The Jays made a trade yesterday. Connor Seabold, who was DFAed, was traded to the Royals for minor league pitcher Denis Samudio and cash.
Samudio is a 21-year-old right-handed pitcher from Panama. He was pitching in the Arizona Complex League (the Arizona equivalent to the Florida Coast League). He’s a little old for that league. He was signed as an international free agent before the 2025 season.
There is a sentence about him in the FanGraphs KC prospects list.
Samudio was an older signee who performed
on the complex last year. He throws strikes and touches 95 with some of the best vertical break in the system.
He’s pitched 5.2 innings this year with 3 hits, 2 earned runs (3 unearned), 2 walks and 5 strikeouts. I’d say he was a lottery pick, but anyone who can throw 95 at the start of his professional career might be interesting to watch. He’s been assigned to the Dunedin Blue Jays.
Turning to Seabold, he pitched in 5 games for us in the rotating last-man-in-the-pen role. In 3.1 innings, he allowed 6 hits, 3 earned, 2 walks, and 1 strikeout. He’s played parts of five years in the majors with six different teams (he’s been in nine different organizations). When you are out of options, and you are on the bubble, that’s how things go.
Looking ahead, we have three games in Boston starting tonight.
Starting Pitchers:
- Dylan Cease (3-3, 2.91) vs. Payton Tolle (3-3, 2.70).
- Max Scherzer (1-4, 10.23) vs. Jake Bennett (1-2, 5.28). If I were a betting man, I’d take the over on this game.
- Trey Yesavage (3.3, 3.78) vs. Sonny Gray (8-1, 3.03)
How long do they keep going with Max? You know the answer is ‘Longer than we’d like’. But, if he’s crushed again today, I don’t see the point in starting him over Spencer Miles. Neither one is going to get you through 5 innings, but at least Miles could get us there while still within a one-possession game. Or he could come out when Shane Bieber is ready to return (which could be next week).
I get that it is a little more delicate when you are dealing with a future Hall of Famer, but having a starter with an ERA over 10 is not something you can sustain.
We have two players leading their position in All-Star voting. Ernie Clement and Vladimir Guerrero. Ernie deserves to go. Vlad…..not so much. But I do remember Davey Lopes getting voted into the All-Star Game despite a poor season. When asked about it, he said something like, ‘I’m not sure who the All-Star Game is for, the players or the fans.‘ Suggesting that, if it were for the players, his getting voted in would be a bad thing. If it is for the fans, well, they should get the players they want to see.
I remember, even then, not caring about the All-Star game, but thinking it was wrong that Dodgers fans voted more than anyone else, so more of their players went than truly deserved.
Vlad is a personality who will make the game more fun. If you have voting, you sometimes get the wrong person.
Elsewhere in the organization, Ricky Tiedeman pitched today in the FCL, starting the road back, throwing one inning, 5 batters, 2 hits, 1 earned, 2 strikeouts.
I was curious to look; the Jays have had 11 successful sac bunts, one more than league average. That’s only 11 too many. The Rays are at the top with 22. The Yankees have just 1. I hate things that make me want to like Aaron Boone. Fortunately, there are many reasons not to like him.
We are fourth in sac flies with 21; the Royals are on top with 29, the A’s at the bottom with 12.
