Aug 25, 2013; New York, NY, USA; Detroit Tigers left fielder Matt Tuiasosopo (18) singles to center allowing a runner to score during the ninth inning against the New York Mets at Citi Field. Detroit won 11-3. Mandatory Credit: Anthony Gruppuso-USA TODAY Sports
The Toronto Blue Jays made a few waves this afternoon, and admittedly one of the head-scratching kind, by claiming outfielder Matt Tuiasosopo off of waivers from the Arizona Diamondbacks. To make room for Tuiasosopo on the 40-man roster, Toronto released left-hander Luis Perez according to Gregor Chisholm of MLB.com.
The 27-year-old Tuiasosopo hit .244 for the Detroit Tigers last season with 7 home runs and 30 RBI in 191 plate appearances and owns a lifetime slash-line of .207/.290/.356 for his career. Oddly enough, the right-handed hitter owns a reverse split s seen in the statistics below from Baseball-Reference.
With that in mind, Tuiasosopo is a strange pick-up. His splits don’t make him a candidate as a platoon partner for Adam Lind and there really isn’t a place for him on the outfield with Moises Sierra expected to hold down the 4th outfielder position. Additionally, Dan Johnson‘s big spring would make Tuiasosopo a redundant piece. The only place for Tuiasosopo would be in Triple-A as outfielder depth, but the Blue Jays would need to sneak him through waivers as he is out of options.