Toronto Options Manoah, Signs Bautista to One-Day Contract

He should get regular work with Buffalo over the next two weeks, to which he last pitched in 2021. He went 3-0 in three starts with a 0.50 ERA and a 0.56 WHIP in 18 innings of work. Manoah played at Toronto’s lowest minor-league level in his previous demotion, so this will be his first time back with the Bisons in two years. He is expected to be recalled once Major League Baseball’s expanded roster rule comes into effect on September 1.

“He has shown that he’s a very, very, very good major league starter,” Schneider added. “So we want to keep him in that role.”

Manoah went 2-2 in his seven starts since returning from the Florida Complex League on July 7, which is better than his 1-7 record and 6.36 ERA from the season’s start.

In a corresponding roster move, the Blue Jays recalled right-handed pitcher Hagen Danner from Buffalo, to which he will be available for Friday’s game against the Chicago Cubs.

Danner, 24, was drafted in the second round of the 2017 MLB Draft. He has yet to appear in a major league game and owns an 0-1 record to go alongside a 3.81 ERA and a 0.95 WHIP in 28.1 innings with the Bisons as a reliever this season.

In other news, Blue Jays legend Jose Bautista has agreed to a one-day contract with Toronto as a way of retiring as a Blue Jay.

“I’m happy to be here and I can’t wait for tomorrow,” Bautista said.

The 42-year-old will be inducted into Toronto’s Level of Excellence in advance of the team’s Saturday game against Chicago at Rogers Centre. In 10+ seasons with the Blue Jays, Bautista appeared in six All-Star Games while setting the franchise record with 54 home runs in 2010. His 288 home runs rank second in team history, trailing only Carlos Delgado (336).

“I think everybody knew for a while that I had, you know, been retired, but this is the way to make it official,” he added. “What other way to make it better than just coming back here to Toronto and signing this one-day contract and making it official, official.”

Sitting at 65-52, Toronto maintains the final American League Wild Card spot in its chase for the postseason, sitting one-and-a-half games ahead of the Seattle Mariners. The Blue Jays are chasing the 71-44 Baltimore Orioles and the 69-48 Tampa Bay Rays.