The Blue Jays have announced that right-hander Trent Thornton has been designated for assignment. His roster spot will go to lefty Génesis Cabrera, whom the Jays have acquired from the Cardinals, which was reported earlier today.
Thornton, now 29, made his major league debut for the Jays in 2019. He tossed 154 1/3 innings that year, mostly as a starter, allowing 4.84 earned runs per nine innings. In 2020, he was limited to just three starts, spending most of the shortened season on the injured list due to elbow inflammation.
The Jays moved him to a bullpen role in 2021 and he’s been serving as an up-and-down reliever for the past three seasons. He’s tossed 100 1/3 major league innings dating back to the start of that 2021 campaign with a 4.31 ERA in that time. His 22% strikeout rate and 8% walk rate for that stretch are both pretty close to league average. He’s also thrown 66 1/3 innings at Triple-A in that same timeframe with a 2.98 ERA, 21.8% strikeout rate and 10.9% walk rate.
It’s possible that Thornton’s time with the Jays was nearing an end even before this transaction. The club’s bullpen has been fairly strong this year, with their collective 3.62 ERA the fourth-best in the majors. Thornton has largely been squeezed out, only been able to make four appearances this year. He’s burning his final option year here in 2023 and will be out of options next year. He’s making a $1MM salary this year and will be eligible for arbitration again this winter.
The Jays will now have one week to trade him or pass him through waivers. Since he can still be optioned for the rest of the year, it’s possible a club in search of some extra bullpen depth would be interested in acquiring him. He could also be retained for future seasons via arbitration but, as mentioned, he’ll be out of options in 2024. If he were to clear waivers, he would be eligible to reject an outright assignment and elect free agency since he has more than three years of major league service time. However, since he has less than five years of service time, returning to the open market would mean forfeiting what’s left of that salary.
Really?
Major League curveball + AAA fastball. = getting released.
Mitch White is next.
Mitch should have been first, followed by Hatch.
Wow.. Best he’s been at the MLB level and given the heave ho
I’m sure Toronto wishes they had Aledmys Diaz still instead of Thornton.
You might want to check Diaz’s stats and contract
You’re kinda stepping on the punchline of the joke.
Joke?
> Joke?
It’s something you say to make someone laugh.
Diaz seemed to carry the Astros for about a month ever season. It was a good trade for the Astros. Thornton will surely find work elsewhere.
Took them long enough..
All teams should have to put (4) players in a holding position (kinda like a Goodwill box for marginal players) and and the players are free to pick whatever team they want to go home with them
Turn that four player thing into a steel cage deathmatch, with random fire, weapons that drop down, and a big cat. A tiger. Whoever lives gets to play again.
Not endorsed by Rob Manfred who thinks it should be a four player fingerpaint contest.
Thornton isn’t doing bad from a quick glance at his numbers, maybe something I don’t see?
1.643 WHIP in AAA. Do you really think that’s not bad, or are you only paying attention to his 5 innings in the majors?
Ouch! Didn’t see his numbers in the minors that explains everything thanks!
Ask him to cite Mitch White’s AAA numbers.
I think it’s this, too:
He’s burning his final option year here in 2023 and will be out of options next year.
The Blue Jays can only option him to the minor leagues this year. Next year, he has to remain on the MLB roster all year long. If they choose to send him to the minor leagues next year, then they have to pass them by every team in baseball. If any one of those teams claims him then they take him. I guess they decided to skip all that and just get rid of him now.
But the same is true of Cabrera.
They might also be hoping to pass him through waivers.
Both bad, but would rather not have either, have a roster spot and that random 19 year old lotto ticket.
Surprised they didn’t trade him for genesis. Probably would have benefited the cards more to have a pitcher than a 218 single A catcher.i guess the kid the cards got is only 19, but Thornton has shown flashes just like cabrera
40 man implications as well
Although it largely doesn’t matter one way or the other, I would have rather they dfa’d White to make room for Cabrera on the 40 man. Especially considering White is out of options while Thornton could still go up and down.
GM would then be admitting that Mitch white deal is a bust. Sometimes gm don’t want to give up on their guys before exhausting all other options. Not saying I agree with but it seems like gms do this to save face.
I would agree with you. Trent looked like he should have been used as a bulk guy in my opinion.
Would have dropped Hatch before Thornton. Blue Jays are holding out hope Mitch White is the second coming of Ross Stripling. One threw strikes, the other is Mitch White. Not fair to compare.
I would have thought that Hatch would have been been the 40th man on the 40… or White… or Lukes … or Francis..
This feels like an Oriole if the Jays will send him there. I’m sure they’d prefer not to but it’s an old Astros farmhand that hasn’t been able to unlock his potential in Toronto….
The Astros love trading with the Blue Jays, and I don’t care how good Teoscar has been, Liriano got key outs in the World Series.
MLBTR writers really need to learn how to use commas. This is not correct:
“He could also be retained for future seasons via arbitration but, as mentioned, he’ll be out of options in 2024.”
There should be no comma after the word but. The comma either has to be BEFORE it or after the word mentioned. Come on, this isn’t that hard.
It can either be “he could also be retained for future seasons via arbitration but as mentioned, he’ll be out of options in 2024” or “he could also be retained for future seasons via arbitration, but as mentioned he’ll be out of options in 2024.”