Blue Jays: Pannone, Wall among 18 minor leaguers hitting free agency

The 2020 MLB Season  is now concluded with the Los Angeles Dodgers winning the World Series and the offseason is now among us.

On Monday afternoon, Baseball America posted a list of 422 minor league players that have become free agents, among those are 18 names from the Toronto Blue Jays.  Two players that stand out from the list are soon to be 27-year old Thomas Pannone and soon to be 25-year old Forrest Wall.

Pannone was acquired at the 2017 trade deadline, along with Samad Taylor for relief pitcher Joe Smith.  Taylor is still a project and was recently sent to Australia to play in their southern hemisphere summer season (November-February).  Pannone reached the major leagues for Toronto in 2018 and would split time between the rotation and bullpen.  At first glance, Pannone’s numbers do not look very appealing as he posted a 7-7 record with a 5.43 ERA and 1.43 WHIP; however, in the bullpen Pannone appeared to be quite effective, as over 36 appearances he posted a 3.40 ERA and 1.24 WHIP.  His strikeouts were lifted by 2.5 per nine innings when brought into the games as a reliever.

Pannone was sent Triple A during the 2020 Spring Training and wasn’t able to crack the active roster once the shortened season got started again in July.  Pannone was designated for assignment in late August to make room on the 40-man roster for Travis Bergen, so it was not a surprise to see the Blue Jays move on from him.

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The Forrest Wall decision comes as a bit of a surprise as he is still young and plays a position the franchise is relatively weak (centre field).  Wall was also a trade deadline pick up, but in the 2018 season.  The Blue Jays acquired him, along with Chad Spanberger for Seunghwan Oh.  Wall was known as a strong defender and hit for decent average, albeit had problems with the strikeout.  Wall looked very good during Spring Training and Summer Camp, and as such he was kept on the Player Pool for the 2020 season.  Wall looked as though he may have a future with the Toronto Blue Jays, but with the progress the team made this season they may look for a top end centre fielder.

Toronto also says goodbye to Vladimir Guerrero Jr’s cousin Gabriel Guerrero who was signed to a minor league contract this past February.  Gabriel never got into any action in the Toronto organization due to COVID.

The other minor league players headed for free agency are: Deiferson Barreto, Andrew Burns, Patrick Cantwell, Ryan Dull, James Dykstra, Conor Fisk, Mac James, Jesus Lopez, Mike Nittoli, Juan Nunez, Norberto Obeso, Willy Ortiz, Connor Overton, Luis Silva, Mitchell Walding

What are your thoughts on the Blue Jays saying goodbye to Pannone and Wall?