Blue Jays' Manoah ailing and unlikely to pitch at any level for rest of season

Alek Manoah, the opening day starter for the Toronto Blue Jays who later was sent to the minors, is unlikely to pitch again this season, Sportsnet reported Tuesday.

Manoah, 25, met last week with specialists who examined his ailing knee, back and right quad. While they didn't find any structural damage, Manoah is expected to take the rest of the season off to recover.

Manoah, who was drafted by the Jays with the No. 11 overall pick in 2019, finished third in the American League Cy Young Award voting last season when he went 16-7 with a 2.24 earned-run average in 31 starts.

His 2023 season was derailed starting with the opener against the St. Louis Cardinals on March 30, when he gave up five runs on nine hits, including two home runs, in 3 1/3 innings.

On June 6, the Blue Jays optioned him to the Rookie-level Florida Complex

League amid a 1-7 record with a 6.36 ERA and 42 walks over 13 starts. The move came one day after Manoah was chased after just one out in the first inning Monday against Houston, having yielded six runs on seven hits.

He was recalled a month later and made six starts, going 2-2 before being sent to triple-A Buffalo on Aug. 11. He has not pitched since Aug. 10, when he gave up four runs on four hits in four innings to the Cleveland Guardians and was charged with the defeat in a 4-3 loss.

The Blue Jays (80-64) entered Tuesday with a half-game lead for the second wild-card berth in the American League.

Lukes recalled from triple-A for Belt

The Jays placed first baseman Brandon Belt on the 10-day injured list on with lumbar spine muscle spasms.

The back issue forced Belt to depart Monday's game against the Texas Rangers in the sixth inning.

Belt is hitting .251 this season with 16 homers and 38 runs batted in.

The Blue Jays also recalled outfielder Nathan Lukes from triple-A Buffalo.

Harvard grad going home to N.Y.

David Stearns has agreed to become president of baseball operations for the underperforming New York Mets, according to several reports.

The 38-year-old will serve under owner Steve Cohen and above general manager Billy Eppler, the reports said Tuesday. Stearns led the Milwaukee Brewers' baseball operations department from September of 2015 through the 2022 season before stepping down and moving into an advisory role.

Stearns is a New York City native and a Harvard graduate who interned with the Mets in 2007. There had long been speculation that he might one day return to Queens.

Milwaukee was one win from a World Series berth in 2018 and returned to the playoffs each of the next three seasons. The Brewers won National League Central titles in 2018 and 2021.

"Baseball has been an enormous part of my life, and I anticipate that it will continue to be an enormous part of my life," Stearns said last October when he stepped down as the Brewers president of baseball operations.

Stearns takes over a team that opened the season with a record $355 million US payroll and became a huge disappointment. The Mets began Tuesday a season-worst 13 games under .500 at 65-78 and were eliminated from the NL East race on Sept. 2. They were 10 games back in the wild-card chase with 19 to play and six teams ahead of them for the final berth.