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Just when I thought it was safe to run out and pick my wife up at the airport, the Jays go and make news. They shouldn't do that when I'm away from the computer. We've had a couple of days of surprises, I didn't see this one coming.
The Blue Jays have placed Adam Lind on outright waivers. So other teams will have, I think, 3 days to pick him up (it really doesn't matter how many days, I can't see anyone taking you). After that the team can just put him on the roster of one of their minor league teams or, perhaps, release him. The important part is that it gets him off their 40-man roster.
Now maybe they wanted the roster spot, though they could move Dustin McGowan to the 60-day DL if they needed a spot. I'm not sure why they would need a roster spot in a hurry. I don't think they will be wanting to put Vladimir Guerrero on the 40-man roster, in a hurry. I would think they would want Vlady to get at least a couple of weeks of at bats, before bringing him to Toronto. There is no need to put him on the 40-man until they want in to play for us.
So, who else could they be wanting to put on the 40-man? We could use a first baseman, maybe the Jays don't want to bring David Cooper up. Maybe they don't think he has the power to play the position. I know I don't. Someone that does have the power is Michael McDade. He isn't on the 40-man, It turns out he is on the 40-man, so that's not it.
Or maybe there is a trade coming. That is a possibility .
Knowing Alex, it is something we haven't thought of yet. Apparently, we will find out Monday. There will be some sort of move made then.
Maybe taking Lind off the roster has nothing to do with putting someone else on. Maybe they are just tired of Lind and figure there is no way they will be using him again. Maybe they are sure he is done with the team and don't want to be fooling anyone into thinking that he'll be back. Perhaps he didn't show a good attitude about going down. Or maybe they don't think he'll ever be a good enough hitter to play in the majors again.
Unless someone grabs him off waivers (and there is almost no chance of that happening), we owe Adam for the rest of this season and next year, plus the buyout for not picking up his options.
If Adam never plays for us again, he finishes his time with the Jays with a .263/.314/.459 line, 109 homers (good for 15th on the all time Jays list) and 378 RBI ( 16th on the Jays franchise list). He had some good moments with us, but not enough really. I always was a fan of his swing, but he didn't make good contact often enough. He did pick up defense at first base in a hurry. There is no way you could play good enough defense to carry that bat at first base.
At least the Jays are making things interesting for us. Thanks to FanInJapan for the fanshot.