The Blue Jays made a “contract suggestion” to star right-hander Alek Manoah this winter, but apparently the sides were not close, according to Jon Heyman of the New York Post. Manoah is part of a young core, alongside Bo Bichette and Vlad Guerrero Jr., that have been speculated as possible targets for long-term extensions.
Manoah, 25, put up a quality season last year, working to a 2.24 ERA over 196 2/3 innings and finishing third in AL Cy Young voting. That followed on from a strong rookie year in 2021, and cemented Manoah as one of the sport’s brightest young starting pitchers. As such, it’s not a huge surprise that the Blue Jays would have some level of interest in locking up the former eleventh overall pick long term. For his part, Manoah is still five years away from free agency but four of those should be arbitration-eligible, as Manoah is likely to qualify as Super Two player at the end of the season.
Here’s some more notes from around the AL East:
- The chances of Orioles closer Felix Bautista making the Opening Day roster appear to be growing, with manager Brandon Hyde looking to get Bautista into three or four more games before the team breaks camp, according to Roch Kubatko of MASN. He’s been highly effective in his two outings to date, displaying his triple-digit fastball. Bautista’s camp had been slowed by shoulder and knee injuries to start, but he looks to be on track now. That’s a huge positive for the Orioles, as the closer worked to a 2.19 ERA over 65 appearances last season.
- Bryan Hoch of MLB.com provides an update on some of the injured Yankees in camp. Starting with the bad news, reliever Tommy Kahnle has been unable to throw as scheduled as he battles biceps soreness. Kahnle re-signed with the Yankees this winter on two-year, $11.5MM deal after a few seasons with the Dodgers. He had been projected as a vital late-inning member of the Yankees’ bullpen, but it appears the start of his season will be delayed. It’s not known yet when Kahnle is next scheduled to pitch, but obviously it’s not great news for his recovery timeline.
- Left-hander Carlos Rodon returned to throwing yesterday and was feeling good, according to Hoch. There were plenty of fears after the Yankees announced that the oft-injured starter would be shutdown for 7 to 10 days with a forearm strain, but an MRI showed no UCL damage and it seems Rodon is back on track to start ramping up for the season. It’s already been confirmed that Rodon will start the season on the injured list, but a positive return to throwing for the six-year, $162MM free agent signing hopefully means it won’t be a long wait before he can make his Yankees debut.
- Hoch also reports that Harrison Bader is doing “better than anticipated,” relaying a quote from manager Aaron Boone. It’s a rather vague statement and there’s no indication that Bader is on track any sooner than the initially projected six week recovery timeline (three weeks of regular season action), but it’s at least a positive development as the Yankees look to overcome a number of injuries early in the season. Bader impressed in the playoffs for the team after coming over from the Cardinals at the deadline last year, crushing five home runs in nine games before the team was eliminated in the ALCS.
Wow!
You my friend should be banned from commenting.
Responding to his comments only fuels him. Everyone just mutes him, wont be an issue anymore.
I guess some people just don’t appreciate a good mom flipped upside down….
Kiddhoff what do you think about that?
Didn’t know Wow could be so offensive.
You’re confusing offensive with puerile.
No. I think some find it offensive. Reading down the list of comments here, I don’t think you should single just one of us out.
Wow!
Exactly!
Wow
U can say that again!
Gotta shakedown the Mets if I am the Orioles with a Bautista trade
Shake’em down right down to Showalter’s BVD’s
Aren’t you guys trying to compete?
It depends on who you ask!!
And what exactly do you think the Mets are going to give up for a 28 year old second year reliever that already has been slowed by injuries this spring?
Well, whatever it is, I want a shakedown
No chance
Bautista for Batty, straight up. Laughter?…meet dial-tone!
(Although the Orioles have a lot of young arms on the 40 man and have a man-crush on Rules 5 pick Polti. It’s not bananas…)
Trade Bautista? Hmm. If a deal is out there, I can see FO pulling trigger. Mets, Dodgers possibly would be interested? Others? IMO O’s still a yr or 2 away from relevancy anyway, do it! Heck, Elias unloaded Lopez to Twins last year.
With the prices people were paying for relievers this year….
Boone is the Monty Python Black Knight when it comes to describing injuries. ‘Tis but a scratch.
A reporter asks, “Can we talk to him about it?”. Boone replies, “None shall pass”
Hahaha. Will played Lord.
That was funny stuff back in the day, like being almost dead
Look on the bright side of death.
Maybe wait a bit on Manoah, it’s too early to tell if he can stay healthy and truly be worth that ace money. He throws a lot of sliders and the Jays don’t need another Berrios type affair.
He is already better than Berrios and is already locked up 5 years. I would work on vlad and bo first but if you can get some long term saving freed up by locking up manoah and spreading out his term, could free some money up in the future years.
“contract suggestion” delivered by way of hypnotist Kevin Stone, referred to him by Anthoplous.
I laughed out loud when I read that term in the article. I get a mental picture of Manoah sitting in a classy restaurant, and Atkins is the maitre’d who says, “May I suggest the squab?” Manoah responds, “Nah, I’m thinking surf & turf with a side of caviar and a bottle of Dom Perignon.” Atkins: “We agree to disagree.”
Surprised Draftkings doesnt have odds on when Rodon will go down with ucl…..i’d give 5-1 its before the ASG.
Of the three Yankees injuries reported on, Tommy Kahnle presence on the Yankees is far and away the least significant. Don’t get me wrong he’s a valuable member of the bullpen, but the Yankees have far more depth in the bullpen than anywhere else except possibly the infield.
Yes Mickey, that’s a good point
True, Mick. I suggested yesterday that the Mets and Yankees should make a trade once Rondon is ready.
This season will be the 14th consecutive season the Yankees don’t win a World Series. So much for the farce of the Yankees ‘championship culture’. But at least they recently gave an albatross contract (yet another 1 for the Yankees- Stanton, Ellsbury, Cole, Judge, Donaldson, Hicks, etc. Not to mention the endless parade of has-beens that the Yankees sign all the time) to the 31 year old, fragile, injury-prone, over-sized Aaron Judge. He will average less than 3 WAR over the course of the contract. There’s no plan and Brian Cashman should have been fired 3 years ago at the latest and there are very few players in MLB who were even in the league the last time the Yankees won a World Series. Around 5 players- that’s it.
Whatever team you root for is lucky to have you.
Enjoy Aaron Judge’s fast approaching nose dive off a cliff and Yankees fans widely criticizing his horrible contract less than 4 years from now. His major decline could easily begin this year. No matter what, he will be much worse than last year this season.
Enjoy the chicken tenders your mom is cooking for you.
Hahaha is that really your response? Asking rhetorically (‘rhetorically’ means that the question is being asked to make a point, not because I’m actually interested in any response from some idiot nobody like you). Pathetic.
What kind of dipping sauce did you use?
All of you can laugh at my take. The more I look at the AL East I see Toronto winning the division. I also see Tampa Bay finishing in 2nd place and the Orioles finishing third. Yankees fourth. The Achilles Heal for the Os will be pitching. The Yankees will struggle in offense and in pitching. Tampa is the most complete it’s been in years. I see Toronto winning by 10 games.
Ha ha ha, there you go…