Blue Jays Designate Ezequiel Carrera for Assignment

The Blue Jays’ roster shuffle continued on Monday, as they designated three year veteran, Ezequiel Carrera for assignment.

Ezequiel Carrera, the Jays mysterious 5^th outfielder, was designated for assignment by the team. This move was made to open a spot on the 40-man roster for the recently acquired relief pitcher, Seung-hwan Oh.

The Venezuela native signed a minor league deal with the team in 2014 after refusing minor league assignment from the Detroit Tigers. Before Toronto and Detroit, Carrera spent time in the Cleveland and Philadelphia systems.

By designating Carrera for assignment, the Toronto Blue Jays now have ten days to complete one of four possible options. The team may place Carrera on waivers, trade him, release him, or outright him off of the 40-man roster and into the minors.

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If placed on waivers, the Jays open the possibility of losing him to another team. However, there is also a chance that he may pass through waivers, allowing the team to place him on AAA Buffalo.

As well, Carrera could be taken from the Jays after being out-righted. Carrera can refuse the minor league assignment and instead declare free agency—which he did in 2014.

A player with Carrera’s speed and on-base ability would likely not last the waiver process. However, Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet notes that the Jays may have a chance to trade the quick outfielder. The return for Carrera would likely be small.

Carrera’s best year in his career came in 2017 for the Blue Jays. The veteran outfielder held a slash line of .282/.356/.408 with a perfectly average OPS+ of 100. Despite having a respectable season last year for Toronto, Carrera will continue his journeyman career elsewhere— a victim of a very deep 2018 Toronto outfield.

The 2018 Blue Jays outfield depth chart and starting line up now looks clear. With Carrera gone, Teoscar Hernandez has a clearer path to the Major Leagues. As well, Aledmys Diaz looks to be an obvious addition to the 25-man roster out of spring training.

Although Carrrera was never a major contributor to the team, at least he was able to find Encarnacion’s Parrot. For that reason and many more, there will be more than a few Blue Jays fans that will miss having him around.

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