The Blue Jays made some roster moves today.
Breyvic Valera was claimed off waivers from the Padres. You’ll remember he played for the Jays some last year, and then the Padres claimed him off waivers back in February. He had 15 at bats with us last year, .267/.267/.533 with 1 home run.
Also the Jays have added right-handed pitcher Bryan Baker, infielder Patrick Kivlehan and outfielder Josh Palacios to their “player pool”.
- Baker split time between Buffalo and New Hampshire last year. He had a 3.17ERA in 49 games. In 54 innings he allowed 35 hits, 36 walks and 71 strikeouts.
- Kivlehan has played parts of 3 seasons in the majors. Last year he spent in the minors, split between the Pirates and Jays organizations. He hit .255/.339/.532 with 32 homers in 125 games.
- Palacios played in New Hampshire last year. He hit .266/.371/.416 with 7 home runs and 15 steals in 82 games.
Adding four players to their 60-man pool means that some players have come off the list. What that likely means is that some players tested positive for COVID. They aren’t going to tell us about positive tests, but looking at their transaction page we see this:
It is possible that these are not all because of COVID, they could be any type of injury, but normally they announce what the injuries are when players are placed on the IL.
We are going to see a lot of these moves over the next month. I have a feeling the teams that do best this season will be the ones who have the most luck avoiding the virus.