Joey Votto was one of multiple MLB veterans that the Blue Jays signed to a minor league contract during the off-season. Of that group, he was certainly the most intriguing.

The potential Hall of Famer made one heck of an intro to the club when he homered off Zack Wheeler on March 17th in a Spring Training game against the Phillies. Unfortunately, he injured his ankle while stepping on a bat in the dugout during that same game, and it began a prolonged rehabilitation that featured a re-aggravation of the ankle injury before (what would&#8217;ve been) his first Triple-A appearance of the season in July. Votto finally logged action at Triple-A Buffalo on August 2nd, and the timing of his rehab began to coincide with a potential call-up later in the month when the Cincinnati Reds paid a visit to the Rogers Centre in Toronto.
That idea never came to reality, and neither did any big league at-bats for Votto in 2024, as he announced his retirement from the game of baseball on August 21st. Following the news, whether or not the Blue Jays should&#8217;ve given him a chance, much less one start, at the big league level this season became quite the debate amongst many baseball fans, particularly Blue Jays faithful.
Would Votto, a Toronto native, coming up to the big leagues in front of friends and family for one final send-off have been a terrific and moving moment? Absolutely. But ultimately, this decision was Votto&#8217;s. In his media availability following his announcement, he didn&#8217;t mince words when describing his performance in the minor leagues, referring to himself as &#8220;awful&#8221; and not nearing a point where he was major league ready. In 15 games with the Buffalo Bisons, Votto was slashing .143/.275/.214  with one home run and four RBIs.
Had Votto been called up, he would&#8217;ve needed to obtain a 40-man spot, meaning someone would need to be DFA&#8217;d or released. He didn&#8217;t want to steal someone&#8217;s playing time from the major league club, something he was already doing during his minor league stint.
<a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/joey-votto-on-fair-territory-retirement-decision-whats/id1674957140?i=1000668640012">Votto joined Ken Rosenthal on his podcast Fair Territory last week</a> to discuss a multitude of topics, including his decision to step away from the game.
<blockquote>&#8220;As far as how I&#8217;m feeling about [retiring], I&#8217;m glad. I&#8217;m glad because the responsibility of a Major League athlete is to perform and is to repeat performance. And of course, to help a team win. And I wasn&#8217;t doing all three of those&#8230;I promised myself I would play until I thought I was not good enough anymore.
&#8220;100% healthy to me is when you don&#8217;t think about the physical part of the game, you&#8217;re only thinking about the competitive side. You&#8217;re only thinking about preparation on a daily basis. And it just so happens that I was probably one foot into not being good enough anymore and another foot in the game.&#8221;</blockquote>
One of the most telling quotes from his interview with Rosenthal was his words about his relationship and communication with the Blue Jays organization.
<blockquote>&#8220;I&#8217;m thankful to the Blue Jays for giving me such an opportunity. They let me play,&#8221; Votto said. &#8220;It&#8217;s rare in this sport where a team gives you so much space and so much leeway and so much respect that they let you, more or less, tell them when you&#8217;re going to play. And they did that for me. And so I&#8217;m thankful for that. They helped me along in my rehab. They gave me every opportunity to succeed. They wanted to see me in Toronto and I wanted to be in Toronto for my friends, family and my country.&#8221;</blockquote>
Votto also mentioned how he didn&#8217;t want to get a &#8220;courtesy at-bat&#8221; in that it would be disrespectful to whoever&#8217;s roster spot he took.
What we&#8217;re getting here is honesty. We&#8217;re getting an athlete who knew he wasn&#8217;t ready to be playing in the major leagues, and while the organization wanted to do whatever they could to help him get there, they also weren&#8217;t going to force him into the lineup one day for the optics. The communication between both parties was not a one-way street. The Blue Jays could&#8217;ve very easily cut him when his rehab was taking far longer than anyone would&#8217;ve thought. Instead, out of genuine respect, they let Votto have a say in dictating what both sides should do.
The bottom line is that two things can be true here: it would&#8217;ve been cool to see Votto wearing Blue Jays blue this year, but it wouldn&#8217;t have made sense.
<blockquote>&#8220;Last thing I want to do is go to Toronto and stand at the plate and receive some, maybe more than some, acknowledgement, and then strike out, or look bad, or be embarrassed or sort of things,&#8221; Votto said. &#8220;So I just wasn&#8217;t there.&#8221;</blockquote>

Joey Votto was one of multiple MLB veterans that the Blue Jays signed to a minor league contract during the off-season. Of that group, he was certainly the most intriguing.



The potential Hall of Famer made one heck of an intro to the club when he homered off Zack Wheeler on March 17th in a Spring Training game against the Phillies. Unfortunately, he injured his ankle while stepping on a bat in the dugout during that same game, and it began a prolonged rehabilitation that featured a re-aggravation of the ankle injury before (what would've been) his first Triple-A appearance of the season in July. Votto finally logged action at Triple-A Buffalo on August 2nd, and the timing of his rehab began to coincide with a potential call-up later in the month when the Cincinnati Reds paid a visit to the Rogers Centre in Toronto.

That idea never came to reality, and neither did any big league at-bats for Votto in 2024, as he announced his retirement from the game of baseball on August 21st. Following the news, whether or not the Blue Jays should've given him a chance, much less one start, at the big league level this season became quite the debate amongst many baseball fans, particularly Blue Jays faithful.

Would Votto, a Toronto native, coming up to the big leagues in front of friends and family for one final send-off have been a terrific and moving moment? Absolutely. But ultimately, this decision was Votto's. In his media availability following his announcement, he didn't mince words when describing his performance in the minor leagues, referring to himself as "awful" and not nearing a point where he was major league ready. In 15 games with the Buffalo Bisons, Votto was slashing .143/.275/.214  with one home run and four RBIs.

Had Votto been called up, he would've needed to obtain a 40-man spot, meaning someone would need to be DFA'd or released. He didn't want to steal someone's playing time from the major league club, something he was already doing during his minor league stint.

<a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/joey-votto-on-fair-territory-retirement-decision-whats/id1674957140?i=1000668640012">Votto joined Ken Rosenthal on his podcast Fair Territory last week</a> to discuss a multitude of topics, including his decision to step away from the game.
<blockquote>"As far as how I'm feeling about [retiring], I'm glad. I'm glad because the responsibility of a Major League athlete is to perform and is to repeat performance. And of course, to help a team win. And I wasn't doing all three of those...I promised myself I would play until I thought I was not good enough anymore.

"100% healthy to me is when you don't think about the physical part of the game, you're only thinking about the competitive side. You're only thinking about preparation on a daily basis. And it just so happens that I was probably one foot into not being good enough anymore and another foot in the game."</blockquote>
One of the most telling quotes from his interview with Rosenthal was his words about his relationship and communication with the Blue Jays organization.
<blockquote>"I'm thankful to the Blue Jays for giving me such an opportunity. They let me play," Votto said. "It's rare in this sport where a team gives you so much space and so much leeway and so much respect that they let you, more or less, tell them when you're going to play. And they did that for me. And so I'm thankful for that. They helped me along in my rehab. They gave me every opportunity to succeed. They wanted to see me in Toronto and I wanted to be in Toronto for my friends, family and my country."</blockquote>
Votto also mentioned how he didn't want to get a "courtesy at-bat" in that it would be disrespectful to whoever's roster spot he took.

What we're getting here is honesty. We're getting an athlete who knew he wasn't ready to be playing in the major leagues, and while the organization wanted to do whatever they could to help him get there, they also weren't going to force him into the lineup one day for the optics. The communication between both parties was not a one-way street. The Blue Jays could've very easily cut him when his rehab was taking far longer than anyone would've thought. Instead, out of genuine respect, they let Votto have a say in dictating what both sides should do.

The bottom line is that two things can be true here: it would've been cool to see Votto wearing Blue Jays blue this year, but it wouldn't have made sense.
<blockquote>"Last thing I want to do is go to Toronto and stand at the plate and receive some, maybe more than some, acknowledgement, and then strike out, or look bad, or be embarrassed or sort of things," Votto said. "So I just wasn't there."</blockquote>

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