Signed in spring training, Clay Buchholz will make his first start of the 2019 season against the Tampa Bay Rays this upcoming Saturday. With Buchholz currently not on the major league roster, who will be sent down to make room for the starting pitcher on the Toronto Blue Jays?
Clay Buchholz signed a one year, $3 million dollar deal with the Toronto Blue Jays in early March, with over $2.25 million in performance incentives including innings pitched and relief appearances.
From early on in spring training, it was apparent that Buchholz would most likely slide into the 5th rotation spot, and that he would fill out the rest of the starting rotation with Ryan Borucki as the 4th starter. This would force newly acquired Clayton Richard into the bullpen as a possible long man or middle reliever.
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Buchholz spent the majority of his career with the Boston Red Sox but found himself at a crossroads before the 2018 season due to surgery on his throwing arm the season prior. He would sign a minor league deal with the Kansas City Royals, where he would eventually opt out of his contract on May 1, and quickly sign with the Arizona Diamondbacks. He would finish the year with a 7-2 record and 2.01 ERA while appearing in 16 games total (all of which he started).
While his 2018 campaign was impressive, Buchholz still could not find a deal with a team during the offseason until the Toronto Blue Jays took a chance on him with a low risk/high reward contract on a team in a rebuilding phase.
While Buchholz did sign in the middle of spring training, he was not expected to break opening day with the team to allow for more conditioning. He would also land on the injured list as he was dealing with an elbow strain, which further delayed his conditioning.
Charlie Montoyo says Clay Buchholz will start Saturday for #BlueJays vs #Rays
— Shi Davidi (@ShiDavidi) April 9, 2019
It was announced mid-afternoon on April 9 that Clay Buchholz would make his first start of the year against the Tampa Bay Rays. While this may not seem like a problem, it now leaves the Blue Jays with a tough situation in which they will need to send someone down in order to make room on the active roster.
At first glance, the potential candidates for the demotion would most likely come from the bullpen. The only safe candidates at this time appear to be Ken Giles, Tim Mayza, Joe Biagini, and Elvis Luciano, with the latter protected by the Rule 5 Draft regulations that mandate he stays on the active roster all year. Javy Guerra and Daniel Hudson have been used frequently this season and appear to be safe candidates as well. That leaves Thomas Pannone, Trent Thornton, and Sam Gaviglio.
Trent Thornton is currently in the starting rotation with Ryan Borucki on the injured list, so he would be safe as well. Now it is down to Pannone and Gaviglio.
In the end, I believe Gaviglio will be sent down to the Buffalo Bisons. He will be put back into the starting rotation and will be stretched out again as a starter, ready to be used if he is needed and called upon up North. Pannone has the slight edge in that he is the only other left-handed reliever in the bullpen (other than Mayza) and has pitched quite well this season as the long man.
The Blue Jays could potentially send down an infielder instead of a pitcher, which would make sense given the Blue Jays have 3 infielders on the bench, as well as the reserve catcher and outfielder.
If this were the case, we could probably see Richard Urena head back down to AAA, but newly acquired Alen Hanson could make the trip down south as well. Hanson does have the advantage of being a switch hitter, but only has 1 hit in 9 plate appearances compared to Urena, who is 7 for 19 this season. If I had to choose, I would think Hanson will be heading down to Buffalo, but I still think the Blue Jays will send down a reliever.
In the end, Clay Buchholz is coming to the active roster and someone needs to be sent down. Maybe someone will get injured and Toronto’s management won’t have to make another tough decision this season (*cough* Vladdy *cough*).