The Blue Jays tried to buy some thump in April, and it never really took.
Toronto brought in Lenyn Sosa from the White Sox hoping a 26-year-old infielder coming off a career year could help patch an offense that still hadn’t found its power stroke early in the season. Instead, the move fizzled fast. On Friday, the Blue Jays released Sosa from Triple-A Buffalo, ending his time in the organization after just five months.
The appeal was obvious at the time. Sosa had just put together the best season of his major league career with Chicago, leading the White Sox with 22 home runs and 75 RBI while hitting .264/.293/.434 over 140 games.
Even then, Chicago didn’t exactly view him as a locked-in everyday answer. The White Sox infield had gotten crowded over the winter, and with Miguel Vargas, Colson Montgomery, Chase Meidroth and Munetaka Murakami all projected for regular roles, Sosa no longer had a clear path to steady playing time.
That made Toronto’s swing at him a classic “baseball deal.” It just didn’t land.
Sosa’s time with the Blue Jays was rough from the start. In 28 games with Toronto, he hit only .188 with one home run and one walk. For a player whose value depended so heavily on what he could do at the plate, that wasn’t nearly enough offense to cover for the swing-and-miss and the lack of production on base.
A right wrist contusion slowed him down and eventually sent him to the injured list. But even after he was activated from the 60-day IL and sent to Buffalo, the bat never really woke up. In 17 games with the Bisons, Sosa hit .254/.309/.397 with a .706 OPS and five extra-base hits.
At that point, the Blue Jays had little reason to keep the experiment going.
His release also shifts the focus toward the younger infielders in the system, a group that may get a longer look next spring. Josh Kasevich is one of the names worth circling. The 25-year-old was named Buffalo’s 2026 Stan Barron Most Valuable Player after emerging as the most consistent hitter in the lineup, leading the Bisons in games played, batting average, hits, runs scored and total bases.
Kasevich doesn’t bring Sosa’s power upside, but his contact skills, defensive reliability and strong Triple-A season make him a player the Blue Jays should have on the radar. He hit .285/.362/.367 with four home runs, along with a 9.6% walk rate and an 11.5% strikeout rate.
Jay Harry is another young bat who could enter the conversation after a strong year in Buffalo. The 23-year-old hit .394/.349/.505 with 14 home runs in 102 games played.
Harry and Kasevich both seemed to hover on the edge all season without getting the call. Now, with Sosa gone and changes expected over the winter, both will be worth watching when camp opens.
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For a team still fighting to stabilize itself, those calls matter because they shape both the result on the field and the broader trust in how the Blue Jays are being managed down the stretch. Schneider has lived with scrutiny before, but these latest decisions have sharpened the conversation around whether Toronto is getting enough out of its late-game strategy when the stakes are highest. [Read more 🡒]