The Blue Jays' infield depth chart just got a little thinner. Toronto outrighted Lenyn Sosa off the 40-man roster after he cleared waivers, sending him down to Triple-A Buffalo instead of activating him off the injured list.
It's a quiet transaction on paper, but it closes the book on a rough run in Toronto. Sosa came over from the White Sox in a trade back in April, brought in to help patch a lineup dealing with injuries. It didn't work out. He hit.188/.205/.275 in 28 games before a right wrist contusion shut him down in late May. A June rehab attempt lasted just 3 days before it was scrapped, and even a second rehab try a week before this move couldn't save his roster spot.
The wrinkle here is that Sosa had already burned through his minor league options, meaning Toronto couldn't just quietly send him to the minors. The only path was waivers, and the fact that all 29 other clubs let him pass says a lot about how the league is currently valuing him coming off that injury and that batting line.
Because he's got 3 years of MLB service time, Sosa isn't stuck. He has the right to reject the outright assignment and become a free agent right now, or accept it and become a free agent at season's end anyway. Given that a return to free agency immediately would likely only fetch minor league offers, there's a real chance he sticks around in Buffalo to stay sharp and get healthy first.
It's a steep fall for a guy who hit 22 home runs with the White Sox last season, even if the peripherals (a 3.3% walk rate, shaky defense around the infield) were never pretty. For Toronto, it's a minor subtraction from the periphery of a playoff push — but it's one more reminder that not every depth move at the deadline pans out.