Jays: Grilli doesn’t need to look behind the mask
Jason Grilli was excited to join the Blue Jays for a few different reasons. For one, the Jays are the team the 39-year-old right-hander cheered for growing up in Syracuse, N.Y.
Two, he leaves the last-place Atlanta Braves for a team with playoff aspirations.
And three, he has the chance to renew his relationship with Russell Martin, his former teammate in Pittsburgh.
“I think he put in a good word for me,” Grilli said before Wednesday’s game.
Grilli enjoyed the best season of his career pitching to Martin in 2013, when he collected 33 saves as the Pirates’ closer, was named to the all-star team and helped Pittsburgh end their 20-year playoff drought.
“I thanked him up and down,” said Grille. “I said, ‘I think you had something to do with me coming over here, didn’t you?’”
Someone else to catch up with
Grilli has two former batterymates in his new clubhouse. The Jays’ bullpen catcher, Alex Andreopoulos, caught Grilli in college when they both played for the Seton Hall University Pirates in South Orange, N.J. Back in 1995, Andreopoulos hit .311 in his senior year as the team’s starting catcher, while Grilli was a freshman.
“You could tell he was going to be good,” Andreopoulos said before Wednesday’s game. “The funny thing is you look at him now and I remember him back then, he was skinny as a rail. The wind would blow him over. As soon as I caught him, though, you could tell he was legit.”
Despite the 21-year gap since they last wore the same uniform, Grilli and Andreopoulos stayed in touch through the years.
“When I saw him here, we gave each other a big hug and ‘It was ‘I can’t believe we’re together again,’ Andreopoulos said.
Girodo optioned, Paredes sent to Phillies
To make room on the roster for Grilli, the Jays optioned left-handed reliever Chad Girodo back to Triple-A Buffalo on Wednesday. They also sent utility man Jimmy Paredes to the Philadelphia Phillies for cash or a player to be named later. Paredes, who hit one homer in his seven-game tenure with the Jays, was designated for assignment by the Jays earlier this week, just a couple weeks after he had been claimed off waivers from the Orioles.
A-May-zing Encarnacion
As has become custom for the Jays’ soft-spoken slugger, Edwin Encarnacion enjoyed another illustrious month of May and was named the team’s player of the month. After getting off to a slow start, Encarnacion hit seven homers in the season’s second month. Since 2014, no hitter has been more productive in May than Encarnacion, who has 31 homers and 80 RBIs in that span.