Kevin Kiermaier went unclaimed on waivers, the middle fielder tells Hazel Mae and Sportsnet’s Ben Nicholson-Smith. GM Ross Atkins knowledgeable Kiermaier of the information Friday.
The Jays positioned the defensive stalwart on waivers earlier within the week. The event was reported Thursday, nevertheless it’s doubtless Toronto made the transfer on Wednesday. (The waiver decision course of takes 48 hours.) The Jays have been hoping that one other crew would place a declare and assume the approximate $4.5M remaining on his $10.5M wage. All 29 different groups handed on that chance.
Because of this, the waiver saga will doubtless quantity to nothing. The Jays may technically attempt to assign Kiermaier to the minor leagues now that he went unclaimed, however there’s no actual cause to take action. Kiermaier has far more than the 5 years of service time essential to say no a minor league project whereas retaining his complete wage. If the Jays tried to ship him to Triple-A, the four-time Gold Glove winner would certainly elect free company as an alternative. Toronto would nonetheless owe him his wage, so all that’d obtain is opening a roster spot.
As a substitute, the Blue Jays are prone to merely hold Kiermaier within the majors. A crew doesn’t must ship a participant down after passing that participant by way of waivers. (For example, the Angels retained Tyler Anderson and Randal Grichuk final season after unsuccessfully attempting to dump their salaries.) Kiermaier is prone to proceed serving as Toronto’s major heart fielder.
The 34-year-old will attempt to proper the ship amid the worst offensive season of his profession. Kiermaier is hitting .191/.238/.295 with an enormous 32.2% strikeout price by way of 189 plate appearances. Amongst hitters with 150+ journeys, he has the sixth-lowest OBP and is nineteenth from the underside in slugging. Even along with his usually glorious glovework, Kiermaier’s total manufacturing is hovering round alternative stage.
Between the shortage of offense and the pretty important wage, no crew was prepared to plug Kiermaier into heart area. The Jays may nonetheless attempt to commerce him between now and the July 30 deadline, however they’d clearly must pay down a portion of his wage to facilitate a deal. In the interim, he’ll attempt to assist Toronto salvage their season. The Jays head into Friday evening’s sequence opener in Arizona with a 43-50 file that has them 8.5 video games again of the Crimson Sox for the American League’s final wild-card spot.
