TORONTO – One day after a series of injuries created some unwelcome questions for the Toronto Blue Jays, a different kind of challenge awaited team decision makers.
At this point, there’s little to be done about Kirby Yates, who will likely miss the entire season recovering from Tommy John surgery. But injuries to George Springer (oblique strain) and Robbie Ray (bruised elbow) must be managed carefully in the eight days remaining before the season opener and there appears to be genuine interest in pursuing outside help, too.
On the field, the Blue Jays beat the Yankees 5-0 in a game started by Trent Thornton Wednesday. But behind the scenes, bigger questions loom for the team that spent more on free agents than any of its rivals over the winter. To answer them, coaches and club executives will spend the next week gathering information on various fronts.
Once the Blue Jays have answers to the questions below, their path forward will become much clearer.
Will Springer be ready for the opener?
First up for Springer: a few days of rest. Best-case scenario, that helps and he’s ready to go for opening day.
If not, though, the Blue Jays have a couple of options. One: roster Springer but ease him into action with a start at DH and an early day off. Or two: place him on the injured list.
It’s far from ideal, and certainly not what anyone envisioned when Springer landed the largest contract in franchise history, but that six-year, $150-million deal makes the 31-year-old a core player for this franchise. Pushing him to his physical limits in March of the first year of the deal isn’t exactly ideal, either.
If the Blue Jays were to open the season with Springer on the IL, he’d be able to come back after just six games. Teams can backdate 10-day IL stints to March 29 and the Blue Jays have an early-season off day, so Springer could be eligible as soon as the third series of the season if needed.
If Ray progresses as expected, he’ll be part of the Blue Jays’ season-opening rotation. If not, manager Charlie Montoyo could ask Anthony Kay, T.J. Zeuch or Thornton to make a start, but of course that has a chance to impact the team’s big-league bullpen and minor-league depth.
Asked Wednesday whether he’d rather pitch out of the MLB bullpen or stretch out for a potential starting role without the benefit of a big-league roster spot, Thornton was clear.
“I want to pitch in the big-leagues,” he said. “Without a doubt. No hesitation. Whatever the team needs, I just want to help the team win. Obviously, I’d love to be a starter, but I just want to pitch in the big leagues. It finally feels so good to get back out on the mound and compete, feel that adrenaline. So yeah, it’s pretty easy to answer.”
As the Blue Jays build their pitching staff, they’ll need capable big-league arms to help them through an early season stretch of 16 consecutive games. That likely means a nine-man bullpen at times. But some of those pitchers will have to be stretched out to ensure a layer of starting depth exists behind the big-league rotation.
What’s out there in trades?
Even before the injuries to Yates, Nate Pearson and Thomas Hatch, the Blue Jays’ pitching staff could have benefitted from addition depth. Now, that need is more pronounced and the Blue Jays will explore ways of raising the floor and ceiling of their pitching staff, according to GM Ross Atkins.
“(We) need to factor this in and consider if we need to be more aggressive as it relates to acquisitions before the trade deadline,” Atkins said Tuesday. “We’ve been working on that. We’ll revisit that in a more assertive way.”
Many veteran pitchers have contract outs this time of year, and out-of-options players can be available in trades. Regardless of where it comes from, there’s certainly a need for reinforcements.
In the meantime, there’s opportunity for the likes of Anthony Castro, who pitched another scoreless inning Wednesday while improving his Grapefruit League strikeout to walk ratio to 13:1.
“He’s in the conversation,” Montoyo said. “He’s been outstanding.”
How do the Blue Jays manage their 40-man roster?
Lost in the injury news is the question of which catchers are on the Blue Jays roster. If Alejandro Kirk’s strong spring performance has earned him a spot on the team, that means exposing Reese McGuire to waivers. There’s some risk in that, but depending on the answers to the questions above, the Blue Jays may actually need to open multiple 40-man spots.
Here’s how it breaks down. At present, their 40-man is full, but they’ll free up one spot easily when they transfer Yates to the 60-day IL. Yet all of Joe Panik, Francisco Liriano, Tim Mayza and A.J. Cole would require roster spots if added, meaning countermoves would be needed.
Simply put, the more non-roster players the Blue Jays want to carry, the more room they have to make elsewhere.
NEW YORK – Toronto Blue Jays reliever Chad Green and Canadian slugger Tyler O’Neill of the Boston Red Sox were named finalists for the Major League Baseball Players’ Association’s American League comeback player award on Monday.
Chicago White Sox left-hander Garrett Crochet was the other nominee.
New York Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge, Los Angeles Dodgers designated hitter Shohei Ohtani and Kansas City Royals shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. were named player of the year finalists.
The award winners, selected via player voting, will be named Saturday before Game 2 of the World Series.
Green, who missed most of the 2022 and ’23 seasons after undergoing Tommy John surgery, was a high-leverage option for the Blue Jays this past season and filled in at closer over the second half of the campaign.
The right-hander converted his first 16 save opportunities and finished the year with a 4-6 record, 17 saves and a 3.21 earned-run average over 53 appearances.
O’Neill, a native of Burnaby, B.C., also endured back-to-back injury-plagued seasons in ’22 and ’23.
After being traded to the Red Sox in the off-season, O’Neill set an MLB record by hitting a homer in his fifth straight Opening Day. He finished with 31 homers on the year and had an OPS of .847.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 21, 2024.
NEW YORK – Florida Panthers centre Sam Reinhart was named NHL first star of the week on Monday after leading all players with nine points over four games last week.
Reinhart had four goals, five assists and a plus-seven rating to help the Stanley Cup champions post a 3-0-1 record on the week and move into first place in the Atlantic Division.
New York Rangers left-winger Artemi Panarin took the second star and Minnesota Wild goaltenderFilip Gustavsson was the third star.
Panarin had eight points (4-4) over three games.
Gustavsson became the 15th goalie in NHL history to score a goal and had a 1.00 goals-against average and .962 save percentage over a pair of victories.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 21, 2024.
CLEVELAND (AP) — Deshaun Watson won’t finish the season as Cleveland’s starting quarterback for the second straight year.
He’s injured again, and the Browns have new problems.
Watson ruptured his right Achilles tendon in the first half of Sunday’s loss to Cincinnati, collapsing as he began to run and leading some Browns fans to cheer while the divisive QB laid on the ground writhing in pain.
The team feared Watson’s year was over and tests done Monday confirmed the rupture. The Browns said Watson will have surgery and miss the rest of the season but “a full recovery is expected.”
It’s the second significant injury in two seasons for Watson, who broke the glenoid (socket) bone in his throwing shoulder last year after just six starts.
The 29-year-old went down Sunday without being touched on a draw play late in the first half. His right leg buckled and Watson crumpled to the turf. TV replays showed his calf rippling, consistent with an Achilles injury.
He immediately put his hands on his helmet, clearly aware of the severity of an injury similar to the one Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers sustained last year.
As he was being assisted by the team’s medical staff and backup Dorian Thompson-Robinson grabbed a ball to begin warming up, there was some derisive cheers and boos from the stands in Huntington Bank Field.
Cleveland fans have been split over Watson, who has been accused of being sexually inappropriate with women.
The reaction didn’t sit well with several Watson’s teammates, including star end Myles Garrett, the NFL’s reigning Defensive Player of the Year, who was appalled by the fans’ behavior.
“We should be ashamed of ourselves as Browns and as fans to boo anyone and their downfall. To be season-altering, career-altering injury,” Garrett said. “Man’s not perfect. He doesn’t need to be. None of us are expected to be perfect. Can’t judge him for what he does off the field or on the field because I can’t throw stones for my glass house.
“Ultimately everyone’s human and they’re disappointed just like we are, but we have to be better than that as people. There’s levels to this. At the end of the day, it’s just a game and you don’t boo anybody being injured and you don’t celebrate anyone’s downfall.”
Backup quarterback Jameis Winston also admonished the uncomfortable celebration.
“I am very upset with the reaction to a man that has had the world against him for the past four years, and he put his body and life on the line for this city every single day,” he said. “The way I was raised, I will never pull on a man when he’s down, but I will be the person to lift him up.
“I know you love this game. When I first got here, I knew these were some amazing fans, but Deshaun was treated badly and now he has to overcome another obstacle. So I’m going to support him, I’m going to lift him up and I’m going to be there for him.”
The injury is yet another twist in Watson’s tumultuous time with the Browns.
Cleveland traded three first-round draft picks and five overall to Houston in 2022 to get him, with owners Dee and Jimmy Haslam approving the team giving Watson a fully guaranteed, five-year $230 million contract.
With a solid roster, the Browns were desperate to find a QB who could help them compete against the top AFC teams.
The Browns had moved on from Baker Mayfield despite drafting him No. 1 overall in 2018 and making the playoffs two seasons later.
But Watson has not played up to expectations — fans have been pushing for him to be benched this season — and Cleveland’s move to get him has been labeled an abject failure with the team still on the hook to pay him $46 million in each of the next two seasons.
Watson’s arrival in Cleveland also came amid accusations by more than two dozen women of sexual assault and harassment during massage therapy sessions while he played for the Texans. Two grand juries declined to indict him and he has settled civil lawsuits in all but one of the cases.
Watson was suspended by the NFL for his first 11 games and fined $5 million for violating the league’s personal conduct policy before he took his first snap with the Browns. The long layoff — he sat out the 2021 season in a contract dispute — led to struggles once he got on the field, and Watson made just six starts last season before hurting his shoulder.
Cleveland signed veteran Joe Flacco, who went 4-1 as a starter and led the Browns to the playoffs.
Before Watson got hurt this year, he didn’t play much better. He was one of the league’s lowest-rated passers for a Cleveland team that hasn’t scored 20 points in a game and is back in search of a franchise QB.
