Roster moves!: Parades dealt, Girodo optioned, Grilli arrives

Jason Grilli. Photo credit: Reinhold Matay-USA TODAY Sports

Nothing terribly unexpected here, but the Jays announced this afternoon that Jimmy Paredes has been sent to the Phillies for cash or Player To Be Named Later. They obviously didn’t believe he was going to get through waivers — which is to say, they were informed that he was going to get claimed (because that must be how that works, right?) — and so took whatever they could get for him.

What they could get for him is, of course, a whole lot of nothing, but it sure was a sweet seven games of 140 wRC+ that the Jays got out of their waiver claim. And since they managed to peel off a layer of depth from the Orioles in the process, let’s consider it a win… even if we all know that Ryan would have been Goins down to Buffalo had Troy Tulowitzki’s quadriceps not decided that this was the time to make his first DL trip of the year.

Let’s just hope Paredes doesn’t turn into another Danny Valencia, who despite being somewhat positionless (especially on a team with Josh Donaldson obviously entrenched at third), continues to crush it in Oakland. Shit, with his .333/.370/.558 line you could have made him a DH — not that I’m complaining about how 2015 went, or that Paredes is gone, I’m just sayin’ it’s kinda nuts that Valencia’s strong start to last year doesn’t seem to have been the blip we thought it was. Anyway… godspeed, Jimmy. Or something.

Meanwhile, Chad Girodo — more like bad Girodo, amiright? — is back down the QEW, and taking his fugly strikeout rate (11.1%) and near-impossible 60% HR/FB% to Buffalo. I know it’s only been eight innings, but I get the sense that heeeeeeee’s probably not the answer to the club’s bullpen woes.

Girodo is down, of course, to make room on the active roster for Jason Grilli, who… probably isn’t the answer either. I wrote about Grilli’s acquisition yesterday, noting that he’s been pretty bad so far this year, but that there’s certainly still hope that the Jays might get something out of him. Ross Atkins (or maybe it was John Gibbons) was spinning it like the acquisition of a LaTroy Hawkins or Darren Oliver, which makes a lot of sense. He’s a veteran guy who can have some utility and be a stable presence for a lot of the young arms who will inevitably be coming and going to and from the bullpen all year. He’s just likely not going to be what everybody’d hoped Drew Storen was going to be for this club.

He’ll be an interesting social media presence, at least, with his @GrilliChees49 Twitter account. 

But when asked on the radio yesterday if he was still looking for bullpen help, Atkins (according to a tweet from @shk66) replied, “Absolutely.” Which… uh… yeah.