TORONTO – The near-daily roster churn that’s a fact of life in the current baseball landscape isn’t to be taken lightly. There are numerous people impacted by every transaction, which is generally why teams have a specific way of doing things. No need to make a business all too often cruel any crueler than it needs to be.
Yet two-and-a-half hours before game-time Wednesday, there was Sean Reid-Foley twisting in the wind, shagging balls in the outfield during BP because the Toronto Blue Jays had not yet told him he’d be headed back to triple-A Buffalo. Once he threw 3.1 unblemished innings of relief Tuesday, he was the obvious subtraction for Jacob Waguespack, who was sitting in the clubhouse by his locker with headphones on thinking he was going to be the Blue Jays’ starting pitcher.
A chaotic hour or so followed in which:
• Manager Charlie Montoyo exited an unusually lengthy meeting in his office with GM Ross Atkins, pitching coach Pete Walker, head trainer Nikki Huffman and Marcus Stroman – still feeling some tightness from the left shoulder pectoral cramp that truncated his last outing – to pull Reid-Foley off the field and sending him packing;
• Montoyo held his daily briefing with the media, saying Reid-Foley was optioned because “he already pitched [Tuesday] and we need everyone else,” while describing Stroman as day-to-day and uncertain to make his start Thursday;
• During BP the Blue Jays decided to use an opener – welcome to the club David Phelps – and make Waguespack the bulk-innings arm so the rookie right-hander could skip Mookie Betts, Rafael Devers and Xander Bogaerts once through the order. Montoyo said his pitchers “had an idea they might do it.” Waguespack found out “about an hour before the game. The consensus was that I was going to start and then they just decided right before the game,” he said;
• The official announcement came at 5:47 p.m. The strategy worked, as Phelps threw a scoreless first and Waguespack allowed three runs in five innings to earn his first big-league win in a 6-3 victory over the Boston Red Sox. “It didn’t affect me at all,” Waguespack said of the change. “I was still going to do my routine.”
Why all the disarray, especially with not overly complicated stuff that could have been dealt with before batting practice? And why do that to Reid-Foley, who could have been demoted post-game Tuesday and been spared the indignity of not only coming to the ballpark only to be sent out, but also getting dressed and shagging flies like an active player?
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There are times when circumstances force teams to scramble. This certainly didn’t appear to be one of them.
Adding to the needless mess is that word was Stroman won’t be starting Thursday, with Thomas Pannone, on turn at Buffalo, to be recalled for the outing.
In a brief interview with two reporters, Stroman didn’t explicitly say he was going to skip a start, but it sure sounded like that was the plan when he explained that a pause was “a smart idea just from everyone collectively going into the break.”
“Why push it going out there for the next start,” he continued. “Take a little breather here and get it to where it can be perfect going out of the break, and just looking at it like that.”
That was a significant change in tone from Saturday, when Stroman left his start two pitches into the fifth inning due to the cramp and said afterward, “I’m not worried about it. I’m a warrior, I’m a dawg, always. I’ll be back out there [Thursday].”
Asked Wednesday if the area was still bothering him, Stroman replied, “not much.”
“I could probably go out there and get through it,” he continued, “but it’s something that I think if I take a few more days, it can be perfect rather than feeling it at all. I’d rather not feel it all and give it a few days. We’ll see.”
Stroman also described missing a turn as something “we’re looking at as an opportunity because of how it’s playing up with the break where it’s going to get me a little breather. Obviously, I have goals of throwing 200 innings, and a little breather is good sometimes.”
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Taken collectively, the all-star right-hander presents a solid case to skip, which only makes all the cloak and dagger more curious. If it’s the right thing to do physically then act decisively and plan accordingly, rather than waiting as long to resolve matters as they did Wednesday.
Additionally, the Blue Jays could have opened up a roster spot by putting Stroman on the injured list, a move that would still allow him to return for the first game back out of the break, but leave him ineligible to appear in his first all-star game.
They still can, but that’s not ideal, and with the Blue Jays looking to maximize their return for Stroman ahead of the July 31 trade deadline, the optics of putting him on the IL aren’t very good, either. Then again, the optics of being indecisive around a minor ailment are bad, too.
In that way, the Blue Jays will head into the break in much the same way they’ve spent the majority of the season – in scramble mode.
Pannone, Reid-Foley and Waguespack are all contenders to fill the rotation vacancy created by Edwin Jackson’s trip to the IL out of the break, while Aaron Sanchez’s status remains unsteady.
The struggling right-hander is slated to test out some mechanical adjustments Friday night against the Baltimore Orioles, but the Blue Jays have been kicking around contingencies, such as easing him into games by using an opener and making him the bulk-innings arm. A more permanent trip to the bullpen isn’t on the table yet, but if things don’t turn around soon, that can’t be ruled out as he tries to find himself on the mound.
There’s some help on the horizon with lefty Ryan Borucki building up in rehab games, but he may only be ready to return when Stroman is about to depart via trade. So it goes when you’re on a boat with far more leaks than plugs, and even the straightforward is complicated by the fray.
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