There was a lot going on today and last night in Blue Jays world. The big news last night was Brandon Morrow, who left the game after throwing just nine pitches and not recording an out. After that ninth pitch of the night to the Nat’s Bryce Harper, Morrow walked of the mound, apparently holding his left oblique. We learned later that evening that a left oblique strain was the reason for his early departure from the game. After the game, John Farrell told a reporter that Morrow’s injury is “substantial”, and Jays fans everywhere started prepping for the worst. Also after the game, the Blue Jays optioned Chad Beck to AAA—who threw 3.2 innings in relief of the injured Morrow—and recalled Aaron Laffey and Evan Crawford. This meant that the Jays have one too many players on their active roster, so of course, we all thought this meant that Brandon Morrow would be placed on the disabled list to bring the active roster size back down to the maximum 25 players. However, as of 5:12 PM eastern time, Morrow is still not on the DL, and the Blue Jays have instead optioned Yan Gomes to AAA Las Vegas. So, that could be good news for Morrow, but Alex Anthopolous is still saying some DL time could still be necessary.
Some other news from today was the Blue Jays releasing veteran Vladimir Guerrero, and soon after we heard that Vlad has officially decided to give up on his comeback attempt and retire from professional baseball.
Southpaw Brett Cecil was also promoted to Las Vegas after spending the season thus far with the AA New Hampshire Fishercats. We’re hearing that both Cecil and Jesse Chavez could start a few games in the Bigs if there is indeed a need to put Brandon Morrow on the disabled list.
Finally, game two of the three game series against the Montreal Expos—err, Washington Nationals—goes tonight, with Henderson Alvarez taking the mound against Chieng-Ming Wang. Jeff Mathis will be the catcher tonight for Alvarez, and according to The Stars Richard Griffin, in 28.1 innings with Mathis as his battery mate, Alvarez has a 1.57 ERA. With Arencibia as his catcher, Alvarez has a 5.01 ERA in 50.1 innings. Interesting.
