Blue Jays release Miguel Batista

The Blue Jays released pitcher Miguel Batista today, the team announced via Twitter. He had been pitching in Triple-A.

The team made a flurry of moves at the minor-league level, and the release of the journeyman seemed like a logical step. When you can't make it in a rotation that includes Ramon Ortiz, the odds of Batista every pitching in a Major League rotation again are very slim.

He had plenty of use as depth, but the team decided that it was time for them to go in another direction. It is rather shocking to see him just cut loose like this, as he was a valuable spot-starter as recently as last season for the Mets.

At the age of 42, he was likely not long for professional baseball anyway. It should be interesting to see if another team picks him up for his veteran presence and innings eating ability, or if his career is done after all of this time.

Batista had an ERA of 8.36 in 25 innings for Triple-A Buffalo, where he ironically pitched last season when the team was an affiliate of the New York Mets. He also pitched for the Braves last season in-between the Mets and Blue Jays.