- Bue Jays manager John Schneider gave MLB.com’s Keegan Matheson and other reporters an update on Bo Bichette, noting that the shortstop has started to increase baseball activities while working out at the Jays’ spring training facility in Dunedin. A timeline isn’t yet in place this early in Bichette’s recovery from a right calf strain, as the club will monitor his progress in the coming days or weeks before deciding on a possible rehab assignment. Bichette suffered the calf strain on July 19 in Toronto’s 5-4 loss to the Tigers, continuing an all-around disastrous season that has seen Bichette bat only .223/.276/.321 over 330 plate appearances. The former All-Star’s struggles are one of several reasons why the Blue Jays are out of the playoff race, and if Bichette isn’t showing progress in relatively short order, it wouldn’t be surprising if the Jays just shut him down for the remainder of the season.
Blue Jays Rumors
Blue Jays Select Will Wagner
The Blue Jays announced they have selected infielder Will Wagner to their roster, his first time cracking a big league roster. Infielder Luis De Los Santos was optioned to Triple-A Buffalo in the corresponding move. @LoperBloss reported the Wagner move on X yesterday. After yesterday’s game, Julia Kreuz of MLB.com relayed on X that De Los Santos had been optioned to Triple-A Buffalo. “They want to see some new players in the organization,” De Los Santos said. “But it’s OK. I’ll keep working, doing my part and I’m hoping to come back soon.” The Blue Jays had a vacancy on their 40-man roster but it is now full.
Wagner, 26, is the son of long-time closer Billy Wagner. The elder Wagner had spent much of his career with the Astros and it was that organization that drafted the younger Wagner, using an 18th-round selection on him in 2021. Houston flipped Wagner, outfielder Joey Loperfido and right-hander Jake Bloss to the Blue Jays in the recent trade that sent left Yusei Kikuchi the other way.
In his professional career, Wagner has continually put up solid numbers at the plate, though in a hit-over-power fashion. He has 1,273 minor plate appearances across multiple levels with just 25 home runs in that time. But he has only been punched out in 17.1% of those trips to the plate while drawing walks at a strong 13.9% clip. Despite the limited pop, his .297/.402/.441 combined batting line translates to a 125 wRC+, indicating he’s been 25% better than league average overall.
That includes strong work at the Triple-A level. He was promoted to the top minor league plateau in September of last year and has since slashed .337/.445/.465 for a 136 wRC+ in 383 plate appearances. There are only six home runs in there but he has walked more than he has been struck out by a hefty margin, drawing a free pass in 15.9% of his appearances compared to a 10.2% strikeout rate.
That quality plate discipline was enough for the Jays to target him in trade talks with the Astros and they will now promote him to the majors after giving him a seven-game close-up look at Triple-A Buffalo. Baseball America ranked him the #17 prospect in the Astros’ system coming into the year, complementing his hit tool but noting that he’s not a strong defender. He’s currently listed 25th in the Jays’ system at BA. In June, FanGraphs put him 26th in the Astros’ system and currently lists him 30th in Toronto’s organization.
The Jays are out of contention and using the remainder of the season to assess some current players and make decisions about how to tackle their offseason. The club plans to return to contention in 2025 and is currently giving playing time to young guys like Loperfido, Spencer Horwitz, Leo Jiménez, Addison Barger and now Wagner, seeing which positions are the most or least in need of addressing during the winter.
Wagner has played all three non-shortstop infield positions this year, though the Jays mostly have had him at second base since the trade. The Astros gave him a lot of playing time at first, but that might have been a reflection of that club’s struggles at that position, whereas Jose Altuve has the keystone locked up.
The Jays have been giving Horwitz a lot of time at second this year but could perhaps have him and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. split first base and designated hitter now that Justin Turner has been traded and is no longer in the DH spot. Or perhaps Wagner will see significant time as the DH since his glovework isn’t highly regarded. Guerrero has also been playing a bit of third base this year and could move over to that side of the diamond, with Jiménez and Ernie Clement also in the mix for some infield playing time. Barger and Davis Schneider can also play some infield, though the Jays have George Springer, Daulton Varsho and Loperfido getting regular playing time out there.
There are plenty of moving parts but there’s lots of versatility in the group, so manager John Schneider will probably spend the rest of the year rotating guys around and spreading out the opportunities so that the club can assess each of the players at the plate and in the field.
Blue Jays Claim Luis Frías Off Of Waivers From Diamondbacks
The Blue Jays have claimed Luis Frías off of waivers from the Diamondbacks, according to his transaction log on MLB.com. Arizona designated the right-hander for assignment on Thursday to make room for catcher Andrew Knizner on the 40-man roster. As Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet first noted, Frías will report to Triple-A Buffalo. Toronto had two open spots on the 40-man roster, so no corresponding move will be necessary.
Frías has spent his entire career in the Diamondbacks organization; he signed with Arizona as a 17-year-old international free agent in 2015. The righty made his MLB debut in 2021, and since then, he has pitched 57 2/3 big league innings with a 6.55 ERA and 5.42 SIERA. He throws hard, averaging close to 96 mph on his four-seam fastball, but he has struggled to induce enough strikeouts at the MLB level. What’s more, he has walked 43 of the 276 batters he has faced; his 15.6% career walk rate is barely lower than his 18.1% career strikeout rate. Unfortunately, his numbers at Triple-A Reno aren’t much better. He has a 4.88 ERA and 6.32 FIP this season in 24 innings pitched. Throughout his career, he has a 4.26 ERA over 124 2/3 innings with the Reno Aces.
All that said, Frías is still just 26 years old, and he was once a relatively well-regarded prospect. Before he graduated from prospect status during the 2022 season, FanGraphs ranked him as the No. 12 prospect in the D-backs system, while Baseball America and Keith Law of The Athletic had him at No. 17. Baseball America ranked him as highly as No. 8 ahead of the 2020 campaign, writing “He could be a force in the rotation if it all clicks. Otherwise, his path might lead him to a high-leverage relief role.” While his days as a starting pitcher are likely all in the past, the Blue Jays must be hoping Frías still has a future as a big league reliever. He’ll provide some extra depth for their bullpen this year, which ranks last in the AL in ERA and second-last in SIERA. As for next year, he’ll be out of options, so Toronto will either need to add him to the Opening Day roster or designate him for assignment.
Yankees Acquire Cam Eden From Blue Jays
The Yankees announced Friday that they’ve acquired outfielder Cam Eden in a trade sending cash back to the Blue Jays. He’s been assigned to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre for the time being.
Eden, 26, was Toronto’s sixth-round pick back in 2019. He briefly made his big league debut late last season, appearing in five games and going 1-for-6 with a pair of strikeouts. The Jays removed him from the 40-man roster after the season, outrighting him to Triple-A Buffalo. Because Eden was not on the Jays’ 40-man roster at any point this season, he’s eligible to be traded even after the major league trade deadline.
[Related: How to Acquire Players After the MLB Trade Deadline]
While Eden isn’t likely to factor heavily into the Yankees’ plans down the stretch, he’s a Triple-A piece at a time when Everson Pereira is out for the season and Jasson Dominguez could soon get a call to the big leagues. Eden is also a potential bench/pinch-running option in September or even in the postseason, if the Yankees choose to dedicate a roster spot to someone with that type of specialized skill set. He’s hitting just .198/.299/.322 with a 27.4% strikeout rate this season, but he’s also swiped 26 bags in 33 tries. This is his second run through the Triple-A level; Eden hit .257/.354/.333 there last year and stole 53 bases in 57 attempts.
Eden has played all three outfield spots in his pro career. The Cal product has spent the bulk of his time in center field. FanGraphs Eric Longenhagen ranked him at the back of the Jays’ top-34 prospects back in 2022, touting Eden’s plus speed, quick first step in center and baserunning acumen — while also noting that lack of offensive upside that limits his ceiling.
Blue Jays Acquire Tommy Nance From Padres
The Blue Jays announced that left-hander Génesis Cabrera has been placed on the paternity list with right-hander Tommy Nance selected to take his place on the active roster. The Blue Jays’ 40-man roster count was at 37 after their deadline dealings but now jumps to 38. Nance had been with the Padres on a minor league deal but the Jays acquired him for cash yesterday, per Keegan Matheson of MLB.com on X.
Though the trade deadline has passed, certain swaps are still allowed. MLBTR’s Steve Adams recently explored the different ways teams can still add to their rosters after the deadline and noted that trades are still allowed if the players involved have not been on a 40-man roster this year.
Nance, 33, signed a minor league deal with the Padres in December and had been with their Triple-A club all year until this trade. He has thrown 33 1/3 innings over his 26 appearances in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League with a 4.05 earned run average. He struck out 23.3% of batters faced, limited walks to a 5.3% clip and got batters to hit grounders at a 51% rate.
Despite that decent performance, he wasn’t likely to crack the San Diego bullpen, especially after they bolstered it at the deadline by trading for Jason Adam, Tanner Scott and Bryan Hoeing. The Toronto bullpen, on the other hand, is far more open. They traded Yimi García, Trevor Richards and Nate Pearson prior to the deadline. They also placed Jordan Romano on the injured list and now will be without Cabrera for at least a brief spell.
That will give Nance the opportunity to build upon his career numbers. He pitched for the 2021 Cubs and 2022 Marlins and currently has a 5.47 ERA in 72 1/3 innings. His 10.5% walk rate in that time was a tad high but his 26.9% strikeout rate and 50.5% ground ball rate were both a few ticks better than average. His .324 batting average on balls in play, 68% strand rate and 18.9% home run to fly ball ratio all helped put some more runs on the board. For what it’s worth, his 4.23 FIP and 3.48 SIERA suggest he may have deserved better than the ERA would indicate.
Nance was still with the Marlins last year but missed the first few months of the season with a shoulder strain. He was reinstated from the IL in August but then optioned to Triple-A, exhausting his final option season in the process. He was then returned to the IL due to an oblique strain, making it mostly a lost season for him. He was outrighted by the Marlins at season’s end, elected free agency and then signed his aforementioned deal with the Padres.
The righty is now out of options but has just over two years of major league service time. If he can hang onto his roster spot until the end of the season, he still won’t be arbitration eligible and can be cheaply retained into the future.
Blue Jays President Mark Shapiro Discusses Team’s Future
In the midst of a season that has been an unmitigated disappointment for Blue Jays fans where the club has fallen to last place in the AL East and sold off pieces at the trade deadline, club president and CEO Mark Shapiro spoke to reporters including Sportsnet’s Ben Nicholson-Smith and MLB.com’s Keegan Matheson about the club’s plans for 2025 and beyond.
Shapiro did not mince words while describing the organization’s failures this season and acknowledged that the team’s performance this year has represented the “biggest disconnect from expectations” he’s overseen during his tenure at the helm of the club, which began in August of 2015. Even as he called this season the “biggest disappointment” of his time in Toronto, however, Shapiro seemed disinclined to entertain parting ways with GM Ross Atkins. While he prefaced his comments by emphasizing that he does not comment on his employees’ job statuses while the season is ongoing, he also made a general case for continuity within the organization:
“I’m a huge believer in stability and continuity and those are competitive advantages in professional sports,” Shapiro said, as relayed by Matheson. “Reacting and changing don’t necessarily mean improvement. We need to be better. We have to be better. Stability, continuity and making adjustments are where I’m focused right now.”
Parting ways with Atkins, who has been the club’s GM in each of Shapiro’s nine seasons at the helm in Toronto, would certainly be considered a move away from that message of continuity and stability. The Jays have seen some success with the duo of Shapiro and Atkins making decisions, as they’ve made the playoffs in four of their nine seasons with the club. The team only advanced beyond the Wild Card round of the postseason once, however, and that came all the way back in 2016 during their first season with the club.
Since then, the Blue Jays rebuilt and constructed a young core centered around stars Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Bo Bichette before supplementing that group with veterans such as George Springer and Kevin Gausman. Solid as that strategy may have seemed on paper, however, the results on the field have left something to be desired for a club that has failed to win the competitive AL East even once while going 423-338 since the 2019 season where Guerrero made his MLB debut. Now, both Guerrero and Bichette are entering their final seasons of arbitration eligibility, and the possibility of losing one or both in free agency next winter looms as a distinct possibility.
Of course, it’s possible that Toronto could ink one or both of their stars to an extension before they leave town. Shapiro declined to comment on the possibility of extending specific players, though he did acknowledge that it’s “certainly easier” to build a championship-level roster with players of Guerrero’s and Bichette’s caliber in the fold “for extended periods of time.”
An extension for either player would surely require a considerable financial investment, however. Guerrero in particular has re-established himself as one of the league’s premiere offensive talents this year with a fantastic .317/.391/.537 slash line, 29 doubles, and 22 homers in 112 games this year. With the slugging superstar set to hit free agency following his age-26 season next year, he appears to be in good position to cash in on a significant payday in free agency.
On the other hand, Bichette has dealt with injuries and under-performance this year as he’s been limited to 79 games while slashing just .223/.276/.321. With that being said, he’ll be coming off his age-27 campaign when he’s expected to reach free agency next winter and that combination of youth, a strong offensive track record (he was a career 127 wRC+ hitter entering the 2024 campaign), and his ability to play a premium defensive position should allow the shortstop to do quite well in free agency as long as he rebounds to something closer to his previous career levels in 2025.
Fortunately, the club figures to have plenty of payroll flexibility this winter with which they can look to sign the pair long-term while retooling the rest of the roster. The club’s final payroll is expected to land (per RosterResource) just over $218MM, with their estimated payroll for luxury tax purposes sitting just over $241MM. That’s a little more than $4MM over the first threshold of the competitive balance tax, although it’s worth noting that publicly available payroll estimates are just that. For his part, Shapiro suggested (per Matheson) that the Jays currently expect to come in under that $237MM threshold though he did acknowledge that the situation is “fluid.”
Regardless of where the club ends up in terms of final luxury tax calculations this year, they have plenty of money coming off the books this winter. RosterResource indicates that they have just over $124MM committed for 2025, and while arbitration raises for players like Guerrero and Daulton Varsho figure to push that figure up significantly—the Jays’ 2024 arb class cost the club just over $44MM—even that would leave the club with a payroll in the $170MM range, giving them around $50MM to work with this winter if they match this year’s payroll in 2025. Shapiro was vague about Toronto’s exact plans in terms of payroll for next year, however. While he did say that he doesn’t expect there to be a “large-scale pullback” in payroll, he also notes that the difficult season has impacted the club on the business side of things.
Of course, long-term deals for Bichette and Guerrero wouldn’t necessarily impact 2025’s payroll given that Bichette is already under contract for $17.5MM next year while Guerrero is already expected to command a hefty salary in his final trip through arbitration. That being said, if the Jays have their sights set on retaining either or both of their homegrown duo long-term, it’s easy to see that impacting the club’s willingness to sign other top-of-the-market talents to long-term deals this winter. That could create a complicated puzzle for the club as they attempt to return to contention next year while balancing an apparent desire to retain Guerrero and Bichette long-term against the need for significant upgrades to the current roster.
MLBTR Podcast: Fallout From The Trade Deadline And Mike Trout Injured Again
The latest episode of the MLB Trade Rumors Podcast is now live on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts! Make sure you subscribe as well! You can also use the player at this link to listen, if you don’t use Spotify or Apple for podcasts.
This week, host Darragh McDonald is joined by Steve Adams of MLB Trade Rumors to discuss…
- The Mariners acquired Randy Arozarena from the Rays (2:10)
- Seattle also got Justin Turner and Yimi García from the Blue Jays (6:30)
- The Pirates and their multiple deadline deals (11:20)
- Pittsburgh’s long-term starting pitching depth (15:45)
- Pirates acquired Bryan De La Cruz from the Marlins (18:30)
- The Phillies’ deadline moves (19:45)
- The Brewers acquired Frankie Montas from the Reds (25:15)
- The Reds acquired Joey Wiemer from the Brewers (30:10)
- The Diamondbacks acquired A.J. Puk from the Marlins with Deyvison De Los Santos in the return (35:15)
- The Angels are going to be without Mike Trout for the rest of the year (42:15)
Check out our past episodes!
- Trade Deadline Recap – listen here
- Trade Deadline Preview – listen here
- Top Trade Candidates, Hunter Harvey To KC And The Current State Of The Rays And Mets – listen here
The podcast intro and outro song “So Long” is provided courtesy of the band Showoff. Check out their Facebook page here!
Doug Creek Passes Away
Former major leaguer Doug Creek has passed away, according to multiple sources, including The Journal out of Martinsburg, West Virginia. The left-hander died at the age of 55 due to the effects of pancreatic cancer.
Creek was born in Winchester, Virginia in 1969 and went on to attend Georgia Tech. He worked as a starting pitcher for the Yellow Jackets and was drafted by the Cardinals with a seventh-round pick in 1991. In the minor leagues, he continued working out of the rotation until he got near the majors and was then shifted into a relief role.
He was able to make his major league debut with the Cards in 1995, tossing 6 2/3 scoreless innings that year. Prior to the 1996 season, he was traded to the Giants alongside Rich DeLucia and Allen Watson for Royce Clayton and a player to be named later, who was later named as Chris Wimmer.
Creek made 63 appearances for San Francisco in 1996 but with a 6.52 ERA. In 1997, an attempt was made to get Creek stretched back out, though without success. He had a 6.75 ERA in three major league starts and a 4.93 ERA in Triple-A. He went overseas for the 1998 season, pitching for the Hanshin Tigers of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball. He made six starts and one relief appearance with a 5.65 ERA.
He returned to North American ball and then spent the next few years as a journeyman left-hander, pitching for the Cubs, Devil Rays, Mariners, Blue Jays and Tigers. He finished his career with 289 1/3 innings pitched over 279 appearances. He had a 5.32 ERA, 22.2% strikeout rate and 15.1% walk rate. After leaving the baseball field, he headed out to the water. According to his obituary, he became a charter boat captain in Tampa Bay and competed as an angler on the Redfish Circuit.
We at MLBTR join the baseball world in sending our condolences to Creek’s family, friends, former teammates and coaches and all those mourning his passing.
MLBTR Podcast: Trade Deadline Recap
The latest episode of the MLB Trade Rumors Podcast is now live on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts! Make sure you subscribe as well! You can also use the player at this link to listen, if you don’t use Spotify or Apple for podcasts.
This week, host Darragh McDonald is joined by Tim Dierkes, Steve Adams and Anthony Franco of MLB Trade Rumors to discuss…
- Were the prospect prices high in this year’s trades? Is this a new normal due to the expanded playoffs creating a seller’s market? (2:15)
- The three-team trade involving the Dodgers, White Sox, Cardinals, Erick Fedde, Miguel Vargas and others (15:40)
- The Rays and Cubs, the buy-sell tightrope and the trade involving Isaac Paredes and Christopher Morel (29:30)
- The Astros acquire Yusei Kikuchi from the Blue Jays for a three-player package and the connection to the the Dodgers acquiring Jack Flaherty from the Tigers but the Yankees reportedly being scared off by his medicals (48:00)
- The Guardians acquire Alex Cobb from the Giants and acquire Lane Thomas from the Nationals (58:35)
- The Orioles acquire Trevor Rogers from the Marlins and acquire Zach Eflin from the Rays (1:09:10)
- Will teams have to be more aggressive in the offseason going forward if the expanded playoffs will make less good players available at the deadline? (1:20:35)
- The Rockies and Angels held onto a lot of trade candidates (1:23:35)
- The Marlins leaned in hard to seller status (1:31:40)
- The Padres built a super bullpen (1:44:50)
- The Braves acquire Jorge Soler from the Giants (1:47:40)
- The Royals acquire Lucas Erceg from the Athletics (1:54:40)
Check out our past episodes!
- Trade Deadline Preview – listen here
- Top Trade Candidates, Hunter Harvey To KC And The Current State Of The Rays And Mets – listen here
- Brewers’ Pitching Needs, Marlins Rumors And The Nats Prepare To Sell – listen here
The podcast intro and outro song “So Long” is provided courtesy of the band Showoff. Check out their Facebook page here!
Blue Jays Claim Nick Raposo From Cardinals
The Blue Jays announced that they have claimed catcher Nick Raposo off waivers from the Cardinals and optioned him to Triple-A Buffalo. The backstop was designated for assignment earlier this week when the Cards completed their three-team trade with the Dodgers and White Sox. The Jays had multiple open roster spots from their own deadline dealings and their 40-man roster count is now at 37.
Raposo, 26, was selected to the Cardinal roster in June when both Iván Herrera and Willson Contreras were on the injured list, leaving Pedro Pagés atop the club’s depth chart. But Contreras was reinstated from the IL a couple of days later and Raposo was optioned before getting into a major league game.
The backstop went unselected in the shortened five-round draft in 2020 and then signed with the Cards as an undrafted free agent. He was plugged onto their Double-A team and hit well at that level, but then struggled after getting bumped to Triple-A. He currently holds a batting line of .268/.348/.424 at Double-A but a line of .206/.276/.355 at Triple-A.
Raposo has never been a highly-touted prospect but the Jays could use the catching depth. They traded Danny Jansen to the Red Sox prior to the deadline and are now left with Alejandro Kirk and Brian Serven as the only catchers on their 40-man roster. Raposo gives them another option at Triple-A to be called upon when necessary. He has a full slate of options and almost no service time, so he could be part of their catching depth for a long time if he continues to hang onto a roster spot.
