The PTBNL in the Donaldson trade was made official

The worst-kept secret in baseball has been let out as Julian Merryweather was officially sent to the Blue Jays today to complete the Josh Donaldson trade. In a corresponding roster move, Jon Berti has been designated for assignment.

This adds yet another name to the already-crowded 40-man roster in advance of the Rule 5 draft.Declining Yangervis Solarte’s option and letting go of players like Dalton Pompey, Mark Letier Jr., and Jake Petricka will open up some space, but the Jays will have to make some difficult decisions on some players in the mid-to-upper minors as multiple solid prospects will ultimately end up exposed to other teams.

He didn’t pitch at all in 2018 as his year was lost to Tommy John surgery. There’s a good chance we won’t see him at his best until late in 2019, meaning he probably isn’t a realistic option to pitch with the Jays until the 2020 season. This front office is obviously familiar with Merry weather because he was drafted by Cleveland during the Shapiro regime.