Alek Manoah Has Been Place On The Temporarily Inactive List In Triple-A Buffalo As His Bizarre Year Finds a New Level

One of the strangest stories in baseball in 2023 just keeps getting stranger. Alek Manoah has lived a lifetime in this last year. A year ago at this time, he was in the thick of the Cy Young conversation. He ultimately ended up finishing third in the voting. He came into this year and struggled to adjust a pitch clock. He was a complete disaster in the season's first month and a half. The Blue Jays ultimately sent him down to rookie ball, where he made a few starts. He was called back up to the Major Leagues in July, where he struggled again, ultimately getting sent back down to AAA, and now he’s been placed on the inactive list in AAA Buffalo. 

There's no word yet on what exactly the reason is for why Manoah has been placed on the inactive list. The rule states that if a player is away from the game for several days because of a personal matter and he's not placed on the injured list, he has to be placed on the temporary inactive list. If it is a personal matter with Manoah, I hope he can deal with it and return strong. I still find myself rooting for the guy. I know many people were annoyed by his antics last season, but I love watching Alek Manoah pitch and think that if he is firing on all cylinders, his presence is good for baseball. 

Considering where we're at in the season, it may be best to just shut Manoah down for the rest of 2023. The Blue Jays are in the heart of a playoff chase right now. They're only half a game back of that last wildcard spot, but I wonder if there's anything Manoah could do to benefit the Major League club. Sometimes, what's best for a player is that they get a full-on mental reset. That's what Manoah needs. Give him a full offseason to get his body and mind right so he can hopefully return to a better place in 2024. 

Regardless of whether Manoah ever returns from this, his 2023 campaign will go down as one of the most bizarre in recent memory. The concerns about the pitch clock were legitimate, but I don't think anyone in the world expected he would fall off the face of the Earth the way that he has. I have to give him credit for one thing: he's resilient. The guy has been moved around from team to team within the Blue Jays organization over the last several months, and by all accounts, he's still out there grinding. I genuinely hope he comes back healthy. It'd be a cool story.