Eloy Jimenez is back with John Schneider's organization, and the Blue Jays just made another low-cost bet on a bat that still has name value.
Toronto re-signed Jimenez to a minor league deal after he elected free agency earlier this month. That came after the Blue Jays designated him for assignment and he cleared waivers.
That sequence is the first thing that matters. Jimenez did not leave for a better major-league opportunity because one never showed up, so he circled back to the same club that had just pushed him off the roster.
The Blue Jays got a short look at him before the DFA. In 12 games, Jimenez hit .290 with a .343 on-base percentage over 35 plate appearances.
That batting average looks decent until the rest of the line shows up. He did not record an extra-base hit, which left him slugging .290 and stripped the production of any real damage.
That is why this is not some sneaky roster breakthrough. Toronto is not bringing back the old middle-order version of Jimenez. It is taking another look at a 29-year-old hitter whose power has faded hard.
Why the Blue Jays still brought him back
The answer starts with risk, or the lack of it. A non-roster minor league deal costs Toronto almost nothing and gives the club one more experienced bat to stash at Triple-A Buffalo.
There is still some history to sell. Jimenez hit 31 home runs as a rookie in 2019, and for a while he looked like the kind of right-handed force who could anchor a lineup.
That player has been hard to find for a while now. Since the start of 2023, Jimenez has posted a .259/.307/.393 line in 873 major-league plate appearances.
The rest of the profile makes the fit even narrower. Statcast had his sprint speed in the 21st percentile earlier this season, and his glove has never given a club much cover for a cold bat.
That is why Buffalo makes sense. Jimenez has played only 117 innings in the outfield since Opening Day 2023, and none of them came after 2024, so any path back is tied almost entirely to the bat.
Toronto is not asking him to save the lineup from down there. The Blue Jays are simply keeping a familiar power lottery ticket in the system in case injuries hit or a bench role opens later.
And that is the clean read on this move. Eloy Jimenez is getting another shot, but this one comes with less hype, less roster security, and a much smaller margin for error than the last time Toronto brought him in.
Should the Blue Jays give Eloy Jimenez another MLB chance later this season?
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