Toronto Blue Jays news and notes for December 26th
Christmas has come and gone, leaving us to observe the purest form of the Holiday season: lining up at 4am for discounted televisions.
There won’t be any Boxing Day deals for the Blue Jays given the state of the current market, but as it continues to drag on through January and even February, some should emerge. The Blue Jays will need to address several positions with more urgency before that point, though, and the hot stove should begin to heat up again by the end of the week.
Here are some news and notes to catch up on:
Minor league signings
The Blue Jays made a handful of minor signings recently, according to the Baseball America transaction page (which is a recommended resource to check in on once weekly).
In addition to lefties T.J. House and Jeff Beliveau, Toronto added RHP Brayan Mejia, RHP Gaudy Ramirez, RHP Jhon Victorino, LHP Rafael Monsion, OF Andres Martinez, and RHP Murphy Smith.
A few of these names are deep grabs that not even Google will help you with, but the return of Murphy Smith is encouraging given the year he had in double-A New Hampshire (with 1.0 IP in triple-A Buffalo).
The 29-year-old right-hander posted a 1.48 ERA over 43 relief appearances that covered 73.0 innings, giving the Fisher Cats some very effective length. The 2016 season was somewhat of an outlier from the rest of his career, of course, but a good minor move nonetheless.
Bullpen candidates
Matt Dermody remains a bit of an unknown despite his quick rise from high-A Dunedin to the MLB roster last season. The big lefty will have a shot at the Blue Jays’ bullpen out of spring training — and if he falls short, will be waiting close by in Buffalo. Ryan Mueller of Jays From the Couch brings you up to date here with everything you need to know about him.
Unspinning
I’ve never been to a spin class. The combination of physical exercise, loud music, and a crowd of people does not appeal to me. Andrew Stoeten’s unspinning, however, seems much more enjoyable. You can read that here, where he unspins the Edwin Encarnacion fallout from both sides.
Lost in the gross quantity of reports and the length of the Encarnacion free agency is just how tangled and messy the entire situation became. A lot of “he said, they said” to trudge through.
Last word on Encarnacion
Shi Davidi’s complete timeline of the Encarnacion saga is the final must-read before we put this thing to bed. Hopefully. Included here are the full details through a day-to-day scope and it makes for a very interesting peek behind the curtain.
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