After finishing third in the Cy Young voting a season ago big things were expected for Alek Manoah this season.
It’s fair to assume that the big things the Blue Jays were hoping for were not a 6.36 ERA, 1.90 WHIP, a league leading 43 walks or a putrid 65+ ERA.
In his last outing, on Monday, Manoah recorded only one out while allowing six runs on seven hits – including a grand slam to Corey Julks – and a walk.
On Tuesday the Blue Jays made a flurry of moves. The biggest was sending Manoah to the rookie-level Florida Complex League. The Blue Jays will hope that a break from the rotation will give the 25-year-old right hander a chance to work out his problems finding the strike zone.
“We’ve got to continue to do what’s best for him to help him get better,” Blue Jays manager John Schneider said according to MLB.com“…. When I say that everything is on the table, yeah, everything is. We’re just trying to help him get back to the caliber of pitcher that he was.”
If this move sounds familiar to long-time fans they are probably recalling when the Blue Jays sent Roy Halladay to the low minors as a 24-year-old in 2001. In his time away for the majors Halladay was able to fix his mechanics and return to the big leagues going on to win his first Cy Young Award two years later and eventually finding his way into the Hall of Fame.
The Blue Jays are 3.5 games out of the third and final AL wild-card spot. The removal of Manoah from the roster opens up a post for the activated Chris Bassitt who was out on paternity leave. Bassitt will now start on Wednesday against the Astros.
Additionally, Bowden Francis has been called up from Triple-A Buffalo and Santiago Espinal activated from the 10-day injured list. In order to make room for Francis and Espinal the Blue Jays opened Jay Jackson and Ernie Clement to Triple-A.
