The Blue Jays outrighted right-hander Lazaro Estrada to Triple-A Buffalo, the club announced. Toronto designated him for assignment over the weekend when they needed a 40-man roster spot to bring up Daz Cameron.
Estrada is a 27-year-old who has played an up-and-down middle relief role for the last couple seasons. He has a near-7.00 earned run average across 20 1/3 MLB innings. The Cuban-born pitcher has a decent minor league track record but has yet to fool big league hitters. Estrada missed a couple months early in the season with a shoulder impingement and has been limited to 25 Triple-A frames this year. He carries a 2.52 ERA with an above-average 26% strikeout rate.
It’s a little surprising that the minor league production wasn’t enough to convince another team to take a flier on waivers. This is Estrada’s first outright and he has less than three years of MLB service time. That means he’ll need to accept the assignment and play out the rest of the season with the Bisons. Estrada will be a minor league free agent after the season if Toronto doesn’t put him back on the 40-man roster.
Francys Romero reported the move before the club announcement.
