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By Jackson Roberts
Contributing Sports Writer
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Nearly every Major League Baseball team enters spring training with a full 40-man roster, and by opening day, they've got approximately 14 cuts to make to trim that roster for the regular season.
It's still early in spring training, with games just over three weeks away for most teams. But on Tuesday, the Toronto Blue Jays handled a bit of business by removing one player from the battle for an opening day roster spot.
According to the official transactions log and a team announcement on social media, the Blue Jays optioned left-handed pitcher Adam Macko to Triple-A Buffalo. The news came hours after Macko humorously threw a scoreless inning against the Blue Jays in an exhibition for Team Canada's World Baseball Classic squad.
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Macko, 25, will be out of options after the season ends, as the Blue Jays burned his other two at the end of spring training in each of the last two seasons. He's been on the 40-man roster since the end of the 2023 season, when the Blue Jays protected him from being eligible for the Rule 5 Draft.
Last season, Macko pitched to a 4.76 ERA in 81 1/3 innings split between Triple-A and rookie ball. He struck out 90 batters, and he's never gone a season in the minors without striking out more than a batter per inning.
Macko was also one of two pieces, alongside right-handed pitcher Erik Swanson, acquired by the Blue Jays in the trade that sent outfielder Teoscar Hernández to the Seattle Mariners before the 2023 season. If he ever makes it to the majors, he'll be just the fourth-ever Major League Baseball player born in the nation of Slovakia and the first to appear in a game since 1961.
Even though he likely wasn't a strong contender for the opening day roster, this is a make-or-break year for Macko, because if he were to still be on the roster bubble with the Blue Jays by next spring training, he would face the prospect of being waived. That might even manifest in Toronto non-tendering him early in the winter if it knows he won't likely make the team.
At the conclusion of play on Wednesday, the Blue Jays still had 39 players from the 40-man roster in major league camp, not counting those on the 60-day injured list, and there will be non-roster invitees still battling for inclusion on the 26-man group until the last few days before the opener as well.
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