Notes: Giles' trade status; masks in games

TORONTO -- It’s mid-July 2020, which is when we all expected to be talking about whether or not the Blue Jays would be dealing Ken Giles.

One of baseball’s best closers in 2019, Giles is on an expiring contract, but the new realities of the shortened, 60-game season have shifted the focus to the immediate future in front of him. With the urgency of each game heightened, the Blue Jays will need that flame-throwing right-hander to close out every lead they hand him.

Giles’ value to the club is difficult to overstate, even off the field, where he’s come into his own in Toronto since he was acquired from Houston ahead of the 2018 Trade Deadline. His manager, Charlie Montoyo, wasn’t shy with praise.

“You can ask Joe Torre about that one, too, having a guy like Mariano [Rivera],” Montoyo said. “Giles has been as good for us.”

Giles isn’t Rivera -- nobody is -- but a 1.87 ERA with 14.1 strikeouts per nine innings last season put him in the elite tier of MLB closers. He did it all while dealing with some elbow issues that never quite shut him down for a long stretch, but nagged him throughout the season and made it difficult for him to pitch on back-to-back days.

“I fought hard last year, dealing with some stuff, but now I’m ready to prove it was just a one-time thing and go out there and do what I do best,” Giles said.

During the shutdown, Giles was able to keep his arm loose by throwing each day in his back yard. Sometimes, that meant throwing off his mound into a net, and other times, it meant having a catcher come in to better simulate pitching.

Giles repeated on Wednesday that he’s willing to pitch more than just a single inning if it’s what the Blue Jays need, and it will be interesting to track just how hard his arm can be pushed in the shortened season. Giles says that he’s ignoring any potential trade talks still, but that’s not the only potential outcome here. An extension is always possible, but there are no active negotiations.

“Nothing has changed right now. If those talks do ever happen, I’m all ears,” Giles said. "But I’m focused on other things right now. I’m just focused on the season.”

Mask up

Several Blue Jays have been trying out masks during intrasquad games, including Lourdes Gurriel Jr. and Rubén Tejada on Wednesday. The Blue Jays are following all MLB protocols and their own added protocols for their own, modified quarantine, which is something that Montoyo has been taking seriously well before he arrived in Toronto again.

“My kid’s got heart problems, so I’ve been wearing a mask since I was in Arizona,” Montoyo said. “I’ve got no problem with that. The same with my players, they’re following the guidelines that baseball gave us. Everybody is following those guidelines and everybody is fine with it.”

Injury updates

• Chase Anderson (oblique) played catch at 60 feet on Wednesday and is feeling good, but it sounds unlikely that he’ll be ready for his first start of the season. Montoyo continues to call that final rotation spot a “competition” now.

• Julian Merryweather (oblique) is progressing towards playing catch later this week, at which point the Blue Jays should have a clearer timetable on his oblique injury, which is notoriously tricky.

• Travis Shaw (groin) was back on the field and played DH.

Big pitching battle set for Thursday

Nate Pearson is scheduled to pitch “three to four” innings in Thursday’s intrasquad game at Rogers Centre against Ryan Borucki, who could also push to four innings. They’re scheduled to be followed by Ken Giles, Rafael Dolis, Sean Reid-Foley and Thomas Pannone.

Intrasquad extras

• Six Blue Jays relievers combined to throw a six-inning intrasquad no-hitter for Team Grichuk.

• The Blue Jays could use Sam Gaviglio more heavily against strings of right-handed hitters in opposing lineups, especially given that they’ll have some other multi-inning options alongside him in the bullpen by Opening Day on July 24. In 2019, Gaviglio held right-handers to a .213 average and a .679 OPS.

• Randal Grichuk and Cavan Biggio both launched home runs.

• Right-hander A.J. Cole added a scoreless frame of his own and was locating his fastball very well on the edges. He’s expected to break camp with the team as a mid-inning option with the potential for higher leverage.