
Why?
Theres this thing called the draft. Its where the entire league gets to pick thru HS and college kids who look like they may be somethimg someday
The lower you finish in the standings. The higher in draft order you become
Now seriously, even if u took all the talented kids on our farm teams and threw them on the big club, we still arent Playoff bound.
So why? Why do it? Do we improve 5 wins. 8 wins 10 maybe….. what does it do?
It just worsened our draft position AND gives us less control over a young young young man
Vlad Jr has been crushing AAA pitching as well. So we bring him up and he hits 35 as a rookie and you paid him peanuts
Except in 5 6 7 years when hes grown into his body and hitting 50 or 60 a year, youre now talking paying him harper and machado money
Why not get that 6th or 7th year at a discount when the team might actually be playoff bound
Does it suck for players like vlad and soto or acuna. YES
But its a business and the billions dont care how they feel either
Tldr.
Yes right now losing is good for us. Holding off on vlad is good for us.
Can’t imagine catcher Russell Martin playing 3B or 2B. What kind of range could he possible have with those catcher legs?
He’s done it plenty. He’s not a star but he’s serviceable.
Don’t know what the Jays have as far as infielder possibilities, but when you say serviceable, you must include his .199 BA which is far from it.
He’s been doing it for the past few seasons on some occasions
It’s surprisingly impressive actually
just about the worst hitting infielder in the league though…. recent hot streak and he is just under the Mendiza line.
good hands, limited range, great arm, no bat as an infielder
Are you serious? He has an OBP of .343 which is above league average. His wRC+ is 96, which definitely plays well as an infielder and catcher.
Anyone watching Martin knows that he hasn’t provided any help with the bat. It shows how unhelpful that OBP of .343 truly is. He has looked considerably overmatched this year.
Come on man with the metrics…..he’s hitting .199 with pretty much no power.
OBP is useless? Please get out of here with that garbage. If his OBP is .343 than he has gotten on base 34% of the time, period.
Anyone watching the Jays knows that he has been productive with at-bats since the beginning of June, especially after the all-star break.
the number of double plays he has hit into… the walls are nice but it is pathetic for 3b- which is where they are saying he will be playing.
think about this… he has been hot for the last month or so and these numbers are AFTER that.
worst catcher offensively on his team.
*walks
If they opt to really rebuild, then Drury and Solarte may be traded this winter. From an Infield perspective, with Tulo, Travis, Gurriel, Diaz, Urena, Vlad, Smoak, possibly Donaldson and with Biggio, Kevin Smith, and Bichette all possibly ready sometime next year, i just dont see how Solarte makes the team. He has been exposed and become much less effective in a every day role.
Drury, Diaz, Gurriel, Urena all have options. Solarte is as good as gone. Kevin Smith is in A ball so he’s not playing in the majors next year.
Where is Vlad Jr. why isn’t he up yet. What does he need to prove in the minors. He has dominated at all levels.
Salary control in future
Sucks. But its how the systems set up.
No need to start his clock till the team can be set up to win on a regular basis
he needs to learn to be a MLB 3rd baseman
IMO Travis /Pillar/Donaldson package might bring back some great pitching.
Travis,Pillar, Solarte are unimpressive
We are stuck with Tulo and Martin unfortunately and I would buy out Morales, send him packing!
Can’t move ahead with this bunching
I truly don’t understand why everyone continues to criticize the FO for not calling vladdy up. The big league team has nothing to gain by having him on this years team. There is zero chance at making the playoffs. Why wouldn’t the FO keep him in AAA and manipulate his service time? I’d question the FO if they did bring him up at this point.
Then why call up Reid-Foley and Jansen if service time matters that much? Why call up Reid-Foley and Jansen if there’s nothing to gain having them with the big club?
Answer: there is something to gain being with the big club. You trade service time for big league mentorship.
Cuz the cost of the contracts on those two combined will not equal to Vlad’s.
Manipulating the service time for two players who aren’t even guaranteed to be MLB players is less of a concern than manipulating the contract to gain an extra year of a generational talent and save a bunch of money down the road as well.
Anything to be outraged at Shatkins
^What outrage?
When Reid-Foley comes up, they need to dump Biagini, Petricka, and Perez.
I saw Danny Jensen at the Futures game. He homered and caught about half the game for team USA. Looked pretty good for a player without an MLB pedigree .