Sept. 29: Font rejected the outright assignment in favor of free agency, tweets Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet. He’d have had the right to do so after the postseason anyhow, barring a surprise addition back onto the roster.
Sept. 28: Blue Jays righty Wilmer Font cleared waivers and was outrighted off the 40-man roster, per the transactions log at MLB.com. Font remains in the club’s 60-man player pool, however, and because he was on the team’s initially listed playoff player pool, he’d be eligible to pitch in the postseason should injuries prompt a need to select him back to the 40-man roster. That’s assuming Font accepts the outright assignment, of course. He does have the right to reject the assignment both by virtue of service time (three-plus years) and having previously been outrighted (back in 2014).
Font, 30, has pitched for five different clubs over the past three seasons, seeing time with each of the Dodgers, Athletics, Mets, Rays and Blue Jays while bouncing around the DFA circuit. He spent all of 2020 with the Jays but was tagged for 18 earned run in just 16 1/3 innings. Eight of those earned runs came in a pair of four-run meltdowns, but Font wasn’t exactly reliable even setting those two drubbings aside. He made 21 relief appearances this season, only three lasting more than an inning, and surrendered runs in nine of them.
Font has above-average velocity and solid spin rates on his heater and hook, all of which has contributed to five clubs rolling the dice on him since 2018 despite a lack of consistent success. Font did notch a sub-2.00 ERA in 27 frames with the 2018 Rays, but he struggled through 14 innings with Tampa Bay the next season before being cut loose. Overall, he’s pitched 151 2/3 innings in the big leagues but has just a 5.82 ERA and 5.41 FIP to show for his efforts.
Batting practice, that’s what Font is, batting practice.
And there was much rejoicing throughout the land!
I might create a movie called The Fontinator and have Wilmer as the lead actor. Totally not a rip off of The Terminator.
nope, because in his career he never terminated anything
Well, he did terminate the lead of a ballgame regularly this season.
This article might mark the termination of his career in MLB.
You could also do Comic Sans. It’s just a highbrow Weekend at Bernie’s.
A redundant statement as Weekend at Bernie’s is comedy genius.
They think keeping the body around will save them when, in fact, that is what puts them at danger. Brilliant plot twist.
Plus, they play Monopoly with a corpse.
Anyone asserting that Weekend at Bernie’s is not highbrow must be thinking of Weekend at Bernie’s 2.
You could say that again!
But my point was that Bernie’s is more slapstick American humor. Toronto is England-lite, so they have a different sense of humour. It’s like Original Office versus American Office. Definitively higher brow. Plus who doesn’t love a good typography joke?
you do realize that half of Hollywood is Canadian, eh?
Sure. But only in the winter.
I always felt Font was directly related to Charlie’s hiring…Jay’s knew the rotation was a mess last year, the opener was the new sensation…more or less created by Tampa. Font had been in that role with the Rays…just didn’t pan out. Just another dude with an electric arm who can’t harness his stuff.
The writing was on the wall
In classic Times Roman.
Fact: There have been six players named Wilmer in Major League history.
Wilmer “Dean” Chance
Wilmer Difo
Wilmer Flores
Wilmer Font
Wilmer “Vinegar Bend” Mizell
Wilmer “Billy” Shantz
Four of these six have played for the Mets. The two who haven’t are Shantz, whose career ended prior to the Mets being founded, and Difo, who currently plays for the Nationals. Come on, Steve Cohen. Do the right thing and make Wimer Difo a Met in 2021.
Might as well rename them the New York Wilmers at this point.
This made me laugh, thank you for that
I wouldn’t be surprised if he winds up on the Red Sox… for one he seems like the perfect candidate for Bloom’s bringing in guys with the stuff but no results — then on top of that he actually did it once with Font in TB. Put those 2 things together and I think he writing is on the wall for a minor league deal this off-season with the Red Sox. I’m not necessarily saying I want it to happen or I think it’ll be a good signing BUT it is also worth noting that he DID pitch quite well with TB in 2018 and his stuff and minor league numbers are QUITE impressive. So if anyone’s got a shot of panning out from Bloom’s “magic” it’s him… so why not roll the dice on a minor league signing!
Where is “Jimmertee” to tell us this is another bad move by the Blue Jays front office in trying times like these?
Click on Wilmer Font in the tag. Read all the stories since July 2019. I’m sure you will find your answer. The smart Jays fans who didn’t want Font were right.
Long overdue move. Font is not a player on a championship team. Tampa wins series over Jays 2-1.
Fyre Shatkins!
Font is the poster boy for why you can’t just rely on analytics or advanced methods of talent evaluation. All the velocity and strikeouts in the world don’t mean anything if you can’t finish one inning of blowout games without needing a second reliever to finish the game for you. He was a worthwhile shot and was actually decent as an opener last year, but it was just pathetic watching him this year. But I guess that’s the life of a reliever.
“Font is the poster boy for why you can’t just rely on analytics or advanced methods of talent evaluation. All the velocity and strikeouts in the world don’t mean anything if”
This comment makes no sense as he has horrendous analytic stats. And he strikes out guys at a below average rate (well below for a reliever) to go with his horrible control.
Even in his 2013 season split between AA & AAA, his advanced metric ~4.0 xFIP showed his 1.0 ERA was smoke and mirrors
Merely throwing hard isn’t a sign of analytics, and neither is any team taking a flyer on him to see if their coaches can teach him some control so they might get a slightly serviceable stop-gap middle reliver they can throw away once they no longer need him
On my list of pitchers to sign next season, Font is strike through.
Glad he elected free agency. Opens up a roster spot.