The Blue Jays have made yesterday's news official this morning, with nine players coming up to join the team thanks to the expanded rosters in September. What wasn't announced yesterday is how the 40-man roster will be adjusted to make room for the new guys who had to be added to the roster before being recalled to Toronto. It looks like we have our answer as Brett Lawrie has been moved to the 60-day DL, Darin Mastroianni and Matt Hague have been designated for assignment, while Neil Wagner has been released.
The Blue Jays twitter feed confirmed the plethora of moves this morning, which should add some excitement to a September that was starting to look quite depressing:
BRETT LAWRIE has been transferred to 60-day DL, OF DARIN MASTROIANNI & 1B MATT HAGUE have been designated for assignment
— Blue Jays-Official (@BlueJays) September 2, 2014Please note that RHP NEIL WAGNER has been released.
— Blue Jays-Official (@BlueJays) September 2, 2014Plus the confirmation of the nine players making their way up to Toronto:
The @BlueJays have made the following roster moves: RHP BRANDON MORROW and 1B DAN JOHNSON have been re-instated from the DL (cont'd)
— Blue Jays-Official (@BlueJays) September 2, 20142B RYAN GOINS, OF ANTHONY GOSE, RHP KENDALL GRAVEMAN, LHP SEAN NOLIN and LHP DANIEL NORRIS have been recalled from @BuffaloBisons
— Blue Jays-Official (@BlueJays) September 2, 2014OF DALTON POMPEY and GEORGE KOTTARAS have had their contracts selected from @BuffaloBisons.
— Blue Jays-Official (@BlueJays) September 2, 2014It is essentially a certainty now that Brett Lawrie is done for the season after being transferred to the 60-day DL. This will make it three full seasons in a row where he hasn't played in more than 125 games (his high in 2012). He heads into this offseason looking at his first experience with the arbitration process and will want to stay on the field a bit more often in 2015 if he wants to see a pay increase anytime soon.
Darin Mastroianni made 14 appearances with the Blue Jays this year hitting .156 and not making much of an impression. Matt Hague was selected off waivers from Pittsburgh a few weeks ago and was hitting .377 in Buffalo over 13 games.
Meanwhile, Neil Wagner never really got a fair shake with the Blue Jays thanks to his favourable option status leading to him always being the odd man out in the bullpen. Unfortunately injuries derailed his season and he leaves Toronto with a fair bit of untapped potential.
On the flip side, it will be interesting to see how players like Daniel Norris, Kendall Graveman, and Dalton Pompey perform in this massive opportunity with the Blue Jays after starting the season all the way down in High-A ball. It sure looks like the aggressive promotions are an attempt to keep some excitement surrounding the team combined with a risk taken by Alex Anthopoulos in an attempt to get some job security. As many have noted, the additions of Pompey and Kottaras will bring the total number of Canadian players to ever put on a Blue Jays jersey to 20.
Update
In another bit of news, Buffalo Bisons reliever Mike Zagurski has been released from the team at his request.
Source: LHP Mike Zagurski asks for and is granted release by #BlueJays. He will pursue MLB opportunities in Sept. 2.08 ERA in 46 G at AAA.
— Chris Cotillo (@ChrisCotillo) September 2, 2014The big lefty had pitched quite well in Triple-A, sporting a 1.83 ERA in 44.1 innings pitched along with a 12.4 K/9. The southpaw obviously thinks there are better opportunities for him in other organizations and with the amount of relievers the Blue Jays currently have, it's hard to blame him. Farewell Mike: