The Current Viewpoint On Alek Manoah

If you kept up with the Toronto Blue Jays through August and September, you may have asked, Where is Alek Manoah? Well, he was in Triple-A; the question here is was he rehabbing his shoulder or facing Triple-A competition in an attempt to get back to his Cy Young Caliber 2022 season? Well, he wasn’t doing either. Manoah was sent down to Class A at the beginning of June after 13 starts, due to poor performance. This is similar to what the Blue Jays did to a young Roy Halladay in 2001 when he was getting his feet wet in the Big Leagues. Halladay came back and became one of the best pitchers to ever step on the mound. For Alek on the other hand, things weren’t exactly going the same, as later in the month, he made his highly anticipated Class A Dunedin Debut, and embarrassingly, he allowed 11 runs in 2.2 innings pitched, against teenagers. Skip ahead to a double A start, it was a more encouraging start for him. The beginning of July rolled around and the Manager John Schneider and the Jays felt confident enough in the Opening Day starter and recalled him from the minors to start every 5 days again. After another month with the big club where he had a record of 2-2 in 7 starts, he was still struggling to consistently throw strikes and be effective. In August he found himself optioned once again, but this time he didn’t report to the Triple-A team. Reports ended up coming out that he was disgruntled and didn’t think his performance warranted a second demotion. This decision also didn’t count as a year on his service time, so he would have to wait an extra year for free agency when the time comes. This upset him and his camp greatly, so in return they would eventually report but refuse to participate in any baseball-related activities and he ultimately got a cortisone shot in his shoulder to be shut down for the rest of the season. This brings us to some interesting news.

It is no surprise that Alek Manoah intrigues other General Managers going into the offseason with his age, team control and potential he has shown in the past. Word going into the offseason from General Manager Ross Atkins on Manoah was that he "earned the right to have a strong leg up" for an Opening Day rotation spot in 2024. The feeling of awkwardness surrounding Manoah and the Blue Jays did not change after these statements, as fans still speculated a trade is still very possible for the former fan-favourite pitcher. A report from Jon Heyman (an insider for MLB Network and Audacy Sports)from last month, stated that Alek Manoah’s name has come up in a potential trade for Juan Soto. This was the first time we had heard his name come up in trade talks. Now, with Juan Soto being traded to the Yankees, we are not sure if he was included in any type of offer, but the day after, a report from the Athletic stated the Angels have had talks regarding Manoah as they are looking for rotation help. Atkins responded to these rumours stating “Those discussions didn’t generate any traction” and said that the club was “not planning to move any of its starters despite receiving interest.” For Alek Manoah, what is in store for him?

If he (Manoah) stays with the team, it would be no surprise to see him make the rotation and even return to something similar to his 2021-2022 performance. He has been adamant in posting videos of him working on his conditioning at his complex in hopes of bouncing back and proving to every doubter that he is still an ace. In a case like this, Manoah being involved in a trade does not make sense and I believe he will make the team out of spring. They (Blue Jays) expect him to get back to the performance they were used to when he was named the opening-day starter at the beginning of the 2023 season.