Prior to today’s 7-2 victory over the Red Sox, the Blue Jays selected the contract of left-hander Tayler Saucedo from Triple-A Buffalo. In corresponding moves, right-hander Jeremy Beasley was sent to Triple-A to create a 26-man roster spot, while A.J. Cole was moved to the 60-day injured list to create an opening for Saucedo on the 40-man roster.
Saucedo didn’t pitch in today’s game, so he is still looking for the first Major League appearance of his six-year pro career. A 21st-round pick for the Jays in the 2015 draft, the Hawaii native has a 4.30 ERA and 17.4% strikeout rate over 521 innings in Toronto’s farm system.
Most of Saucedo’s usage has come out of the rotation, though he was shifted to the bullpen in 2019 and has been used as a full-time reliever this season. The results have been impressive, as Saucedo has a 2.20 ERA and a whopping 35% strikeout rate in 16 1/3 innings for Triple-A Buffalo, against just two walks and no home runs allowed. Saucedo has consistently posted high grounder rates throughout his minor league career, and he has managed to keep the ball on the ground (51.4% rate) at Buffalo this year while spiking his strikeout rate at the same time.
With the Blue Jays hurting for relief help, Saucedo has plenty of opportunity to stick in the majors if he can come close to replicating his Triple-A numbers. Saucedo and Tim Mayza are the only left-handers in Toronto’s bullpen, as Ryan Borucki and Travis Bergen are both on the injured list.
Cole will now also see his stay on the IL extended into at least August. The righty was initially placed on the 10-day IL on June 2 with neck tightness, but today’s placement indicates that Cole has also suffered a left oblique strain. Cole has signed with the Jays on minor league contracts in each of the last two seasons, and he has delivered quality results — a 2.59 ERA over 31 1/3 total innings in a Blue Jays uniform.
Mudcat Grant dead at age 85. Pitched from 1958-1971
Beat the Dodgers twice in 1965 World Series.
First black pitcher in American League to win 20 games.
Everyone I knew respected Mudcat.
God bless the Grant family.
The best singing pro athlete after Arthur Lee Maye.
Cole will now also see his stay on the IL extended into at least August. The righty was initially placed on the 10-day IL on June 2 with neck tightness, but today’s placement indicates that Cole has also suffered a left oblique strain.
now what to do with chatwood….
They need to dial him back a week and use him in some less pressure spots. We all knew that the over use of the pen early on was going to bite the jays, now it’s here. Just need to get some fresh arms and weather the storm for borucki and merryweather to come back.
With some good luck, another 2 arms (pen and starter) I could see this team going on a second half run.
Agreed. It will be interesting to see who else gets the 7th/8th innings. Those may be a little too much for Castro but here’s to hoping. Maybe Thornton?And Merryweather, it will be nice to get him back for another two weeks before his next injury ha
Ha true unfortunately
It’s sad because their needs aren’t massive (outside rotation) Romano is solid, they just need a few reliable guys to get outs before him. phelps was a big loss. I’m wondering if we see Murphy soon, or if they just put hatch in the pen for the rest of the year
The second half run is going to happen. They change from the toughest schedule in the game to the easiest at that point. The only question is if they’ll still be in range to catch up to the top of the division by beating up on weaker teams.
The @BlueJays starters rank 28th in #MLB in innings ahead of Baltimore and behind Pittsburgh. The bullpen is burned out. A bullpen cannot carry the load the Jays are asking it to carry. They do not have enough quality depth in the bullpen. With 100+ games to go it is not going to be pretty. They need elite, deep in-the-game starters in order to win now.
A couple more relievers aren’t enough for this team to win a championship. The BlueJays Mgmt need to pick up an elite starter like a healthy Scherzer and a number 3 which there are many available. And while they are at it, the Mgmt needs to acquire a shutdown closer.
This can be done if they are willing to part with a Groshans, Martin and others.
The question is do Atkins and Shapiro have the courage and wisdom to pull this off this year?
Things have improved. Not saying that have a deep rotation, but Ray has been a beast lately and even Stripling seems to have turned a corner? Things aren’t a as bleak as the first month of the season which is heavenly skewing your stats and opinion.
Jays would be idiots to give up top prospects for scherzer or any other impending free agent. This isn’t 2015/2016, they need to add with the next 3-4 years in mind, not be short sighted
It is not shortsighted to win now. I am many others aged up with this building for the future nonsense. That line is used by club presidents and GM’s who do not know to win. Please don’t drink the sports net or Shapiro kook aid.
How is building for the future ‘nonsense’ when you think adding Scherzer is all they need to win now? Pretty contradictory isn’ it?
It’s good you have passion for the team but you’re being ridiculous.
Please reread my posts. I said the Jays need a Scherzer, another pitcher a number 3 and a shutdown closer. Good GMs can do this. The Jays would have a legitimate shot at winning. The Padres have done this.
The Padres are third in the wildcard standings at this moment. They haven’t done anything and still insist on trotting Eric Hosmer out to play first base.
I don’t see the Jays trading any of their top guys for a rental like Scherzer. This team is going to be good for a long time and will need pitching even more next year when Ray/Matz are both free agents. Maybe Matt Boyd or someone else with control could pry away Martin or Groshans…. But not a rental no matter how good they are.
It’s a four team dog fight for the division this year. Jays aren’t going to double down for a one time shot to win that.
Dexxter , then what you are essentially saying is that the Jays are not going to win his year or any year because they won’t be trading top prospects for talent needed to win. That sounds like the same old Shapiro kool aid
@jimmertee
The giants are the best team in baseball and didn’t trade anything close top prospects really to get there. It’s hard to even tell what your mindset is when reading your comments sometimes. Do you not like having Vlad and Bo rn? The reason we have them is because the jays don’t operate in the way you want. Also, the idea of people liking rebuilds, and hanging on to top prospects, has nothing to do with sportsnet or Atkins koolaid. Its literally how almost every team in the MLB works, top prospects aren’t traded anywhere near as often anymore and literally almost never for rentals. I’d be curious if you could find me a trade in the past 3 years where a few month rental was traded for a top 50 or even top 100 prospect in the mlb. If you do find one, that prospect is likely not that good anymore, and/or it is likely one of very few examples. Key thing there is a few month rental. It’s a different story if the player has control. Teams do, do that still.
Billy, I suggest you review the careers of Dave Dombrowksi, Brian Cashman, and Pat Gillick. They learned how to win by trading for elite prospects and trading away elite prospects.
It is Shapiro kool aid. Shapiro has won no world series. Zero. Nada. In his entire career he has not won a world series and never will because of this “hang on to prospects mindset” My mindset is not the problem.
There are plenty of very high end prospects that have been traded away with the hopes of winning. Fernando Tatis Jr, Gleyber Torres, Daniel Norris, Matthew Boyd, Yoan Moncada, Josh Hader, Dansby Swanson, Noah Synderguard, Travis Darnaud. The list of trades of high end prospects in pursuit if winning is endless.
Get help immediately.
I am quite familiar with all of them and they have been successful in the past in terms of winning chips. I’ve legit argued with you about dombrowski before a few months ago… I’m gonna greatly oversimplify and say there was a reason he was fired from his job in Boston despite having a winning record and winning the World Series 10 months before… because he traded away too many prospects and destroyed any hopes of a sustainable contender for them.
That simply doesn’t make sense. Are you saying that there is another Shapiro in every front office when a team rebuilds… like what? Many teams in baseball operate in this exact same fashion. I won’t say Shapiro is the best GM because he’s far from it but your mindset is the problem. Maybe you should answer the question on if you’re happy to have vlad and Bo, because according to you we should have just traded them.
I specifically said show me a trade within the last THREE years where a top 100 prospect was traded for a rental (and the prospect did not instantly become a bust). The reason I made that point was to show that it is extremely more uncommon for them to be traded in recent years. None of the examples you used are within the time frame i mentioned.
Dombrowski also signed some awful contracts
Please stop saying I said things when I didn’t. I have never said trade Vlad Jr or Bo. I always said Vlad jr was going to be a star. I wrote it in every post I made about him, that the Jays needed to be patient and not trade him.
The key is knowing what elite prospects to trade and who to hang onto. Martin and Groshans can go, but I wouldn’t trade Manoah, Pearson, Adams, Palacios or Moreno. That is good scouting.
For years I wrote in these pages to trade guys long before their value declined like Marco Estrada, Josh Donaldson, Justin Smoak, Devon Travis, Dalton Pompey, Ken Giles, Thomas Pannone, Billy Mckinney, Derek Fisher, and many more.
Since they are not winning this year because they won’t acquire the needed elite pitching talent the other alternative is to build for next year. That means the Jays need to also start trading from their current 40 man roster. Espinal, Tellez, Kay, Matz, Merryweather, Ray, Stripling,. Zeuch, Jansen, Mcguire, Panik, Semien and others are available. These players are not helping this team win any championship this year or next year. I am not saying blow it up but certainly build for next year and acquire more high end talent.
My mindset is to win now just like the hall of famers Gillick, Cashman and Dombrowski. Dombrowski wasn’t fired because he traded away prospects and left the cupboard bare, That is ridiculous to say that and it is well known that is not the case. He was fired over money. Period. In behind the scenes, he tried to negotiate a lucrative long term contract for himself while insisting that the players that he signed be paid big dollars on longterm deals as well. Ownership balked at both issues and let him go. It was money and nothing else.
And of course there were no big trades over the last year because of covid. Duh.
You don’t have to accept or believe what I am saying, just watch what happens in the years to come. I said when Shapiro was hired that he wasn’t capable of winning a championship due to the “long term competitive” mindset. The “long-term competitive mindset” protects his job rather than creating a winner. The real goal is to win as soon as possible, not play year after year knowing the BlueJays will never do what is necessary to acquire elite talent at the deadline or trade during the season. . And not win a WS ever with Shapiro at the helm.
Dusty
I agree 100%, there is no requirement to empty the top of the farm for a one and done type all in push. A few strategic trades from our 9-20 list and we can have a window that is 4-5 yrs long at minimum. The all in gang are usually disappointed in the long run. Thankfully the Jays mgmt are not of this ilk. The only way I’d move a Top 100 guy is if a young starter that was a sure fire # 3 with 2+ yrs was available .
Tyler Chatwood has always been mediocre and erratic. 15 good innings didn’t change who he is.
The Red Sox could use some fresh arms too; Toronto is teeing off of them. Hopefully Sale & Brasier are back sooner than later and Jarren Duran gets promoted to lead off and play CF. I have a feeling the Sox luck is starting to run out so they need reinforcements almost as bad as Toronto does. The AL East should be a fun division to watch over the final 95+ games. Someone needs to slow Tampa down.
I’m of the belief, that Tampa and Boston won’t continue this pace, and will coincide with the jays and yanks picking up. Should be a really fun August and September.
Jays just seem to be picking up steam the last few weeks with plenty of arms on the horizon and potential trades similar to last deadline and with the impending Boston regression their poised to win a wild card spot at least
Man I hope you’re right. The record should start to improve with an easier schedule starting Monday. Plus the rotation is much improved and offense seems to still be rolling.
Boston is poised to regress. Their starters have been healthy and much more effective than expected. Likely won’t last.
The Yankees though I think are a .500 team. If you look at their roster it’s really not that good outside of their bullpen. I’m more surprised they have been successful the last 2 years than I am about their lack of success this year.
The Rays though are pretty good… and likely stay on top of the division.
Well Monday the jays are still playing Boston, but ya this week their schedule does start to get easier other than the fact that there in the middle of 16 games without an off day. Think that’s going to mean they have to call up Hatch and Pearson to give them innings
Jays record going backward yet they are picking up steam. Nice story, not true. Bullpen is depleted and struggling. That has cost the team wins. They have to outhit their problems. Again, if they are picking up steam they’d be more than 2 games above .500. Let’s be realistic here.
The jays are not picking up Steam. In fact they are regressing. The bullpen is burned out. They are 28th in starter innings. This is going to get ugly.
If Trout is the best player in the league, why do the Angel’s have a better record without him? Does WAR really mean wins above replacement? Because trout’s replacement is getting more wins.
If it rains in Seattle why has it been sunny and dry for 2 weeks ?
the rain’s currently vacationing in Spain, where its falling gently on the plain.
LOL
What does Kirby Snead have to do to get a call up? Bergen, Tice, Beasley, Edwards Jr, Saucedo, the jays are aware they desperately need a high leverage left handed reliever right?
He seemed a bit wild in the spring. And Saucedo’s walk numbers are better in AAA so far. But Snead will get the call when Mayza gets hurt.
Baker.