Blue Jays claim Guilmet, designate McGuire

The Toronto Blue Jays have claimed right-hander Preston Guilmet off waivers from the St. Louis Cardinals.

By Andrew Hendriks

Canadian Baseball Network

TORONTO -- As the Blue Jays were grinding out another walk-off win down on the field below, their front office was busy working on adding reinforcements to the team's bullpen.

Designated for assignment by the St.Louis Cardinals on Thursday, right-handed reliever Preston Guilmet has been claimed off waivers by the Blue Jays, and is expected to join the team this weekend in Toronto.

In order to make room on their 40-man roster, Toronto has designated fellow right-hander Deck McGuire for assignment.

Guilmet, 30, has appeared in 21 games at the Major League level dating back to 2013. In all, he's accounted for 22 strikeouts while walking nine batters over 25 innings of work split between Cleveland, Baltimore, Tampa, Milwaukee, and St. Louis, respectively.

Selected by the Cleveland Indians in the ninth round of the 2009 MLB Amateur Draft, the 6-foot-2 product of Roseville, Calif., owns an ERA of 2.59, supported by a WHIP of 1.005 and an overall K/9 of 9.9 through 361 minor league appearances, 206 of which came with the Tribe during Ross Atkins' tenure as Director of Player Development. 

If his name sounds familiar, that's because the journeyman hurler was once claimed by Toronto off waivers from the Pittsburgh Pirates, and pitched in 10 games with the triple-A Buffalo Bisons prior to being DFA'd in May of 2015.

In 21 relief assignments with the triple-A Memphis Redbirds this season, Guilmet recorded an ERA of 1.24 with 35 strikeouts against only five walks.

Through four games with the Blue Jays in 2018, McGuire allowed six earned runs on nine hits, walking five and striking out seven batters across eight and a third innings of work.

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