Did you know that the Blue Jays acquired Nolan Reimold back on July 6? It has not felt like a month-and-a-half since that waiver claim. Of course, he had a stint on the disabled list four games into his tenure here (beating the one-game stint of Cole Gillespie) so he ended up playing just 22 games for the Blue Jays. It was a fairly unspectacular 22 games that had him hit .212/.283/.404 and striking out 22 times out of 60 plate appearances. That kind of strikeout rate mixed with some bad defense is what got Juan Francisco released... oh that was only in my dreams? Poop.
Anyway, this morning, we learned that the Reimold Era is over (and the J. Francisco Era continues): Reimold has been designated for assignment, and Kevin Pillar has been recalled from Buffalo. The move is not official at the time of writing, but Roch Kubatko reported the DFA early Tuesday morning, Shi Davidi reported both moves later in the morning, all after Jenn passed us the note on Twitter last evening.
There was some good in Reimold's time here in Toronto: he went 2-for-4 against the Angels with a walk and three RBIs in his third game here, and there was that game on the trade deadline when he hit two home runs, which almost made fans forget that he can be counted as one of the biggest in-season acquisitions this club has made this year. I'm sure that no fan has forgotten his magical walkoff double against Joba Chamberlain:
Since that hit, however, Reimold has been hitting .100/.174/.100. Oh look, his slugging is his batting average. In that span of 23 plate appearances, Reimold struck out 11 times, capped by a five-strikeout effort in the 19-inning game. So that routine fly ball he simply failed to catch on Sunday was simply the catalyst, not sole cause, of his being designated today.
As much as Reimold pulled himself from the roster, there was a heavy push factor from Kevin Pillar down in triple-A. Pillar has been putting up solid triple-A numbers since his June 24 exile after being a little angry in the Blue Jays dugout. Through the 53 games in his latest stint with the Bisons, he had slashed .327/.358/.528 with with just 28 strikeouts in 229 plate appearances. Through a sample size of one game, I will say he looks pretty good, having seen him plate five runs (a three-run homer and a double) on Saturday. I don't think he is magically going to start hitting (or stop chasing) major league quality breaking balls, but at this point can't see how staying in Buffalo helps him.
Pillar's callup is a big loss for the Bisons, though, who are making a late push to get into the International League postseason. They are now just one game behind in Pawtucket Red Sox in the wild card standings with eight games remaining in the regular season. Daniel Norris takes the hill tonight against the PawSox at 6 pm to try to bring the Bisons back to a tie for the wild card lead.
The Blue Jays' 40-man roster is now at 39 with Reimold's designation, opening up a spot for a September callup who's not currently on the roster.
UPDATE
It is now official.
The @BlueJays have recalled OF KEVIN PILLAR from @BuffaloBisons and have designated OF NOLAN REIMOLD for assignment.
— Blue Jays-Official (@BlueJays) August 26, 2014