Last season Blue Jays pitcher Alek Manoah was a finalist for the Cy Young Award last season, with his wins (16) and ERA (2.24) each ranking third in the American League. 2023 has been quite the episode. The Blue Jays optioned opening day starter Alek Manoah to the Florida Complex League Tuesday.
The move comes one day after Manoah was pummeled for six runs while recording just one out in a loss to the Astros to push his ERA on the season to 6.85. The Blue Jays sending Manoah all the way down to their FCL affiliate figures to mean he won't be pitching in any games right away and instead will be working on mechanics and other things in hopes of regaining his old form. He'll likely be put into the Triple-A Buffalo rotation once he's deemed ready, with the hope that he'll eventually return to Toronto.
Manoah’s velocity was down in 2023, and his slider has been hit much harder than usual, but perhaps most concerning was a total lack of command. He leads the American League with 42 walks after walking just 51 hitters all of last year. The Manoah move was part of a number of transactions made by the Blue Jays Tuesday.
Right-hander Chris Bassitt reinstated from the paternity list
Infielder Santiago Espinal activated from the 10-day IL
Infielder Ernie Clement and right-hander Jay Jackson optioned to triple-A
Contract for right-hander Bowden Francis selected to major-league roster
Right-hander Zach Thompson designated for assignment
For now, though, there are still more questions than answers, both for Manoah, whose career trajectory looked much different a couple of months ago, and a Blue Jays team whose already thin pitching depth is about to get tested further. Things you really hate to see if you're a Blue Jays fan. The AL East is arguably the best division in the MLB, having no teams be under .500 win percentage with the Red Sox in 5th place at 30-30. Normally I would hope Manoah can figure this out and get back on track, but he's a fat fuck with a big mouth, and his only good start came against the Yankees on 4/22.
