Kevin Kiermaier facing limbo after Blue Jays place him on waivers

SAN FRANCISCO — Kevin Kiermaier had just returned to the Toronto Blue Jays clubhouse after a 5-3 victory over the San Francisco Giants when manager John Schneider called him into the office with some news.

While the 34-year-old was in the midst of a two-hit, one-defensive-gem afternoon, word had broken via Joel Sherman of the New York Post that the four-time, Gold-Glove centre-fielder had been placed on waivers

The Blue Jays declined comment, as the waivers process is supposed to remain private. In this case, it did not, so Schneider had to inform Kiermaier of the club’s decision and the limbo he’s suddenly in, travelling to Arizona for a weekend series against the Diamondbacks, maybe still part of the team, but also maybe not. 

It’s not quite the no-man’s-land of being designated for assignment, which immediately pushes a player off the roster and provides the team seven days to deliver an outcome, but it’s similarly destabilizing. 

In the interim, Kiermaier intends to be ready for action Friday as he navigates “different territory for me.”

“I’m thankful for everything that’s come my way,” he said in an interview with this writer and Sportsnet colleague Arden Zwelling. “I don't know what the future holds so I don't want to get too far ahead of myself, but I promise you I'll be able to go out there and just play like I always do, hopefully better. Felt good today. But just go out there and keep doing it. I enjoyed being around these guys each and every day and it's more of a wake-up call than anything saying, ‘Hey, I don't know how much time I do have left here in a certain way.’ If that's the case, I'm going to embrace everyone around here, like I always do, but just take it day by day and see what happens. 

“It's such a cliche way to go about it,” he added. “But me being through this for the first time in my career, I don't know what to expect, but I know what I need to do when I show up to the field (Friday). Get ready to play and just keep plugging away.”

Here are some details on how the waivers process works: 

• The claiming period is two days from when a player is first put on waivers;

• Waivers are not revocable, meaning that a club can’t pull him back; 

• If a player clears, the club has seven days to outright him before the waivers expire.

So, another team can claim him and assume the roughly $4.5 million remaining on his $10.5 million salary this season. Or he can go unclaimed, get released and sign for a pro-rated portion of the major-league minimum with any other club. Or the Blue Jays can keep him on the roster, which they probably don’t want to do if they put him on waivers ahead of their looming sell-off of expiring contracts before the July 30 trade deadline.

During his conversation with Schneider, Kiermaier said he was told that “it’s the chance for a contending team to claim me if they want.”

“I totally get it, just with where we're at as a team and them trying to make moves to clear salary or whatever the reasons are,” said Kiermaier. “I totally get it with the way I played and all that. …

“You've got All-Star break coming up, trade deadline. I know that they have to sit here and get creative with how they want to build moving forward. Whether we're going to make trades or whatnot, I don't know, but not caught off guard just with how I've played and where, our team's at. I totally get it.”

Kiermaier joined the Blue Jays on a $9-million, one-year deal last year and posted a .741 OPS in 129 games en route to his fourth Gold Glove. This past winter, he re-signed for $10.5 million in 2024 and while he continued to deliver his trademark defence – in the fourth inning Thursday he stole a base hit with Matt Chapman with a diving grab on a ball that had a 35 per cent catch probability – he was hitting just .191/.238/.295 in 71 games. 

Regardless, his work in the field is so strong that Kevin Gausman, who worked seven strong innings, said “we expect” Kiermaier to make tough catches like the one on Chapman because “he's that good.”

“What KK brings on the defensive side, you can't calculate the value in it,” Gausman continued. “He gives those guys on the corners a lot more leeway to just worry about the corners and not have to worry about the gaps so much. He's a great leader, great guy and great clubhouse guy as well. We definitely love having him and definitely the best centre-fielder I've ever had behind me.”

That’s why he makes so much sense for a contending club, but less so for a Blue Jays team that’s been steadily orienting its focus toward building for 2025. The June trade of Cavan Biggio and promotion of Spencer Horwitz was more about trying to rescue this year, but the recent release of Tim Mayza and the looming split with Kiermaier are about creating opportunity for others. 

Starter Yusei Kikuchi, relievers Yimi Garcia and Trevor Richards, DH Justin Turner and catcher Danny Jansen, now the club’s longest-serving player with Mayza gone, are the club’s remaining expiring contracts.

Speculation is sure to ramp up around them in the coming weeks, the realities of baseball’s business side for a team that’s 43-50 with a playoff probability of 2.5 per cent, as calculated by FanGraphs, like the Blue Jays.

“That's part of the game, right? It's something you learn and I'm grateful to be in this situation, of course,” said Jansen. “Something I try to do daily is control what I can control. I can't control things like that. All I can control is my preparation, my being present, my effort, my preparation and my routine. I just try to keep it at that.”

The same applies for Kiermaier, who was left to process a more uncertain limbo, refusing to be upset that his placement on waivers leaked — “I don't get emotional over things like that or things that might tick other people off,” he said — or that he has to wonder what comes next.

He had plans to spend the All-Star break by a lake at home in Indiana before driving back to Toronto with his wife and kids. That’s up in the air, like everything else for him right now.

“It’s out there and however the process works, we'll see,” said Kiermaier. “But not offended, not mad. You've got to be realistic about the situation and accountable. …

“Schneids said, ‘I envision you being with us in AZ tomorrow, but you never know what might happen.’ I don't know how the process works. I can't get too far ahead of myself. Just get on the plane and get there and see what happens.”