The Toronto Blue Jays appear ready to move on from Kevin Kiermaier.
Toronto placed the struggling centre-fielder on waivers Thursday, Kiermaier told Sportsnet’s Shi Davidi and Arden Zwelling following the team’s win over the San Francisco Giants.
“It’s the chance for a contending team to claim me if they want, from what I was just told,” he said. “I totally get it with where we’re at as a team.”
Kiermaier, 34, owns just a .522 OPS through 71 games for the Blue Jays this season, the fifth-worst mark among all hitters with at least 180 plate appearances.
He did pick up a pair of hits Thursday and made a diving catch in centre, helping the Blue Jays win their second straight series.
While he has played an excellent centre field once again in 2024, recording seven defensive runs saved over 470.2 innings in the outfield, Toronto is giving the rest of the league a chance to claim him.
If he were to be claimed, the Blue Jays would not be able to pull him back.
He will travel with Toronto to Arizona and “keep plugging away and see what happens. This is different territory for me, but I’m going to do like (John Schneider) said, ‘I envision you being with us in AZ tomorrow,’ but you never know what might happen.”
The four-time Gold Glove winner re-signed with the Blue Jays on a one-year, $10.5 million contract in the off-season. The remaining money on his salary — around $4.5 million — would transfer to any team that would claim him.
Kiermaier will remain on the Blue Jays 40-man roster and can continue playing with the team while on waivers. If he clears waivers, Toronto can keep him on its roster, outright him to the minors or release him.