The Jays have made a stack of September call-ups. No shockers, but a few headscratchers.
Luis Perez - was on the 60 day DL, out since mid-last year when he had a 124 ERA+ in mostly low pressure situations. A LHP he will mainly be in low pressure games again I'm sure after his 9 2/3 IP 7 H 2 R/ER 4 BB 6 SO 0 HR in A+/AAA
Kyle Drabek - like Perez has been on the 60 day DL earlier but was recently optioned to AAA thus on the 40 man already. Had a 90 ERA+ last year and looked poor often. 43 IP in A+/AA/AAA 32 H 15 R/ER (3.14 ERA) 6 BB 35 SO (easily his best BB rate in his career at any level) 5 HR. Might be put into the rotation so the Jays get a full look at him.
Ricky Romero - was off the 40 man roster and for good reason - he sucked at all levels but A+ this season (and that was just 1 game). 5.78 ERA in AAA but 4.18 his last 4 games (trying to cherry pick to make him look good). No matter how you cut it though he has walked too many and not struck out enough to survive. I fear the Garfoose will be proven right yet again and we'll be seeing Romero off the 40 man once the season ends with no one having any interest.
Jeremy Jeffress - very effective in AAA with a 1.65 ERA in 27 1/3 IP, 22 H 6 R 5 ER 13 BB 28 SO 0 HR. Wildness is his curse and unless he can push it sub 4 BB per 9 IP he'll need that 0 HR rate to survive.
Mike Nickeas - a 3rd catcher, Canadian, has caught the knuckleball before, hits a bit better than me but not enough to be in the ML or AAA or AA ... 166/255/251 this year in Buffalo in 200 PA. Hope he is strong defensively. Might get an inning or two in a 17 inning ball game but otherwise will be collecting a ML paycheque as catcher insurance.
Surprised to see Romero and Jeffress as Romero has pitched very poorly. Jeffress has been effective but wild and with the massive pen as is why bother? Perez & Drabek both made sense as both are recovering from injury and probably need more innings so might as well be up here. Nickeas is catcher insurance.
Others I expected were Sean Nolin (very effective in minors, had that terrible start up here, thought the Jays might want to give him another chance), and Drew Hutchison who was also recovering from injuries but he did have issues in AAA (6.63 ERA but his BB/9 was just 2.8 vs 9.5 SO/9 and 0.9 HR/9 suggesting that ERA was more luck than skill based). I'd have loved to see Hutchison mixed with Drabek as a tandem starter team for September while Nolin would be mixed with whoever (ideally a RHP but could live with Romero) in another tandem to allow the Jays to see all of them for a month. Instead we'll probably suffer through a few Romero blowouts, Drabek being pushed too hard, and Perez and Jeffress forgotten at the end of the bench as the 9th/10th guys on the staff (or further down even).
The next shoe to drop is who will be let go from the 40 man. Johnson going to the 60 day DL is a lock, as might Cabrera and/or Rasmus (ending their seasons). Mauro Gomez is listed on the Jays site as designated for assignment and probably released (no idea why he was on the 40 man as it was). Other candidates are pitchers who haven't been called up - Thad Weber and Mickey Storey. 4 slots are needed so Gomez, Johnson, and maybe both Cabrera and Rasmus. Weber was much better than Romero in AAA (2.71 ERA) and the ML, as was Storey (2.56 ERA in AAA) but both could be cut by the time most of you read this.
Luis Perez - was on the 60 day DL, out since mid-last year when he had a 124 ERA+ in mostly low pressure situations. A LHP he will mainly be in low pressure games again I'm sure after his 9 2/3 IP 7 H 2 R/ER 4 BB 6 SO 0 HR in A+/AAA
Kyle Drabek - like Perez has been on the 60 day DL earlier but was recently optioned to AAA thus on the 40 man already. Had a 90 ERA+ last year and looked poor often. 43 IP in A+/AA/AAA 32 H 15 R/ER (3.14 ERA) 6 BB 35 SO (easily his best BB rate in his career at any level) 5 HR. Might be put into the rotation so the Jays get a full look at him.
Ricky Romero - was off the 40 man roster and for good reason - he sucked at all levels but A+ this season (and that was just 1 game). 5.78 ERA in AAA but 4.18 his last 4 games (trying to cherry pick to make him look good). No matter how you cut it though he has walked too many and not struck out enough to survive. I fear the Garfoose will be proven right yet again and we'll be seeing Romero off the 40 man once the season ends with no one having any interest.
Jeremy Jeffress - very effective in AAA with a 1.65 ERA in 27 1/3 IP, 22 H 6 R 5 ER 13 BB 28 SO 0 HR. Wildness is his curse and unless he can push it sub 4 BB per 9 IP he'll need that 0 HR rate to survive.
Mike Nickeas - a 3rd catcher, Canadian, has caught the knuckleball before, hits a bit better than me but not enough to be in the ML or AAA or AA ... 166/255/251 this year in Buffalo in 200 PA. Hope he is strong defensively. Might get an inning or two in a 17 inning ball game but otherwise will be collecting a ML paycheque as catcher insurance.
Surprised to see Romero and Jeffress as Romero has pitched very poorly. Jeffress has been effective but wild and with the massive pen as is why bother? Perez & Drabek both made sense as both are recovering from injury and probably need more innings so might as well be up here. Nickeas is catcher insurance.
Others I expected were Sean Nolin (very effective in minors, had that terrible start up here, thought the Jays might want to give him another chance), and Drew Hutchison who was also recovering from injuries but he did have issues in AAA (6.63 ERA but his BB/9 was just 2.8 vs 9.5 SO/9 and 0.9 HR/9 suggesting that ERA was more luck than skill based). I'd have loved to see Hutchison mixed with Drabek as a tandem starter team for September while Nolin would be mixed with whoever (ideally a RHP but could live with Romero) in another tandem to allow the Jays to see all of them for a month. Instead we'll probably suffer through a few Romero blowouts, Drabek being pushed too hard, and Perez and Jeffress forgotten at the end of the bench as the 9th/10th guys on the staff (or further down even).
The next shoe to drop is who will be let go from the 40 man. Johnson going to the 60 day DL is a lock, as might Cabrera and/or Rasmus (ending their seasons). Mauro Gomez is listed on the Jays site as designated for assignment and probably released (no idea why he was on the 40 man as it was). Other candidates are pitchers who haven't been called up - Thad Weber and Mickey Storey. 4 slots are needed so Gomez, Johnson, and maybe both Cabrera and Rasmus. Weber was much better than Romero in AAA (2.71 ERA) and the ML, as was Storey (2.56 ERA in AAA) but both could be cut by the time most of you read this.
