Toronto Blue Jays: Bradley Zimmer is Back!

It has been less than two weeks since Bradley Zimmer left the Blue Jays organization after the Philadelphia Phillies claimed him off waivers, but the 29-year-old outfielder is now back with the franchise.

On Monday afternoon, the Blue Jays announced on Twitter that they claimed Zimmer back from the Phillies via waivers after he was designated for assignment.

Zimmer got into the first nine games after he joined the Phillies on August 19, including starting five times, however, sat both games over the weekend.  This afternoon, Philadelphia activated Brandon Marsh from the injured list, which meant somebody was going to lose their spot and Zimmer ended up being DFA’d.

Over his nine games, he went 4 for 16 (.250) with a double while striking out four times.  His four hits were half as many as he had in Toronto to start his season in about a sixth of the plate appearances.  Zimmer, who was acquired at the start of the season by the Blue Jays, went just 8 for 76 and had a slash line of .105/.209/.237 through 77 games prior to being DFA’d.

Ross Atkins announced that once rosters expand on September 1st, the position player spot will go to Zimmer and the other will go to a relief pitcher, yet to be determined. While the choice to bring back Zimmer is a bit puzzling, there is a chance one of the Jays’ outfielders might be heading to the IL in the near future. Teoscar Hernandez appears to be battling an injury after recently fouling two balls of his foot and was not in Monday night’s starting line-up against the Chicago Cubs.

On Monday afternoon, the Toronto Blue Jays claimed defensive specialist Bradley Zimmer off waivers from the Philadelphia Phillies.

Hernandez is posting a slash line of just .183/.234/.317 over his last 17 games and took a lot of criticism over not running out a ground ball on Sunday that ended the sixth inning.  The play was the turning point in the game as it would have led to the Blue Jays trailing 3-2 with runners on first and second, instead, it ended the inning down by two and the Los Angeles Angels would respond with a pair of runs in the top half.

In all likelihood, Hernandez is likely getting a “maintenance” day on Monday and the club will use Zimmer as a pinch runner and defensive replacement over the last month of the schedule.