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The Toronto Blue Jays have claimed first baseman Justin Smoak on waivers, per Bob Dutton on Twitter:
Toronto claims 1B Justin Smoak on waivers from #Mariners
— Bob Dutton (@TNT_Mariners) October 28, 2014
Smoak was apparently either designated for assignment or simply put on waivers by the Seattle Mariners, and I believe that this is the first news that he was even on the waiver wire.
Smoak, of course, was the Rangers' first round draft pick in 2008, the guy they were planning on being their first baseman of the future before his inclusion in the Cliff Lee trade became necessary for Seattle to send Lee to Texas, rather than to the Yankees.
Supposedly, the Rangers desperately tried to get the M's to take Derek Holland instead of Smoak, and wouldn't budge on giving up Smoak until the M's made it clear they were going to take the Yankees' package -- which was headlined by Jesus Montero -- if they couldn't get Smoak. Texas dealt Smoak, Blake Beavan, Josh Lueke, and Matt Lawson to the M's for Lee and Mark Lowe.
All the players received by the M's ended up disappointing, and then Seattle ended up trading Michael Pineda to the Yankees in a separate deal for Montero, and Montero has also disappointed.
Anyway, it will be interesting to see if Toronto hangs on to Smoak for any length of time...they have a history of claiming guys just to waive them a few weeks (or days) later, and it isn't clear that there's a spot for Smoak in Toronto.
