Both guys were playing in Triple-A, Manoah with the LA Angels<\/a> farm team, and Espinal with the Texas Rangers<\/a>. The fact that both of these guys were All-Stars that year (along with Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (1B), Alejandro Kirk (C), Jordan Romano (RP) and George Springer (OF)) speaks volumes about how much momentum that team was building, and how it all completely collapsed in on itself. <\/p>\n This was a young team, full of potential, but by the time the 2023 season ended, it looked like a completely different group. <\/p>\n Blue Jays make over of 2022 team came swiftly and the results weren’t always great<\/p>\n After the Blue Jays were eliminated from the postseason, the front office felt the team had to get more left-handed, better defensively and more stable in the bullpen. Gone were Teoscar Hernandez and Lourdes Gurriel Jr. in exchange for Erik Swanson (and Adam Macko) and Daulton Varsho (with prospect Gabriel Moreno thrown in) in deals with Seattle and Arizona respectively. <\/p>\n Espinal went from being a 2.4 bWAR player in 135 games in ’22 to being a 0.3 bWAR player in 93 games in ’23. Manoah was demoted all the way down to rookie ball in the middle of the season and ended the year in Triple-A. He opened the series against the Mariners, getting the ball in Game One the year before. <\/p>\n Other players from that 2022 team have moved on as well to varying degrees of successes and lack thereof. Cavan Biggio haven’t been able to maintain a big lead role consistently since leaving Toronto. Danny Jansen has settled into a backup catcher role with four different teams. Bo Bichette <\/a>and Matt Chapman left the team at the end of their contracts to sign massive deals with new teams. Closer Jordan Romano flamed out, Mitch White never panned out, and Anthony Bass talked his way off the team. <\/a><\/p>\n This group of Blue Jays were right there, on the cusp of something great, but it ended before it truly got going. The fact that so many players from this group, including Espinal and Manoah, didn’t continue to have major success shows the Blue Jays how quickly a competitive window can close. <\/p>\n
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