Blue Jays obviously aren’t done with Anthony Alford yet

I was worried that when the Blue Jays had to officially add Joe Panik to their 40-man roster, it could cost Anthony Alford his job. So far, he remains a Blue Jay.

The Blue Jays will be able to put off most of their roster decisions for a while now that baseball is on a break waiting for the Covid-19 situation to calm down across North America. However, they did have to make one decision on the weekend, officially adding Joe Panik to their 40-man roster.

The move was necessitated by an agreement with Panik to cut him loose if he wasn’t going to make the MLB roster, and even with a lot of uncertainty going forward, the Blue Jays decided they had seen enough to committing a job to the veteran infielder. That also meant that they had to create space for him on the 40-man roster, and they placed Yennsy Diaz on the 60-day IL in order to make it happen.

Since Diaz’s injury wasn’t public knowledge prior to his being put on the Injured List, I worried that when the Panik decision had to be made, it might mean the end of Anthony Alford‘s tenure in Toronto. The 26-year-old outfielder is in a battle this spring to win a job on the bench, and unfortunately things weren’t going all that well for him during Grapefruit League action. He was slashing just .167/.167/.250 with just four hits across 24 at-bats, including 14 strikeouts.

More from Jays Journal

• Matt Chapman has been exactly what the Blue Jays needed
• Blue Jays: The goalposts are moving in the right direction
• Single-A Dunedin Blue Jays advance to the Championship Series
• Blue Jays: Comparisons for Alek Manoah’s Second Season
• Blue Jays: Adam Cimber, the unlikely decision King

Like many Blue Jays fans, I have been hoping to see Alford impress this spring and crossing my fingers that he would finally make good on the potential we’ve heard about for a few years now. Watching him, it’s pretty easy to see the talent athletic talent that he’s capable of, but baseball is so much more than that, and Alford has learned that the hard way over the last few years.

Because the Blue Jays already have an outfield that features Lourdes Gurriel Jr., Randal Grichuk, and Teoscar Hernandez, and other depth options like Derek Fisher, Billy McKinney, Jonathan Davis and more, it was important for Alford to separate himself from the pack in order to win a job. The fact that he’s out of minor league options isn’t going to be enough, especially when Fisher is in the same boat. At some point he’s going to have to produce, or the opportunities are eventually going to run out.

The Blue Jays obviously weren’t quite ready to make him the one they let go of in order to keep Panik, and chose to put Diaz on the IL instead to create the roster space. We’ll see if they manage to retain Alford when they have to add another MiLB contract at some point, which could happen with someone like A.J. Cole or Justin Miller, whenever baseball resumes. For now though, they’re obviously hoping to get at least one more look.