Dominguez down, Venditte up
7 years ago
Photo Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports
The Blue Jays announced this afternoon that they have designated Matt Dominguez for assignment, bringing switch pitcher Pat Venditte back to the club after running through several bullpen arms on Monday.
Dominguez being removed from the roster isn’t surprising, as Josh Donaldson was healthy enough to take the field on Monday. What was, for a brief while, surprising, however, is that though Dominguez has options — as Ben Nicholson-Smith first noted in a tweet, and as Bluebird Banter’s invaluable Blue Jays Option and Outright Status page confirms — it was initially announced that he had been designated for assignment.
That may have been true based on procedural technicality, but Shi Davidi clears it up for us, tweeting that Dominguez has simply been placed on optional waivers, and will clear tomorrow at 1 PM. (The same as Drew Hutchison was earlier this season).
I say that like it’s a foregone conclusion because optional waivers are, a) revokable — meaning that the Jays could pull Dominguez back from them if a team puts in a claim, much like the trade waivers that apply in August — and b) never used by opposing teams to select players. There is a “gentleman’s agreement” among clubs about this — look the other way when I try to send a guy through and I’ll look the other way when you do — though as Brendan Kennedy notes, “one man’s collusion is another’s gentleman’s agreement.”
Whatever the case, Dominguez has not exactly (though maybe technically) been D’d FA, which is probably better than what was first being reported.
That’s because he’s a pretty nice depth piece for the Jays — a former everyday player (granted, for the Astros back when they were intentionally trying to be bad) with the glove and arm to play at third base, and enough of a quad-A bat that you could take a flier on him at first or DH if you got really desperate. Not anything terribly special, but a nice piece to have — especially with options.
Then again, if they were clearing a 40-man spot because they were about to trade a youngster for a bullpen piece, or something, that would have been pretty good too! (Albeit surprising, given that club’s usually will anounce those multi-pronged transactions in one fell swoop, not piecemeal).
Anyway, Dominguez will be back eating delicious fried bologna sandwiches in Buffalo soon enough, and Venditte adds two arms (!) — albeit neither of which is particularly good — to a bullpen in need.
Whatever, though. The way they’re going to shitcan Matt Boyd tonight, it’s probably not a big deal either way.
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