TORONTO – Alex Anthopoulos not only rules the waiver wire in baseball, he’s king of the transactions ticker, too.
No one has made as many roster moves as the Toronto Blue Jays general manager since last June 11, when Brandon Morrow left an outing against the Washington Nationals after just six pitches, the first of a series of calamitous injuries to strike the 2012 club.
Morrow’s placement on the disabled list is among the 203 roster transactions made by the Blue Jays in the aftermath, according to Stats Inc., 25 more than the Boston Red Sox, who also struggled through a staggering run of ill fortune last year.
Third behind them are the Baltimore Orioles at 161, followed by the Houston Astros at 153 and the Oakland Athletics at 152.
While Anthopoulos’s waiver games have garnered most of the attention — he’s made 20 claims since last October — there’s been a near constant flux on the roster, too. Partly that’s been out of necessity due to all the injuries, partly that’s due to tinkering on the fringes of the roster.
“It’s an opportunity for a lot of guys,” said manager John Gibbons. “Not a long opportunity, but an opportunity.”
The Blue Jays’ most recent roster moves came over the weekend, when Aaron Laffey was designated for assignment, the contract of Justin Germano was purchased from triple-A Buffalo, Brad Lincoln was optioned to the Bisons and Adam Lind was activated off the paternity list.
Laffey is the club’s most recent waiver claim, picked up last Tuesday, activated Wednesday and designated Friday. Told it’s been over a week since someone was selected, Gibbons quipped: “I don’t think there’s anybody left.”
“Teams do it, I know Alex is doing it just to create some depth, especially after last year when everybody went down with serious injuries,” added Gibbons. “Then you’re scrambling just to find guys to make starts because a lot of the younger guys weren’t ready, and some of the younger guys were the guys getting hurt. This way you’re covered. I think after last year the view is you can never have enough.”
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R.A. OK: An MRI on the troubled area between R.A. Dickey’s neck and right shoulder came back clear and the plan remains for him to make his next start Saturday as scheduled.
“Just a little inflammation, nothing bad,” said Gibbons. “He threw a side out there, felt very good. Even (Tuesday), before he had (the MRI), he said he was feeling much better.”
Josh Johnson, meanwhile, has resumed throwing and is on track to start Friday in the series opener against the Seattle Mariners.
“He’s feeling good, too,” said Gibbons.
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RICKY WATCH: Ricky Romero is scheduled to make his second start for single-A Dunedin Thursday, although it wasn’t immediately known if Wednesday’s rainout at Jupiter might push him back a day.
Romero threw seven shutout innings while debuting his new mechanics last Saturday, allowing just a run on six hits with no walks and four strikeouts. He’s close to being ready to be the next Blue Jays call up should they need a starter.
“If something came up serious and one of these guys had to go on the DL, he probably makes the most sense,” said John Gibbons. “We’d like to get him at least another start. If everybody is healthy, there’s no need to rush it, just kind of see how he moves along.”
