CJ Van Eyk and José Rodríguez Return After Game 162

Imagine a theatre posting a casting notice the morning after its final performance.

Good news: the cast is expanding. Bad news: the audience has gone home, and so has the next performance.

That is the Blue Jays’ September 28 transaction list. Toronto recalled six players a day after Sunday’s 5-1 win over the Cincinnati Reds, the team’s 162nd game. It activated several more from the injured list.

The names deserve attention. The timing deserves its own tiny comedy festival.

For a particularly good example, follow CJ Van Eyk and José Rodríguez through the transaction list. They did not merely appear out of nowhere after the finale. Their names had already been moving around the page while games remained.

Rehearsals were still happening

Toronto recalled Van Eyk from the Buffalo Bisons on September 23. On September 25, it optioned him to the FCL Blue Jays. Then, on September 28, it recalled him from the FCL Blue Jays.

Rodríguez had a different route with a similar last turn. The Jays optioned him to the FCL Blue Jays on September 23, then recalled him from there on September 28.

I am not claiming either move promised a particular appearance. A transaction says what happened to a roster spot, not what a manager planned to do in an inning. The supplied game record does not give either pitcher a role in Sunday’s finale.

But as a fan, I see a recall during the season and know what to do with the feeling: watch for the player. Maybe it happens, maybe it does not. At least there is a game in which to look.

The September 28 recalls remove that last part. Van Eyk and Rodríguez are back on the list, while the list of upcoming games is empty.

It is casting news for a show whose final scene already aired.

Sunday’s cast earned its bow

The last scene was a good one, too.

Valenzuela’s two-run homer in the bottom of the second put Toronto ahead. The Reds scored in the top of the third, but the Blue Jays answered in the bottom half: McAdoo hit a sacrifice fly, and Schneider brought home Brett Bateman on a groundout. McAdoo added a homer in the bottom of the eighth.

Scherzer pitched 7.0 innings with 1 earned run and 7 strikeouts. Sewald and Fluharty each supplied 1.0 scoreless inning. The final score was Blue Jays 5, Reds 1.

I would happily clap for that. I did not need an imaginary extra act to make the finale count.

And yet, the next day’s list arrived with Harrison, Tiedemann, Piñango, and Ross recalled from Buffalo alongside Van Eyk and Rodríguez. Martin, Cease, Taillon, Bieber, and Urías were activated from the injured list.

That is enough names to make me scan for another lineup card. There isn’t one.

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The credits keep introducing people

This is not an argument against any particular transaction. Players have roster statuses, and teams have reasons to update them even when fans would prefer a game to go with the news.

It is an argument against my own reflexes.

The Blue Jays finished 79-83 and fifth in the division. They won 2 of 3 against Cincinnati to close things out. Those facts sit still. The transaction page, meanwhile, keeps offering action words: recalled, activated, optioned.

Action words are dangerous around a baseball fan with no baseball to watch. They encourage us to build an entire next game out of a list. I start wondering what Tiedemann might do, or where Piñango might fit, and then remember I am trying to schedule a scene after the curtain call.

Some roster news came while the season was still onstage. Trey Yesavage was activated from the injured list on September 21. Chase Lee was recalled on September 23. John Klein was recalled on September 25. Those dates left games on the schedule in which to watch for someone.

The September 28 batch arrived after the final one. That difference is the joke. The news has the shape of an invitation, but no start time.

Thank you for coming to the show

Sunday’s win stands on its own. McAdoo homered, Valenzuela homered, and Toronto ended its schedule by beating the Reds. We can appreciate that without pretending the next day’s transactions were part of the box score.

We can also appreciate what a wonderfully awkward finale this is for the fan who follows every roster move. Van Eyk goes down and comes back. Rodríguez goes down and comes back. More names appear. Several players leave the injured list.

The curtain stays down.

So give Sunday’s players their bow, and give the new recalls a welcome. Just do not ask me to stop looking toward the stage. The Blue Jays handed me a fresh cast list, and old habits are harder to retire than a season.