Tuesday Bantering: Mat Latos Accepts Demotion

Mat Latos was told early Monday that he would not make the major league club, but he has accepted his demotion to triple-A Buffalo. Signed on a one year, $1.5M minor league deal (if he made the Blue Jays), Latos had the ability to opt out of his contract at the conclusion of spring training should he not make the major league club.

The Blue Jays lost 7-1 to the Phillies yesterday in the first of two back-to-back night games against Philadelphia. Aaron Sanchez started the game, but popped a blister during his start, which likely led to control issues, including three walks in 3.1 innings. Since he won’t start again until April 8th, he’ll have lots of time to recover.

Today, the Blue Jays will once again play the Phillies, this time at 6:35 ET at Bright House Field. Marco Estrada gets the start, his last before Opening Day, while Aaron Nola will face the Blue Jays for the third time this spring. You can listen to the game on MLB.com, but it will not be televised.

No, the rumours will never end. Angel Pagan is set to decide on a team within 33 hours of this article’s publication, and once again, the Blue Jays were connected to the outfielder. Jim Bowden of ESPN tweets that Toronto, San Francisco, San Diego, Atlanta and Detroit have all expressed interest in Pagan at some point, but there is no indication of which of the teams listed may end up signing him.

Minor news:

• Jose Bautista, with the wedding of his brother, and Devon Travis, to avoid the turf, will not be playing in the exhibition games in Montreal, John Gibbons told media yesterday.
• Chad Girodo will not make the major league club as the Blue Jays continue to narrow down the spots for the final two bullpen pitchers. Gibbons told the media that he wants at least one multiple-inning guy.
• The Blue Jays are still monitoring the starting pitching market, per Keegan Matheson of MLB.com. They’re also not completely removed from the catching market, as Gideon Turk of Baseball Prospectus notes, saying that the team is interested in a catcher with better throwing skills than Jarrod Saltalamacchia.

Then, of course, there’s this.

Follow Mark Colley on Instagram and Twitter at @360BlueJayNews and @MarkColley.