Maile ordered: Jays add to catching depth with trade

FLOYD WAIVED

Gavin Floyd, who pitched 31 innings for the Jays last season, battled a series of arm injuries over the last four seasons. few and far between. After undergoing Tommy John surgery in 2013, most of Floyd’s 2014 season was wiped out by a fractured olecranon bone in his right elbow. He suffered the very same injury the next spring and subsequently missed the first five months of the 2015 season.

Last year, he tallied 31 innings in the Toronto bullpen with a 4.06 ERA before incurring his shoulder injury.

“I love Gavin. He really had a good big-league career and he did a helluva job for us last year and then he (got hurt),” said Jays’ manager John Gibbons. “He’s one of the good guys.”

Second baseman Devon Travis did not start on Thursday but is expected to be in the lineup on Friday. Steve Pearce batted lead off in Travis’ place Thursday.

“I feel great, honestly,” Travis said, when asked if his off-season knee surgery had anything to do with his day off. “I guess the biggest thing is being smart with it. It didn’t really matter how I felt, (the day off ) was going to happen.” and have both genders compete only in a new 21.1-km half-marathon distance.

Australian race walker Chris Erickson started an online petition asking for the slate of Olympic events to remain the same in Tokyo as it was in Rio for 2020. From there, Erickson wants the IAAF and International Olympic Committee to meet with athletes to determine a new format that will ensure gender equity.

The petition had 1,500 supporters as of Thursday afternoon, including Olympian Mathieu Bilodeau, who moved to Vancouver from Calgary last fall to start training for Tokyo.

“Of course, I am questioning our decision of making this change right now,” Bilodeau said. “I am not fast enough to compete with the best in the world at the 20-km or short distances. My strength is definitely long endurance events … I know I have the potential of being on the podium in 2020.”