The Toronto Blue Jays are set to take on the New York Yankees again on Tuesday, but before they do that, they’ve given some updates from down on the farm with regards to both Joey Votto and Alek Manoah.

The Toronto Blue Jays took Game 1 of a big series with the New York Yankees on Monday night and they also provided some injury updates on both Joey Votto and Alek Manoah.

Per Ben Nicholson-Smith of SportsNet on social media:

First, with regards to Votto, the former MVP signed a minor league contract with the Toronto Blue Jays near the end of spring training and then promptly injured his ankle after returning to game action with the Jays.

Because of the nature of his contract, there’s no guarantee he ever sees the field for Toronto but he’ll get every chance to go through a full ramp-up period with the Jays to see if he can contribute for them in 2024.

If the 40-year-old Votto is able to make the Jays roster this season, it will be one of the best stories in baseball over the course of the year. The Toronto native spent 17 years with the Cincinnati Reds but is trying to make his hometown team in a kind of beautiful career irony of ending his career in the place it began.

Votto is a lifetime .294 hitter with a .409 on-base percentage. He is the active leader in games played (2056), hits (2135), walks (1365), and intentional walks. He led the Major Leagues in on-base percentage three times and is a six-time All-Star, in addition to an MVP.

As for Manoah, he’s trying to come back from a disastrous 2023 season, and a shoulder injury that slowed him in spring training. He has made two minor league rehab starts this year, seeing poor results in both. He gave up four earned runs on eight hits at Triple-A over the weekend. That was actually an improvement over the six earned runs he allowed in 1.2 innings at Single-A the first time out.

He finished third in the American League Cy Young back in 2022.