Alek Manoah’s tenure with the Blue Jays appears to have reached a shocking and abrupt conclusion.
Manoah was designated for assignment before Tuesday’s 4-1 loss to the Boston Red Sox. The move was made to clear a spot for outfielder Anthony Santander, who was activated from the 60-day injured list. The surprise decision was announced fewer than 60 minutes before Tuesday’s first pitch.
The Jays must now place Manoah on waivers within the next seven days and any of the other 29 ball clubs are allowed to put in a claim. Even if Manoah went unclaimed, as a player with more than three years’ service he would become a minor-league free agent this off-season.
“These are always tough decisions,” Jays general manager Ross Atkins said. “This just came down to a roster crunch and … we chose others over him. It was a very tough, difficult decision. They always are.”
Teams normally have the option of trading a player who has been designated for assignment. That isn’t the case here because the trade deadline was July 31 and the minor-league season wrapped up Sunday, which means players on or off the 40-man roster can no longer be dealt.
Being one of the top two division winners would allow the Jays to skip the wild card round.
It’s a remarkable fall from grace for the 11th pick of the 2019 draft, who by 2022 had become an all-star with a 16-7 record and 2.24 ERA. Manoah established himself as the ace of the Jays’ pitching staff that season and finished third in voting for the American League Cy Young Award.
The last three seasons haven’t gone nearly as well. Manoah’s career began to fall apart in 2023 as he experienced a drop in velocity while battling issues with command. He went 3-9 with a 5.87 ERA and twice got optioned to the minors. Manoah returned the following year and produced a 3.70 ERA in five starts before he got hurt and required Tommy John surgery.
Manoah has been attempting to work his way back to the majors ever since. He made 10 starts in the minors this season, the last seven of which came at Triple-A Buffalo, while putting up a 3.96 ERA and striking out 35 batters across 38 2/3 innings. His last outing with the organization was on Sept. 18 when he struck out five in 4 2/3 scoreless innings for Buffalo.
“It’s a tough decision, obviously, and going back a few years, Alek has been right in the thick of things that went really well for us,” Jays manager John Schneider said.
“I give him all the credit in the world for working his tail off to get back. He’s an infectious guy and he pitched a lot of big games for us. I think right now, where we are, tough decisions happen and you’re trying to stay present in what can help us right now.”
What makes the decision to cut Manoah loose so surprising is that there was another option year remaining on his contract. The Jays could have sent him to the minors again next season and as a player with fewer than five years’ service, and Manoah would have been forced to accept it.
There were other pitchers on the 40-man roster who could have been cut loose to make room for Santander. Left-handers Justin Bruihl and Easton Lucas and right-hander Dillon Tate are among those on the 40-man roster who are not currently under consideration to crack the post-season roster.
Financially, the Jays weren’t overly exposed either. Manoah earned $2.2 million (U.S.) this season and he had two years of arbitration remaining. The 27-year-old wouldn’t have been due much of a raise, if any, but even if he was awarded a sum the Jays did not like, they could have walked away before the start of the season for either 30 or 45 days’ termination pay. Another option would have been for the Jays to wait until the off-season to try to work out a trade.
Odds are the Jays will want to get Santander into MLB games before deciding if he makes the
That the Jays didn’t opt for any of those scenarios either suggests there was a falling-out between the two sides or that Manoah’s value within the organization had fallen so low that the Jays had already decided they were going to non-tender his contract before arbitration. If that was the plan all along, there was no compelling reason to wait.
The counter-argument is that Manoah still hasn’t fully recovered from Tommy John surgery. He is approximately three months behind Shane Bieber, who underwent a similar procedure early last year and returned to the majors in late August.
Pitchers who undergo Tommy John surgery typically don’t feel like themselves until the season following their return. That’s what makes it such a curious decision that the Jays made the move now instead of waiting to see how Manoah looked next spring following a normal off-season.
“That’s part of the business, unfortunately,” Jays starter Kevin Gausman said. “This time of year, those things tend to happen … I’ve become really close to Alek and I love him even more as a human being than I do a pitcher. I know he’s going to be fine, but I’m going to miss being around him for sure.”
The Jays won’t say it, but Tuesday’s move is a clear indication they don’t have faith Manoah will rediscover his previous form. Their analysis better be right, because if not, the Jays just cut ties with a 27-year-old controllable starter on a relatively inexpensive contract for no reason.
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