Blue Jays Spring Training News and Notes: Tillman, Tulo and Estrada

Here are the latest Spring Training news and notes from the Toronto Blue Jays camp in Dunedin for Monday, February 19th, 2018.

Jays Made Offer To Tillman

The Blue Jays reportedly offered pitcher Chris Tillman a minor league deal according to Brittany Ghiroli or MLB.com. Tillman opted to return to the Baltimore Orioles on a guaranteed pact for $3 million plus incentives.

According to Ghiroli the Twins and Tigers were also in on Tillman, however, the O’s were the only team willing to offer guaranteed money. The 29-year old is coming off a disastrous 2017 campaign where he had an inflated 7.84 earned run average in 24 games.

Tulo Takes Ground Balls And Swings

Blue Jays shortstop Troy Tulowitzki took ground balls and hit on Monday without any issues. The 33-year old is dealing with bone spurs in his heel in the latest of a laundry list of injuries involving the aging shortstop.

Tulo missed the final two months of last season with a badly sprained ankle injury he suffered while running to first base. The Jays have said they will ease Tulowitzki into spring training action but he will presumably be ready to go for Opening Day.

Estrada Was Tipping His Change-Up in 2017

Marco Estrada advised the media that he was tipping his pitches last season mainly slowing his arm when throwing his change-up. The hurler spent the offseason attempting to rectify the issue especially seeing how much Estrada relies on keeping hitters off balance to be effective.

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Smoak Dealt With Injuries Last Season

Justin Smoak saw a drop-off in production during the final few months of last season however it appears the slugger was dealing with a bout of fatigue and patella tendinitis in one of his knees. The 31-year old still hit .270 with 38 round trippers however only hit .241 in the second half of the season.

Smoak apparently made some adjustments to his offseason workout regime to better prepare himself for the rigors of a 162 game season.

Spring Storylines

Position players were required to report today as the Jays spring training camp rounded into full swing, thus far Aaron Sanchez has thrown a couple of times without incident, Roberto Osuna appears to have bulked up over the offseason and there are plenty of new faces around camp.

Next: Toronto Blue Jays 2018 Outfield Depth Chart