The Blue Jays have reinstated outfielder/designated hitter George Springer from the 10-day injured list. In a corresponding move, designated hitter Eloy Jiménez has been designated for assignment. Hazel Mae of Sportsnet was first to report the moves.
It’s the inverse of a transaction from a couple of weeks ago. Springer fractured a bone in his left big toe when he fouled a ball off of his foot. On April 12th, he was placed on the IL, with Jiménez selected to take his place on the roster. Now that Springer is healthy enough to return, Jiménez has been bumped off.
In the meantime, Jiménez wasn’t able to do much to secure a longer look. He didn’t play the field, continuing a recent trend of his. He only played eight innings in the outfield in 2024 and none in 2025. As a bat-only player, he needs to hit to provide value, but he wasn’t able to do much of that. His .290 batting average looks nice but he didn’t produce an extra-base hit, leading to a .290/.343/.290 slash line and 82 wRC+, indicating he was 18% worse than league average at the plate overall.
That’s a small sample size of 35 plate appearances but continues a trend that began a few years ago. Though Jiménez was potent slugger for much of the 2019 to 2023 window, he hasn’t been in good form since. In 2024, he hit just six home runs in 98 games, leading to a .238/.289/.336 line and 78 wRC+. He didn’t play in the majors last year, spending the season in the minors, where he hit a combined .247/.326/.347 between the Triple-A teams of the Rays and the Jays.
There was a bit of optimism among some Jays fans when Jiménez put up a decent .286/.333/.524 line in spring training this year, followed by a .257/.372/.371 line in 11 Triple-A games. But as mentioned, his big league numbers were uninspiring. With Springer now back and likely to be in the DH spot most of the time, there wasn’t going to be much use for Jiménez.
Jiménez now heads into DFA limbo, which can last as long as a week. The waiver process takes 48 hours, so the Jays could take as long as five days to field trade interest, but they could also put him on waivers sooner if they so choose. Given his recent track record, it’s likely he will clear waivers. As a veteran with at least five years of major league service time, he has the right to reject an outright assignment and instead elect free agency. It’s possible the Jays will skip that step and just release him.
For the Jays, their hope is that greater health can steady the ship for them. They are out to a shaky 13-16 start as they have been battling a large number of injuries. They just got Trey Yesavage back in the mix yesterday and now Springer has rejoined the roster as well. José Berríos and Addison Barger could be next, with guys like Nathan Lukes and Alejandro Kirk ideally returning to the club in the not-too-distant future as well.
Photo courtesy of Mark J. Rebilas, Imagn Images
