Blue Jays announce trio of roster moves ahead of July 19 game against Padres
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Prior to this evening's game against the San Diego Padres, the Toronto Blue Jays have announced a trio of roster moves on their Twitter account. Here is what's going down in Toronto:
- OF Jordan Luplow has been selected to the big league roster from Triple-A.
- OF Nathan Lukes has been optioned to Triple-A.
- RHP Adam Cimber (shoulder impingement) has been transferred to the 60-day injured list.
The big news here is Luplow's (re)addition to the Blue Jays' active roster. The 29-year-old only made it into four games for the Jays earlier this season without recording a hit before being optioned and ultimately outrighted off of the 40-mamn roster. Upon his being demoted, Luplow saw his bat heat up and has more than earned this shot to be back in The Show. In a total of 48 games, he has eight home runs and 31 RBI with a .239 average and .779 OPS. In that stretch of games, he has shown some impressive patience at plate, walking 25 times and striking out just 35 times.
For Lukes, this represents what feels like the 100th time this season he has been shuffled back and forth between the major and minor leagues. The 29-year-old has spent the vast majority of this season on the big league roster but has largely been used in a pinch-runner or late-inning defensive replacement capacity. All told, he has just 25 games under his belt with four hits in 21 at-bats, good for a .190 average. Lukes has historically been an excellent hitter in the minor leagues and that trend has continued into this season. In 17 games for Triple-A Buffalo, he has two home runs, 12 RBI, a .339 batting average and an OPS of .965.
Cimber's placement on the 60-day injured list is likely nothing more than opening a spot on the 40-man for Luplow. His injury is still seen as a minor one and, frankly, he could use the break that a stint on the IL provides, as this year has been one to forget for the submariner. In 22 appearances this season, the 32-year-old has a 7.40 ERA, 7.51 FIP and 57 ERA+ thanks to 17 earned runs in just 20.2 innings of work. After being such a reliable arm for the Blue Jays last year, the wheels have seemingly fallen completely off for Cimber in the current campaign.