Blue Jays make several Saturday afternoon roster moves

Saturday afternoon the Blue Jays made several roster moves, which included activating players from the injured list, placing a player on the injured list, optioning players to Triple-A, and recalling one back.

The biggest news was that Cavan Biggio was placed on the 10-day injured list with a cervical spine ligament.  Biggio had been hitting quite a bit better of late, however went 2 for 14 with seven strikeouts in the Boston series and did not start in Friday night’s series opener, but came in as pinch hitter in the 11th inning.  With his recent struggles you might wonder if the injury had been lingering for a few days.

Anthony Kay who started Friday night’s game and Jeremy Beasley who took the loss after giving up an extra inning grand slam were both optioned to Triple-A.  Kay had struggled a bit this year, but was showing signs of improvement.  Over his last two starts he pitched four innings in both appearances as a high pitch count made for short outings.  In those eight innings, he gave up just two runs, however, walked six while striking out 10.  Beasley was purchased by the Blue Jays in late April from the Arizona Diamond backs and made four appearances so far allowing five earned runs over 4.2 innings.

More from Jays Journal

• 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
• Toronto Blue Jays: Has the Shift Killed Kevin Gausman’s 2022 Cy Young Hopes?
• Blue Jays: What Yusei Kikuchi’s latest stumble should mean

The demotions were due to Anthony Castro and Joe Panik being activated from the 10-day injured list. Castro, who was a waiver claim this past offseason will be a welcomed addition as he has been impressive in all six of his outings this year.  He has not allowed a run over 7.1 innings while striking out nine to one walk.  Panik will get some playing time with Biggio’s injury, but has likely been surpassed in the depth chart by Santiago Espinal.  Panik had appeared in 19 games before his injury and had a slash line of .226/.241/.302.

The last roster move of the day was that the Blue Jays recalled Ty Tice from Triple-A.  Tice had appeared in four games prior to his recent demotion and tossed a combined seven innings allowing four runs.   Tice last pitched on Tuesday for the Bisons where he threw a shut inning striking out two, so he should be fresh and ready to help the bullpen.

Here is hoping the Blue Jays can go a week without someone else joining the injured list.