Thursday Bantering: Wagues-back as Thornton heads to injured list & Blue Jays schedule update

Mere hours after being optioned to the taxi squad as part of Major League Baseball’s roster trimming from 30 to 28, righty Jacob Waguespack has been recalled as the Blue Jays place starter Trent Thornton on the 10-day injured list according to manager Charlie Montoyo. Thornton lands on the IL with the always-comforting “elbow inflammation”.

Thornton last pitched on July 27 against the Nationals but did throw live batting practice this past weekend when the Phillies series was postponed. Montoyo has not revealed who will start in Thornton’s place on Saturday, but it could be Chase Anderson.

Speaking of the postponed series, the Blue Jays have released their updated schedule, which includes two new doubleheaders against the Phillies.

The three-game home series against the Phillies originally scheduled for July 31 through August 2 will now be split into a doubleheader at Sahlen Field on August 20 and the first game of the doubleheader at Citizens Bank Park on September 18 where the Blue Jays will be the home team and bat last. The second game on September 18 will feature the Jays visiting the Phillies and bat first.

So, to recap the absurdity that is 2020:

1. The July 31–August 2 series originally had the Phillies visiting the Blue Jays at Rogers Centre in Toronto but then the Canadian federal government denied to give a waiver to allow MLB regular season games in Canada.
2. Then the series was going to move to PNC Park in Pittsburgh but then the Pennsylvania state government denied the request for the Blue Jays to play there.
3. The new plan was to play the series in Buffalo’s Sahlen Field but then more time was needed to get the park up to major league standards.
4. So the three-game series was going to be played July 31–August 2 in Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia but then earlier that week the Phillies were playing the Marlins who had suffered from a COVID-19 outbreak.
5. To allow for more time for the Phillies’ test results to come in, the July 31 date was scrubbed and the series was to be composed of two nine-inning games on August 1 and a regular game on August 2.
6. With more teams’ games being affected by the Marlins outbreak, Major League Baseball announced that all doubleheaders would only be seven innings long, so the series was to feature MLB’s first seven-inning doubleheader on August 1 followed by a nine-inning game on August 2. But then, the entire three-game series was postponed when it was discovered that Phillies staff members tested positive for the coronavirus.
7. Today, the Blue Jays announced that the first two games of that series will be played in Buffalo (see #3 above) as a seven-inning doubleheader on August 20. The third game will be played in Philadelphia (see #4 above) as part of a seven-inning doubleheader in which the Blue Jays will be the home team in the first game but the visiting team in the second.

You can’t make this up.

This re-scheduling will definitely impact the team’s performance as they will now play 28 consecutive games over 27 days between August 14 and September 9. Over a three day span (August 19–21) the Jays will play four games, going from Baltimore to Buffalo to St. Petersburg.

In MLB news, the league and the players’ union agreed on new infection prevention protocols. Most significantly, all personnel including players will have to wear a face covering at all times other when players take the field.