Blue Jays announce a pair of administrative roster moves as season winds down

As the Toronto Blue Jays prepare to break back into the win column against the Boston Red Sox, the club took to social media (X link) to announce a pair of roster moves on Tuesday morning. They're just a pair of "on paper" moves, but they are transactions nonetheless.

In the post from the Blue Jays, the club announced that infielder Orelvis Martinez, Jays Journal's No. 2 prospect, has officially been reinstated from the Suspended List. He was suspended for his usage of performance-enhancing drugs back on the 23rd of June, effectively ending his season. He's been added back to the 40-man roster and optioned to the Spring Training Complex, where he'll get some reps in before the season officially comes to a close.

Since the Blue Jays have something like 25 waiver claims on the 40-man roster down in Triple-A, Martinez's activation required a corresponding move. The Blue Jays transferred outfielder Daulton Varsho to the 60-day injured list to make room. His season had already been confirmed to be over, so this is hardly a new development.

Blue Jays reinstate Orelvis Martinez, transfer Varsho to 60-day IL

Martinez, 22, rode a strong Triple-A showing to the first big league promotion of his young career earlier this season. He hit 17 home runs in 74 games and had an .869 OPS that suggested he was ready for his first go-round at the game's highest level.

After just three at-bats, Martinez was handed his 80-game suspension. At the time, he made a social media post announcing that the "PEDs" he was taking were simply used for him and his partner trying to get pregnant. Whether this was true or not, he did his time and reportedly spent his downtime training and staying in shape, which is an encouraging development.

Even though we're not going to see him in the big leagues again this year, Martinez is surely going to be a part of the infield picture in 2025. There are a ton of players that will be competing for playing time, but his top-shelf prospect pedigree is going to give him a leg up on his competition, even though he missed a ton of time this season.

Varsho, 28, wraps up his second season on the Blue Jays with some incremental improvements to his offensive stat line. While his home run and RBI numbers were down from last year, he scored more runs, recorded more triples, drew more walks and had a higher OPS and OPS+ than he did last season. All the while, he remained one of the very best defensive outfielders in baseball.

The latest reports on Varsho suggest that his recovery will go into 2025 spring training, but he should be ready to go by the time Opening Day rolls around. He'll once again fill an important role on the roster during next season.