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Brett Lawrie reported to be headed to the disabled list, Andy LaRoche possibly being recalled

By Minor Leaguer
Tom Szczerbowski

Sportsnet's Barry Davis tweeted out late Tuesday night that Blue Jays' third baseman Brett Lawrie is headed to the disabled list after hurting his ankle in an awkward slide in Monday night's win against the Braves.

Of course, this is the second time this season where a bad slide into second base led to a Blue Jays injury--although Lawrie's appears to be much less severe than Jose Reyes's. Minutes later, The Fan 590's Mike Wilner reported the same thing, noting that Buffalo Bisons third baseman Andy LaRoche may have been tapped for a recall:

Davis later appeared on the Fan 590, saying that the Blue Jays have not made this official yet, but his source has told him that Lawrie will be disabled tomorrow. He reported that Brandon Morrow looks like he is still day-to-day.

The Bisons are currently playing in Durham, just a stone's throw away from Atlanta. Interestingly, LaRoche didn't play for the Bisons in their loss against the Bulls tonight, and neither did closer Neil Wagner, despite a save situation in the ninth with Bisons leading 8-6 (they ended up losing on a Tim Beckham walk-off single). Neither LaRoche or Wagner are on the 40-man roster (currently at 39 players), so an additional roster move would be needed to add both of them.

Reliever Michael Schwimer, who is already on the 40-man roster, was a leading candidate to be recalled after Ramon Ortiz and Thad Weber were sent out, but he left after a five-pitch walk under the care of trainer Voon Chong. Schwimer was acquired from the Phillies during spring training for Art Charles and had started the season on the disabled list before appearing five scoreless outings for the Bisons this month.

Thanks to expos&nordiques4ever, who noted it in the comments, Jim Negrych was also scratched from his normal spot at second base in the Bisons' lineup. Negrych doesn't have good range or a good arm, but he had played 145 games at third base in his eight-season minor league career, mostly at the A-advanced level. Negrych is having a career season at the plate, hitting .377/.436/.552 through 39 games. His batting average leads the International League, he is fourth in the league in on-base percentage, and his OPS puts him sixth.

Catcher Josh Thole didn't play either--but that was probably because he is still nursing a hand injury that he suffered on Sunday.

Andy LaRoche, 29, has played 41 games with AAA Buffalo, 38 of them at third base. He, like many of the Bisons, have been hot at the plate, hitting .295/.372/.483 (134 wRC+) with six homers in 172 plate appearances. He has a 13.4 K% and a 9.3 BB%, which is decent. The times I've seen him play third he had been competent, but he certainly does not have the range of a Brett Lawrie, but then again, no one else on the roster does.

We might just get to see three brand new Blue Jays tomorrow.

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