Viva Las Roster Moves
With the bevy of roster moves the Blue Jays have made over the past month, I suggested on Twitter last week that they should just construct a monorail from Toronto to Las Vegas.
It might not be such a bad idea, as members of the Blue Jays roster are already racking up frequent flyer miles between Toronto and Las Vegas. Just take a look at all the roster moves since Opening Day:
| Date | Player | Transaction |
|---|---|---|
| April 7 | Casey Jannsen | Sent to Minors |
| April 8 | Octavio Dotel | Removed From 15-Day DL |
| April 9 | Mike McCoy | Sent to Minors |
| April 9 | Scott Richmond | Called up from Minors |
| April 9 | Scott Richmond | Sent to Minors |
| April 11 | DeWayne Wise | Signed to Minor League Contract |
| April 11 | Corey Patterson | Recalled from Minors |
| April 12 | David Purcey | Designated for Assignment |
| April 12 | Rajai Davis | Placed on 15-Day DL |
| April 12 | Brad Mills | Recalled from Minors |
| April 12 | Casey Janssen | Recalled from Minors |
| April 13 | Brad Mills | Sent to Minors |
| April 15 | Edwin Encarnacion | Placed on Bereavement List |
| April 15 | Mike McCoy | Called up from Minors |
| April 15 | Luis Perez | Called up from Minors |
| April 17 | Mike McCoy | Sent to Minors |
| April 18 | Edwin Encarnacion | Reinstated from Bereavement List |
| April 19 | Jesse Litsch | Sent to Minors |
| April 19 | Frank Francisco | Removed From 15-Day DL |
| April 20 | Luis Perez | Sent to Minors |
| April 21 | Brandon Morrow | Removed From 15-Day DL |
| April 21 | Chris Woodward | Called Up from Minors |
| April 21 | Brett Cecil | Sent to Minors |
| April 23 | Jayson Nix | Placed on the 15-Day DL |
| April 23 | Mike McCoy | Called up from Minors |
| April 24 | Aaron Hill | Placed on 15-Day DL |
| April 24 | Jesse Litsch | Called up from Minors |
In total, the Blue Jays have made 27 roster moves since April 1st. As a comparison, last year the Blue Jays didn’t reach the 27 roster move mark until nearly halfway through the season on June 20th.
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Mike McCoy has arguably had the worst of it, making his third trip with the club already. Scott Richmond was called up and sent down the same day, and Jesse Litsch was sent down and called up within the same week.
It can’t be good for a player’s psyche to be yo-yo’d around like that; living in the constant fear of being sent down to the minor leagues at a moment’s notice.
Unlike other organizations, the Toronto Blue Jays are not fortune to have a Triple A affiliate in their own backyard. Cork Gaines of Business Insider discovered the Blue Jays are the team with the longest distance between their Triple A team and the parent organization.
The distance between Toronto and Las Vegas is 2,261 miles or 3,369 kilometers. That’s nearly twice as long as the next furthest team, the Minnesota Twins and their affiliate in Rochester, New York.
Las Vegas is a long cry from when the Syracuse Chiefs used to be the Blue Jays Triple A team from 1978 to 2008. It used to be a short one hour flight across Lake Ontario from point A to point B.
Back in the day, the Blue Jays probably could have called a player up from Syracuse at the start of the game, have them hop on a plane, and they could arrive in Toronto and be inserted into the game later on.
Now since the 51’s are in Las Vegas, the turnaround time has to be at least a day. And in come cases, things change so quickly that players may even be on their flight from Las Vegas to Toronto when another roster move is made.
The only piece of advice I can offer to players being called up from Las Vegas is don’t unpack and get too comfortable, because you might be on the red eye out of town that night.
Should be Lake Ontario, not Erie.
I wonder if this distance thing might be a bit overstated. At least there are frequent direct flights from Vegas to Toronto (and any other road city, really). How much extra time does it really take, if any?
sporkless, this is where my lack of attention in Grade 6 Geography class is very prevalent.
I probably am over-exaggerating a little bit. In actuality, it's only about 4-5 hours from LV to TO, so it's not like the players are spending the entire day on the plane.
It's just that since the moves have been so fast and furious lately, things really can change on a dime, which sucks for players who are either just landing in Vegas or Toronto.
Ian,
Gr 6 geography really wasn't important anyway. There was no baseball.
Ball Fan, good point! If there were a Baseball History class back in grade school, perhaps I would've paid more attention.
Just a minor update, I think Wise was signed to a minor league contract, not a major league one.
http://twitter.com/#!/RGriffinStar/status/57624916492685313
Dan, you are correct sir, my mistake. Obviously it was a minor league deal otherwise Wise would be on the roster. And the way things are going, I wouldn't be surprised to see him on the 25-man very soon.
it's a long flight with a time change, that's for sure.
this is a good blog and thanks for the reminder. i'm finding it rather reading online comments over at the star where clearly uninformed people are screeching about bringing up lawrie and thames etc etc. the minors are there for a reason, people! let them develop. plenty of time to bring them up yet. the jays are holding it together with a skeleton crew and through a very tough schedule. hopefully by the time we get all the regulars back, we'll be into a better part of the schedule and we can pick up a solid few wins. until then…..we wait 🙂
Julie, exactly – the baseball season isn't a sprint, it's a marathon. No sense in calling up Brett Lawrie or Eric Thames at this point in April because the season is not on the line at this point.
Maybe if it were July and the Blue Jays were 2 games out and needed help from the cavalries, then yes I'd say bring them up. But I don't see the advantage of starting their service time clock early when it's only 1 month into the season.
How do I get to bid on the Toronto travel agency contract?