Trey Yesavage started collecting cards about the time that he was called up to the big leagues last year. He collects some baseball cards but also football cards. But, if you want to mail him cards through the mail to sign for you, just don't.
On the We the Hobby podcast, Yesavage said that he doesn't collect cards of himself, but he also isn't going to sign cards sent to him through the mail.
"People send me my cards in the mail to sign and send back, but I don't sign them. I'll put that out there. if you send them to me, you're not going to get them back. I do keep some of them and give them to my family and whatnot, but I really don't collect any higher-end stuff of myself."
He doesn't really explain why he doesn't do it. It doesn't appear to come from a place of anger. In the interview, he just said it simply, straightforward.
Does that bother you? Do you care? If you send cards through the mail, what is your expectation for return? Share your thoughts.
(time stamp about 16:12)
In the 25-minute conversation recorded about a week ago, the Blue Jays (can we call him an Ace yet?) pitcher discussed a number of topics from his rehab, the high moments of the playoffs and his call up, and much, much more.
While there were a slew of moves Wednesday by the Toronto Blue Jays, there was only one set that affected the 26-man roster.
That was the Jays calling up right-handed reliever Austin Voth from Triple-A Buffalo and sending right-handed reliever Tanner Andrews back down to Triple-A.
The others included a trade, with right-hander Connor Seabold being reacquired from the Detroit Tigers in exchange for left-hander Juanmi Vasquez, and right-handed starter Jose Berrios (15-day injured list, right elbow stress fracture) and catcher Alejandro Kirk (10-day injured list, fractured left thumb) being transferred to the 60-day injured list. Those were paperwork moves to create room on the 40-man roster for Voth and Seabold. Seabold had been designated for assignment by the Tigers. The Jays will have to make a 26-man roster move once Seabold reports to the team. Another move, reported Tuesday, was made official as the Jays signed right-handed reliever Matt Bowman to a minor-league contract.
Voth is making his second appearance with the Jays this season. He was called up April 5 and pitched 2⅔ innings that day against the Chicago White Sox in a 3-0 loss, allowing one run on three hits with a walk and a strikeout. Voth was DFA'd the next day, went unclaimed and chose to become a free agent only to re-sign with the Jays on April 11 on a minor-league contract. He didn't pitch in the majors in 2025, last appearing with the Seattle Mariners in 2024.
Andrews was called up Monday to make his MLB debut and he appeared in games Monday and Tuesday, pitching two innings, giving up no runs on one hit with two walks and a strikeout.
Seabold is back with the Jays after signing a minor-league contract in January. But the Jays released him a few days before Opening Day and scooped up by the Tigers, who included him on the season-opening roster. He then went on the 15-day IL on April 26 with inflammation in his left ankle and returned to the MLB roster May 15, but was DFA'd Sunday. He appeared in 11 games for the Tigers, with a 3.45 ERA over 15⅔ innings, with 17 hits, five walks and 14 strikeouts.
It's more bad news for yet another Toronto Blue Jays pitcher. Left-hander Joe Mantiply, who has already been on the IL for the past two weeks, needs surgery to repair the damage in his left knee. It will be an arthroscopic procedure.
The good news is that the Jays expect to have Mantiply back at some point later this year, although it might be toward the end of the season. The 35-year-old pitched well for Toronto before he hit the shelf, tossing 17.2 innings with a 2.04 ERA. He struck out 16 and walked four, generating groundballs at a 48.9% rate.
While Mantiply is out, the Blue Jays will continue to lean heavily on fellow left-hander Mason Fluharty. Rookie southpaw Adam Macko will also have a chance to carve out a more permanent role in Toronto's bullpen if he continues to succeed.
Caleb Freeman was getting ready to start the 2026 campaign in the Mexican League before the Blue Jays came calling. After seven years in the White Sox organization, Freeman elected free agency this past fall. He spent a few months on the open market before he landed with the Rieleros de Aguascalientes, but it turns out he won't be playing in Mexico after all. According to his transaction log on MLB.com, the right-hander signed a minor league contract with Toronto earlier this week.
Freeman, 28, made his MLB debut with the White Sox in 2025, facing 16 batters over five appearances and recording 10 outs. He struck out three, walked one, and gave up two earned runs on five hits. While the sample was tiny and the results were mediocre, the righty hit 97 mph with his fastball and flashed a genuinely nasty slider against same-handed hitters.
With that said, raw stuff has never been the problem for Freeman. His command has always been shaky, and he owns a 14.2% walk rate in his six minor league seasons. While he only walked one of the 16 batters he faced at the big league level in 2025, his 15.7% walk rate in 43 games between Double and Triple A suggests his control issues haven't gone away.
Freeman has already been assigned to the New Hampshire Fisher Cats, so he will presumably begin the year at Double A. He's an arm to keep in mind should the Blue Jays need a short-term stopgap in the 'pen, but he'll have to cut down on the walks if he wants an extended look in Toronto.
In a surprising move, the Blue Jays are trading right-handed reliever Tommy Nance to the Twins. ESPN's Alden Gonzalez was the first to report the trade.
According to Sportsnet's Ben Nicholson-Smith, the Blue Jays will receive catching prospect Ryan Sprock in exchange for Nance.
This news might concern Blue Jays fans with the implication that the team will be selling at the deadline. However, it's more likely that they simply got an offer that they decided was too good to pass up for a middle reliever who's out of options. If the Jays pursue bullpen upgrades later this month, there's a good chance Nance would have been out of a job anyway, and this move guarantees the Blue Jays don't lose him for nothing.
No one knows how CBA negotiations between MLB and the MLBPA will affect the 2027 season. However, we now know what the schedule will look like, presuming no prolonged work stoppage.
The season will begin with one game on Wednesday, March 24. The teams for that game have not yet been announced.
Opening Day for the Blue Jays will be Thursday, March 25, 2027, unless they're chosen to play the day before. They will take on the Yankees in a three-game set in the Bronx, before travelling to Baltimore for a series with the Orioles.
The home opener is set for Friday, April 2, against the Mariners.
The Jays will be home for Canada Day (facing the Angels) before departing on a 10-game road trip heading into the All-Star break. The Midsummer Classic is scheduled for July 13 at Wrigley Field.
Finally, the Blue Jays will end their 2027 regular season at home with series against the Yankees and Rays, wrapping up on September 26. You can find their full 2027 schedule here.
So much for day to day. Dylan Cease is heading to the injured list after straining his left hamstring in Sunday's series finale against the Pirates. There's no timeline for his return as of yet, but John Schneider is hopeful that it's a "minimal stay." The earliest Cease could return is June 9.
The Blue Jays were already working a less-than-full rotation before Cease's injury. In addition to Cease, Kevin Gausman, Trey Yesavage, and Patrick Corbin, rookie Spencer Miles has been filling a bulk role in pseudo bullpen games. It isn't clear yet who the Blue Jays will call up to replace Cease right away or how they'll get through the next couple of weeks without him.
As for Cease, this will likely end his streak of five straight seasons with at least 32 starts. This is the first non-COVID-related IL stint of his eight-year MLB career.
In the five-year, $110 million contract that Kevin Gausman signed with the Toronto Blue Jays before the 2022 season, the right-hander negotiated a limited no-trade clause. He has the right to reject a trade to eight of the other 29 teams.
Today, The Athletic's Ken Rosenthal reported which teams those are: the Reds, Brewers, Tigers, Mets, Athletics, White Sox, Pirates, and Mariners.
Of those teams, the Reds, Mets, and Athletics will not be buyers at the trade deadline, while the Tigers are still on the fence. The Pirates are interested in buying without taking on salary. The Mariners will be buying, but starting pitching is the one thing they definitely don't need. In other words, most of the teams that might be interested in Gausman aren't covered under his partial no-trade clause. And if a contender like the White Sox or especially the Brewers came calling, there's a good chance Gausman would accept a trade anyway.
With that said, Gausman told reporters (including MLB.com's Keegan Matheson) after his latest start, "I'm not going to think about [the possibility of being traded] too much. I'm a Blue Jay right now, and the focus is this team, this room and those guys."
A day after welcoming back Trey Yesavage, the Blue Jays announced that George Springer has been activated off the 10-day injured list. While Springer will not be in the starting lineup during the Blue Jays’ series finale against the Boston Red Sox, he will be available off the bench.
Springer originally fractured his left big toe on April 11 after following a pitch off his foot. The 36-year-old exited the contest and has missed the past 15 games after being placed on the IL on April 12.
Through 14 games, Springer is batting .185 with two home runs and six RBIs. During his absence, the Blue Jays have gone 7-8, and have been rotating Myles Straw, Nathan Lukes, and Ernie Clement through the leadoff spot.
In a corresponding move, the Blue Jays designated Eloy Jiménez for assignment. The 29-year-old appeared in 12 games with the Blue Jays, batting .290 with three RBIs and a .343 on-base percentage.
With Springer set to return to the DH role, and Jiménez offering no real positional flexibility, the Blue Jays were forced to make this move.
First pitch on Wednesday is set for 3:07 p.m. at the Rogers Centre.
The right-handed starter was activated from the 15-day injured list Tuesday by the Toronto Blue Jays, who optioned left-handed reliever Adam Macko to Triple-A Buffalo. Cease, who has been out since March 25 with a strained right hamstring, is scheduled to start Tuesday against the Philadelphia Phillies.
Cease, who signed a seven-year, $210 million contract as a free agent this offseason, has a 2.59 FIP (3.05 ERA) in 11 starts over 62 innings, with a 10.1% walk rate and a career-best 35.7% strikeout rate before being injured.
Macko has made 12 appearances, including his MLB debut, over 12 innings, with a 2.94 FIP (1.50 ERA), posting an excellent 4.2% walk rate to go along with an above-average 25% strikeout rate.
His demotion leaves Mason Fluharty as the only left-hander in the bullpen and just one of two lefties on the staff (starter Patrick Corbin is the other).
Despite a first half filled with struggles, the defending AL champion Toronto Blue Jays will have two players starting in the All-Star Game. Two pitchers are going, too.
The All-Star Game is July 14 at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia. While Guerrero is in for the sixth straight time, Clement, Cease and Varland are first-time All-Stars. Guerrero said he will sit out the game to rest his lower back, which has been hurting him.
Clement, a Blue Jays fan favorite, entered Saturday with a slash line of .295/.319/.434 with seven homers and 29 RBIs. He leads the AL with 22 doubles.
Guerrero has had a subpar first half with a slash line of .268/.349/.350 and just four homers and 35 RBIs. His career slash line is .287/.364/.484 and has hit at least 23 homers in the previous five seasons.
Cease has a 2.79 ERA in 16 starts and 90⅓ innings with an 11% walk rate and career-best 36.7% strikeout rate.
Varland, acquired at last year’s trade deadline from the Minnesota Twins and a key bullpen component as they made their World Series run, has a 0.96 ERA in 47 innings over 42 games. He has a 7.2% walk rate and career-best 35.9% strikeout rate.
The nine starters for each team were determined by two rounds of fan balloting, with Los Angeles Dodgers designated hitter Shohei Ohtani and Clement getting automatically selected to start by virtue of leading the first round in the NL and AL, respectively.
Last week, the Blue Jays designated Tyler Heineman for assignment when they activatedAlejandro Kirk from the injured list. Today, they traded him to the Angels for cash considerations.
Heineman, 34, spent parts of the past five seasons with Toronto. In that time, he played 126 games over numerous stints with the Jays, hitting .242 with a .663 OPS, while consistently playing superb defense. He was a surprisingly important contributor to the 2025 AL pennant-winning team, enjoying an unusually productive season for a backup catcher.
While his defense in 2026 has been as excellent as ever, his offense has been poor. Considering Brandon Valenzuela's success on both sides of the ball, it wasn't surprising when the Blue Jays decided to DFA Heineman last Friday. However, considering how many times they have re-acquired Heineman in the past, it also wouldn't be surprising to see the journeyman backstop back in a Blue Jays uniform someday.
Speaking to reporters before Tuesday's game against the Tampa Bay Rays, Toronto Blue Jays manager John Schneider revealed that José Berríos is going for an MRI on his pitching elbow. The right-hander has been on the injured list all season with a stress fracture.
Although he claimed to feel fully healthy entering the spring, Berríos was shut down after testing revealed the fracture in his elbow. He started a rehab assignment in mid-April. In four minor league outings, he has given up 17 runs in 14.1 innings, struggling with control and failing to miss bats. His velocity was noticeably down in his latest appearance.
Presumably, the team will have more information to offer tomorrow. While we can only speculate what this means for Berríos until we learn the results of his MRI, it seems likely that the Jays will need Eric Lauer for at least one more turn through the rotation.
José Berríos has been on the injured list all season with a stress fracture in his right elbow. He seemed to be nearing a return until he suffered a setback after four rehab starts. He has since gone for imaging and met with Dr. Keith Meister. Today, John Schneider told reporters, including Sportsnet's Ben Nicholson-Smith, that "surgery is on the table" for Berríos.
Given all the confusing details surrounding the right-hander's elbow health, it's hard to guess what kind of surgery it would be. However, at this point in the year, it's very likely that any kind of surgery would end his season.
Rotation depth continues to be an issue for the Blue Jays, with Shane Bieber, Cody Ponce, and Max Scherzer joining Berríos on the IL. Eric Lauer was designated for assignment earlier this week, leaving just four fixtures on Toronto's starting staff: Kevin Gausman, Dylan Cease, Trey Yesavage, and Patrick Corbin. While the team has survived to this point, losing Berríos for the year could be tough to overcome.
It's unfortunately official. Yesterday, manager John Schneider suggested that surgery was "on the table" for right-hander José Berríos. Today, he confirmed that Berríos will indeed go under the knife. The surgery will take place on Wednesday.
Berríos has been on the injured list all season with a stress fracture in his right elbow. On Friday, Schneider said he did not believe the issue involved any soft tissue damage:
Today, however, he revealed that there could be "some ligament stuff going on" after all:
According to MLB.com's Keegan Matheson, Berríos could return within a couple of months in a best-case scenario. But if his surgeons discover any soft tissue damage during the initial procedure, he would surely be out significantly longer.
The unexpected journey of the Toronto Blue Jays' pitching staff has led to Dallas. Chad Dallas, that is.
The right-handed starter had his contract selected from Triple-A Buffalo to and is expected to make his MLB debut Thursday against Atlanta. The Jays optioned right-handed reliever Hayden Juenger, who made his MLB debut Sunday, to Triple-A. Right-handed reliever Tanner Andrews was designated for assignment to make room for Dallas on the 40-man roster.
Dallas, a 25-year-old who was the Jays' fourth-round draft choice in 2021 out of Tennessee, has made eight starts in his 10 appearances this year at Triple-A, where he had a 4.50 ERA with 13 walks and 38 strikeouts in 36 innings.
Juenger pitched twice in his four days in the majors. He allowed three runs in his debut Sunday, giving up two hits and walking two with no strikeouts in a 9-5 loss to the Baltimore Orioles. But he bounced back with a perfect inning Wednesday in a 7-3 loss to Atlanta.
Andrews, who was at Triple-A, had appeared in two MLB games with the Jays, throwing three shutout innings, giving up one hit and two walks with a strikeout. At Triple-A, he had a 1.29 ERA in 17 games and 21 innings, allowing 15 walks and striking out 23.
Corner infielder Sean Keys, Jays Centre's No. 7 prospect, is reportedly being called up from Triple-A Buffalo to make his MLB debut. The move will be made before Saturday's game. Keys hit his 21st homer of the season Thursday for Buffalo.
That followed a two-homer game Wednesday. Keys now has seven homers since being called up from Double-A New Hampshire on June 5.
Between the two stops, Keys is slashing .284/.409/.619 with 54 RBIs and seven stolen bases in 67 games. At Buffalo, he has a .281/.403/.719 slash line with 20 RBIs in 18 games.
Keys was the Jays' fourth-round draft choice in 2024 out of Bucknell.
Moves to accommodate Keys on the 26- and 40-man rosters will need to be made, much less where he fits into the Jays' lineup.
On Thursday, Blue Jays manager John Schneider revealed that Jose Berríos has been diagnosed with inflammation in his pitching elbow (per MLB.com's Keegan Matheson). Fortunately, no one seems overly concerned, and Berríos will not be shut down from baseball activities.
"I've been feeling great and throwing the ball well," Berríos told reporters (including Sportsnet's David Singh). "But the MRI says something, so now we have to take care of that."
Indeed, both player and manager seem surprised by the results of the MRI. After all, just a few weeks ago, Berríos spoke about how healthy he was feeling: "Last year, at this time, I had doubt in my mind already. Today, I felt like nothing's on my mind. I'm clear."
Schneider was clear to note that it was "different inflammation" than anything Berríos dealt with last season. Whether that's good news or bad news is hard to say.
"We're kind of still in the information gathering stage," Schneider explained (per Singh).
On Saturday morning, Toronto Blue Jays manager John Schneider announced that right-hander Kevin Gausman will be the club's Opening Day starter when the Blue Jays’ season kicks off on Friday, March 27, at the Rogers Centre against the Athletics.
This marks the first time that Gausman has been tasked with the Opening Day role in a Blue Jays uniform, though it will be the third Opening Day start of his big league career. Gausman’s first Opening Day start came in 2017 as a member of the Baltimore Orioles, then again in 2021 with the San Francisco Giants.
Speaking to the media this morning, Schneider touched on the decision to give the 35-year-old the ball for game one.
“Pumped for him, pumped for us. About time he got one, kind of what me and Pete [Walker] told him,” Schneider said (per Sportsnet). “Still figuring out the rest of the rotation, how that lines up, but I'm excited for Kevin to get us going.”
Gausman is entering the final year of his five-year, $110 million contract, which he signed on December 1, 2021. Over his Blue Jays’ career, Gausman has pitched to a 48-41 record, while posting an ERA of 3.48.
Last season, Gausman was brilliant for the Blue Jays, producing an ERA of 3.59, a FIP of 3.41 and a WHIP of 1.06. Across 32 regular season starts, Gausman struck out 189 batters over 193 innings pitched, relying on his devastating splitter to leave hitters in knots at the plate. Gausman held opponents to a .216 batting average, the second-best mark of his career.
During the Blue Jays’ run to the World Series, Gausman only got better. In six appearances, he pitched to an ERA of 2.93. The right-hander tossed 30 ⅓ innings, recording 26 strikeouts, while holding opponents to a .159 average.
As the Blue Jays are dealing with injuries to José Berríos and Shane Bieber, while also slowly bringing rookie Trey Yesavage along, Gausman will be tasked with leading a rotation that is hopefully going to be a strength for the team in 2026.
The Jays can free up space for McAdoo on the active and 40-man rosters by designating Lenyn Sosa for assignment. While I'm only speculating, it's all but certain that's how they're going to do it (unless there's been another injury we don't know about).
McAdoo, like Sosa, is a right-handed-hitting infielder. He is primarily a third baseman but has recently started getting reps in at second base, which is Sosa's primary position. And while Sosa is hitting beyond poorly this season (.195 with a .490 OPS), McAdoo has hit well down in Triple-A Buffalo. He has eight home runs and a 13.9% walk rate, and his wRC+ is 12% better than league average.
The Blue Jays will hope McAdoo can keep it up at the MLB level, much like his former Bisons teammates Yohendrick Piñango and Brandon Valenzuela.
Before he could make his first official appearance in spring training, left-hander Ricky Tiedemann suffered a setback: soreness in his pitching elbow. Thankfully, an MRI did not find any structural damage, but the top prospect will not throw for at least the next week (per Sportsnet).
Tiedemann, 23, sat out all of 2025 after undergoing Tommy John surgery. He was expected to slowly build up his strength and compete for a role in Toronto's big league bullpen at some point this season. This latest news doesn't necessarily change that, but it's hard not to be worried about an update like this concerning a hard-throwing young pitcher.
The latest update on right-hander Chay Yeager is even less encouraging. According to Sportsnet's Shi Davidi, the 23-year-old met with Dr. Keith Meister on Tuesday, and he could require surgery. Meister is a well-known specialist when it comes to UCL reconstruction.
Yeager is coming off a strong season in which he pitched to a 2.75 ERA and 3.45 FIP in 55.2 innings between High-A and Double-A. He was invited to MLB spring training for the first time this year.
As expected, outfielder Nathan Lukes is back. Somewhat surprisingly, it cost Davis Schneider his spot in the majors.
The Toronto Blue Jays on Monday activated Lukes from the 10-day injured list and optioned the struggling Schneider to Triple-A Buffalo. Lukes has been on the IL since April 25 with a strained left hamstring. Also, right-handed starter Shane Bieber is beginning a rehab assignment in the Florida Complex League. He has not pitched this season due to right elbow inflammation.
Lukes was slashing .250/.286/.327 with no homers and eight RBIs in 20 games before being injured.
Schneider, a fan favorite, has not been able to get going offensively this season and has a .127/.295/.211 slash line with a homer and eight RBIs in 38 games. He has drawn 17 walks. The decision to option Schneider instead of someone such as Lenyn Sosa could be as a result of superstar first baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr. being hit on the right elbow by a pitch Sunday.
On Monday, Baseball Canada named first baseman Josh Naylor the captain of Team Canada for the World Baseball Classic.
Naylor, 28, was born and raised in Mississauga, Ontario and grew up a fan of the Toronto Blue Jays. However, he's not necessarily popular with Jays fans after his performance last October; playing for the Seattle Mariners, he went 10-for-24 with three home runs in the ALCS, doing everything in his power to try to stop Toronto from reaching the World Series. He became the first Canadian-born player to hit a postseason home run in Canada for a team other than the Blue Jays.
This will be Naylor's second time participating in the WBC. He played for Canada in the 2017 tournament two years before he made his MLB debut, but an ankle injury kept him from suiting up in 2023. With veteran Freddie Freeman sitting out this year, the young, multi-talented Naylor is an excellent choice to lead Team Canada in 2026.
Team Canada will play an exhibition match against the Blue Jays this afternoon in Dunedin.
The Toronto Blue Jays have officially selected infield prospect Charles McAdoo to their active roster. He will replace fellow righty-batting infielder Lenyn Sosa, who heads to the IL with a right wrist contusion after getting hit by a pitch on Tuesday. Lazaro Estrada (shoulder impingement) has been transferred to the 60-day IL to open space on the 40-man roster; the right-hander had been on the 15-day IL since April 4. The Jays will hope McAdoo (Jays Centre's No. 14 prospect) can be a spark for their offense, which has struggled against left-handed pitching in 2026.
In addition, Connor Seabold has reported to the Jays. He will be available out of the bullpen tonight, giving the Jays a much-needed fresh arm. Fellow right-hander Chase Lee has been optioned to make room on the active roster. Toronto already freed up a 40-man slot for Seabold when they traded for him yesterday.
The Toronto Blue Jays on Saturday called up right-handed reliever Hayden Juenger to make his MLB debut. Right-handed reliever Austin Voth was designated for assignment.
A sixth-round draft choice by the Jays in the 2021 draft out of Missouri State, the 25-year-old Juenger has been good at Triple-A this season, posting a 3.15 ERA in 17 appearances and 20 innings, walking eight and striking out 23. He has been a reliever these last four seasons after trying his hand at starting in 2022. He rose through the ranks quickly, debuting at High-A in 2021, then splitting time between Double-A and Triple-A in 2022. He has been at Triple-A since, other than some rehab appearances last year. For his career, Juenger has a 4.45 ERA.
Voth appeared in Friday's 6-5 loss to the Baltimore Orioles, giving up five runs in 3⅓ innings, including five hits and four walks with no strikeouts.