Blue Jays finally send struggling Manoah to minor leagues

The Alek Manoah experience with the Toronto Blue Jays is over: for now, at least.

The Blue Jays finally sent a struggling Manoah to the minor leagues as part of a series of roster moves announced on Tuesday.

Manoah has been sent to Toronto’s affiliate in the Florida Complex League — formerly known as the Gulf Coast League — in order to regain his struggling form. Toronto’s affiliate plays in Dunedin, at the same facility where the team plays their spring training games, as well as where the Single-A Dunedin Blue Jays play their home games.

ROSTER MOVES:

🔹 RHP Chris Bassitt reinstated from Paternity List

🔹 INF Santiago Espinal reinstated from 10-day IL

🔹 RHP Bowden Francis selected to Major League Roster

🔹 RHP Jay Jackson and INF Ernie Clement optioned to Triple-A

🔹 RHP Alek Manoah optioned to Florida… pic.twitter.com/r4rtfqzboV

— Toronto Blue Jays (@BlueJays) June 6, 2023

Manoah had a record of 16-7 with an ERA of 2.24 and 180 strikeouts in 31 appearances in 2022, while he is sporting a record of 1-7 with an ERA of 6.36 and 48 strikeouts in 13 appearances this season.

In a season of disappointments for the third-year starter, Manoah admitted the toughest part about it all was that he felt like he wasn’t pulling his weight for his fellow Blue Jays.

“Letting my teammates down,” Manoah replied to reporters following Monday’s outing when asked what the toughest part of the season was for him.

The 2022 Cy Young finalist had perhaps the worst start of his pro career on Monday, getting just one out while giving up six runs to the Houston Astros in an eventual 11-4 blowout loss.

“A lot of things I’ve been working on didn’t even have a chance to really go out there and use. Just got to show up tomorrow and get ready for the next one,” Manoah added about Monday’s tough outing.

“The main focus is just do whatever we need to do to get him better,” added Toronto manager John Schneider on Monday night. “We’re talking about a really good pitcher who’s going through a little bit of a tough time. The cool thing about this team and organization is, yeah, we’re willing to do anything that we feel like we need to do to help you and players understand that, too.”

New dad Chris Bassitt was reinstated to the roster, while Santiago Espinal is coming off of the ten-day injured list.

Meanwhile, right-handed pitcher Bowden Francis has been added to the Jays’ MLB roster.

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