TORONTO — The Blue Jays are bringing back an old friend for the stretch run, claiming utilityman Isiah Kiner-Falefa off waivers from the Pirates on Sunday.
Kiner-Falefa signed a two-year deal with the Blue Jays entering the 2024 season, but was traded to the Pirates at last year’s deadline for No. 16 prospect Charles McAdoo. Recently placed on outright waivers by the Pirates, Kiner-Falefa is coming back to finish this contract where it began.
“I’m happy to have Izzy back, man. He’s a gamer. He’s a winner,” said manager John Schneider.
To make room on the 40-man roster, the Blue Jays have transferred Yimi García to the 60-day IL, a simple move given that García is undergoing season-ending surgery to remove scar tissue from his right elbow. The timing of this matters, too, as Kiner-Falefa will now be playoff-eligible because he is on the 40-man roster before Sept. 1.
Going back to 2024, Kiner-Falefa immediately became one of the most respected players in the Blue Jays’ clubhouse by coaches and teammates alike. He went on a nice run with the Blue Jays, too, batting .292 with a .758 OPS over 83 games split mostly between third base and shortstop when Bo Bichette dealt with injuries.
When Kiner-Falefa hit waivers, there was initially a logical fit after the Blue Jays shared that Ernie Clement was playing with a hairline fracture to a small bone at the base of his left middle finger, but Clement was in the lineup Sunday after pinch-hitting Saturday. Schneider recently joked that Clement, one of the toughest players to keep out of the lineup, probably spent the recent off-day playing hockey, so it doesn’t sound like he’ll need any additional time off.
“This is just bringing in an additional winning, grinding type of player,” Schneider said. “With how we unfold our roster every single day, we’re mixing and matching a lot more. If it means you can be more aggressive with pinch-hitting early and then have a right-handed bat that you know can make contact, run and play anywhere in the field, that’s it. It doesn’t really affect anyone’s role here right now.”
Regardless of how the Blue Jays put this puzzle back together, they now have another trusted option ahead of rosters expanding on Sept. 1 to 14 position players and 14 pitchers. Schneider says that the additional pitcher will be “a reliever,” as far as he was willing to go without the move being official, but the Kiner-Falefa news takes care of the position player side to open the final month.
