Tell Me A Storey About Minor Moves: Blue Jays Claim RHP Mickey Storey

In a minor move announced today, the Toronto Blue Jays filled their remaining roster spot by claiming righty Mickey Storey from the Houston Astros, who had designated him for assignment on Monday. Storey, 26, was drafted in the 31st round of the 2008 draft by the Oakland Athletics and was traded to the Houston Astros for future considerations in 2011. He made his Major League debut in August of this year, but his season was interrupted after he was hit in the face with a Dave Sappelt line drive on September 12. During the offseason, he was first claimed by the Yankees on November 20, then claimed back by the Astros on December 6, before being claimed by the Blue Jays today. Any guesses on when he'll be claimed again?

Right after he was claimed by the Yankees, Fangraphs' Eno Sarris included him as a "reliever without a fastball" since he only threw a fastball/cutter 37% of the time. I'm not going to claim that I know much about him, so I'll send you all over to Andrew Stoeten, who wrote about him on Drunk Jays Fans this afternoon.

Other Minor Moves

Some minor league free agent signings from earlier this week got lost because of the recent blockbuster trade. The Blue Jays signed former Major Leaguers OF Ryan "Islet Of" Langerhans and RHP Ramon "Regular-Sized Papi" Ortiz to minor league deals with an invitation to 2013 Spring Training. They also signed IF Lance "Scrabble Lite" Zawadzki to a regular minor league deal without inviting him to Spring Training (Zawadzki was told that the invitation was "lost in the mail.") Minor league free agents are not placed on the 40-man roster.

I will quote our good friends over at SB Nation's MLB Daily Dish who wrote a brief piece on this move:

Langerhans, 32, spent most of the 2012 season with the Angels' Triple-A squad, hitting .250/.369/.446 with 11 home runs in 96 games. The lefty slugger is a 10-year big-league veteran, but has not played more than 100 games in a season since 2007. A career .226/.332/.372 hitter, Langerhans is the most likely of the three to make the major-league roster out of camp.

Ortiz, 39, has not seen much big-league action in the last five years. The right-hander has thrown just 66⅓ innings in the big leagues since 2007, most of those coming in relief appearances. Ortiz spent all of 2012 at the Yankees' Triple-A affiliate and has not been a full-time starter in the pros since 2006, when he posted a 5.57 ERA with the Nationals.

Zawadzki, 27, bounced around between the Dodgers, Braves, and Cardinals in 2012, hitting .224/.262/.323 in 61 games between the organizations' various Triple-A affiliate. Drafted by the Padres in the fourth round of the 2007 Draft, The switch-hitter has had only one brief stint in the majors, hitting .200/.300/.257 in 20 games as a back-up infielder for San Diego in 2010.

One more thing about Ramon Ortiz: this season, he recorded a 3.45 ERA (9th in the International League) and struck out 104 while walking just 37 in 169 innings as a starter for the Empire State Yankees, who had to play their entire season on the road because of stadium renovations.

If you would like to see these three play in 2013, I'd suggest purchasing tickets to games at Buffalo's Coca-Cola Field.