Blue Jays send Alford, Reid-Foley down, add Hansen, Brito

The Toronto Blue Jays sent outfielder Anthony Alford down to triple-A Buffalo on Thursday.

April 4, 2019

By Andrew Hendriks

Canadian Baseball Network

Ahead of a four-game set at Progressive Field in Cleveland, the Toronto Blue Jays announced on Thursday that RHP Sean Reid-Foley and OF Anthony Alford have been optioned to triple-A Buffalo.

In a corresponding move, INF Alen Hansen and OF Socrates Brito have joined the club and will be available on Thursday night.

Acquired from San Diego in the hours that followed the swap that sent Kevin Pillar to the San Francisco Giants, Brito, like Hansen, joins the squad without options remaining on his contract.

As such, the club would need to pass the pair through waivers in order for them to be optioned, which likely explains why they have joined the active roster.

Still, the decision to send Alford down comes as a bit of a surprise due to the fact that Tuesday's trade was seemingly predicated on the idea of giving the 24-year-old outfielder his first solid run at the Major League level.

In 114 games with triple-A Reno in 2018, Brito slashed .318/.383/.540 with 56 extra-base hits over 428 at-bats.

Over the parts of three seasons at the MLB level, Hansen has hit .238 with an OPS of .653 through 243 combined contests with Pittsburgh, Chicago, and San Francisco, respectively.

With Reid-Foley now out of the mix, the Blue Jays will need to make another roster move in order to produce a starter for Saturday's 4:10 PM tilt with the Tribe.

- Follow Andrew Hendriks on Twitter (@77hendriks)