TORONTO - Blue Jays reliever Sergio Santos hasnt exactly had an ideal season. But as he sees it, its been a humbling one. Toronto purchased the right-handers contract from triple-A Buffalo on Saturday, optioning fellow reliever Kyle Drabek on Sunday to make room on the roster for Santos four weeks after he was designated for assignment and passed through waivers unclaimed. Now that hes back with the major league club, the 31-year-old says he appreciates the time he spent in Buffalo. "It was extremely humbling. You take things for granted because its so nice up here," Santos said prior to the Blue Jays game versus the Tampa Bay Rays at Rogers Centre. "The way I look at it, it was a four-week refresher. Now Im back and hopefully I can get on a run here." Santos, who also spent time on the disabled list earlier in the season with elbow and forearm soreness, struggled through 19 2-3 innings at the big league level, going 0-2 with a 7.78 earned-run average and a 2.085 WHIP. With the Bisons, Santos pitched 10 2-3 innings of relief, giving up just three hits and one unearned run while striking out 16 and walking six batters. Primarily known for his fastball and slider, Santos said he spent time working on his change-up in Buffalo — a pitch he threw only 10.2 per cent of the time this year, and 8.9 per cent in total through his five major league seasons. More generally though, Santos said he worked on "everything." "I think a lot of it had to so with just consistently throwing, having outings pretty much every other day and getting in a rhythm," he said. "Pitching is so based on that, you get some momentum and you build off it. I was just fortunate to throw the ball well down there." "I was hoping (to get called up), but all I could control was how I was throwing and I knew that the better I threw, the more pressure I could kind of put on the team as far as coming back up," he added. "I tried not to worry about it and tried to focus on throwing." Drabek, who was recalled from triple-A on Aug. 16, hugged teammates in the clubhouse Sunday morning before leaving with his Buffalo Bisons bag draped over his shoulder. Drabek worked just three scoreless innings for the Blue Jays in 2014, striking out five, walking two and giving up two hits. Santos said he hadnt yet discussed with manager John Gibbons and pitching coach Pete Walker what his role with the big league club would be this time around. But he did say he was OK with working his way back up the bullpens pecking order. "I know that if I throw the ball well and keep throwing the ball well there will be a role for me somewhere," Santos said. Prior to his demotion this year, Santos hadnt pitched a non-rehab related game at the triple-A level since 2009. While he shook hands and doled out hugs to smiling teammates as they strolled into the clubhouse, Santos seemed at peace with his up-and-down year. "Its been a whirlwind," he said. "Its been a fun experience, a humbling experience, you name it. Thats the way baseball is. I learned that early on — anything can happen in this game and pretty much everything has happened to me. "You just take it in stride and you go day by day." Fake Mariners Jerseys . -- Victor Bernardez tied the game with his second goal in the 95th minute and the San Jose Earthquakes drew 3-3 with Real Salt Lake on Saturday night. Seattle Mariners Shirts . Join World Soccer Pickem 2014 for your chance to win $5,500 in cash prizes by picking the winner of each game all the way through to the tournament final. Will you ride a favourite such as Spain or Germany, or cast your lot with an underdog like Ivory Coast or Mexico? Perhaps key victories from Netherlands or the United States will be your key to victory. https://www.cheapmariners.com/ . Marie rink got back in the win column at the Olympic mens curling tournament with a 7-4 win over the host Russian squad on Wednesday. Mariners Jerseys China . Listen to the Rangers vs. Kings live on TSN Radio starting at 7pm et/4pm pt. You can also stream the post-game press conferences live on TSN. Mariners Jerseys 2019 .Michael Briscoe is serving a life sentence for sexual assault, kidnapping and first-degree murder in the death of 13-year-old Nina Courtepatte in 2005.Every year you make sure to check out the players an organization sends to the Arizona Fall League. These can be players the team is fast tracking to the Bigs, players changing positions or players needing extra work while rehabbing from injuries. The Blue Jays have seven prospects playing this year with the Salt River Rafters: four pitchers, a catcher, an infielder and an outfielder. The four of most interest are all pitchers - Drew Hutchison, Marcus Stroman, Aaron Sanchez and John Stillson. Hutchison, coming off of Tommy John surgery, pitched 35.1 innings this past season split among Single, Double and Triple-A. Clearly, the Jays are trying to get him more work to hasten his return to the big club. Hutchison has been pretty sharp making four starts for the Rafters, going 1-0 with a 0.57 ERA and with two walks and 14 strikeouts over 15.2 innings. As good as he looked, when you consider how few innings he pitched this past season, it would still make a lot more sense for Hutchison to spend the bulk, if not the entire coming season, in Double and Triple-A. Aaron Sanchez is two years younger than Hutchison at 21, but is regarded as the Jays top pitching prospect what with the trades of Justin Nicolino to the Miami Marlins and Noah Syndergaard to the New York Mets a year ago. The only real knock so far on Sanchez has been his control. With the Rafters, he has eight walks in 13.1 innings, but otherwise, the numbers look pretty good. In four starts hes 0-1 with 10 strikeouts and a 1.35 ERA. However, it still looks as though hes at least another year away from a shot at the Majors. The other two are puzzlers. After a year starting at Double and Triple-A, 22-year-old Marcus Stroman is only working in relief in the AFL. Hes pitched in seven games, just 7.2 innings and is 0-2 with a 4.70 ERA. Hes struck out six and walked only 3 and opponents have only hit .207 off him. Alex Anthopoulos said towards the end of this season, he might trade some of the Blue Jays bullpen depth, to fill other holes. So, perhaps, Stroman will move into the Jays pen to fill one of the created openings. The fourth pitcher is right-hander John Stillson, who greatly impressed skipper John Gibbons last spring. The 23-year-old right out of Texas A&M went 6-2 at Triple-A Buffalo out of the bullpen with four saves. He struck out 47 and walked 15. Unfortunately, he hasnt pitched well in the AFL. Hes appeared in just three games out of the pen going only two-and-a-third innings and getting hit hard.dddddddddddd Stillsons ERA is 23.14 and batters are hitting .438 against him. Yes, there is still Kyle Drabek and the impending return of Brandon Morrow from his injury and the possibility that Ricky Romero has a shocking return to form, but its still pretty clear Alex Anthopoulos is going to have to do most of his searching for pitching help outside the organization in the off-season. Monday at 5:00pm et. is the deadline for teams to make qualifying offers of to their perspective free agents. The Blue Jays are not expected to tender right-hander Josh Johnson who went 2-8 in an injury plagued first campaign with the Jays. The Blue Jays were supposed to have met with their medical people over the weekend to determine if it was worth making Johnson any sort of offer at all, say in the $2-3M range for one season. Interest in Tanaka A reworked Japanese player-posting system havent been put into place yet, but the interest in Masahiro Tanaka continues to skyrocket. The 25-year-old who went 24-0 this season for the Rakuten Golden Eagles, threw 160 pitches in a complete game loss in Game 6 of the Japanese World Series to the Yomiuri Giants. The very next day, though, in Game 7, Tanaka came right back and threw 15 more pitches in the ninth to nail down the victory and give Rakuten its first league title ever. The New York Yankees, Detroit Tigers, Los Angeles Dodgers and the Chicago Cubs just a few of the clubs who want to get into the bidding once a new posting system is in place. Bay Area Share? There is a chance that the Oakland Athletics could be playing in the San Francisco Giants ballpark for the next two years. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, unless the As can get a two-year lease agreement in Oakland rather than the six-to-eight-year deal the O.co Coliseum people want, they will be playing out of AT&T Park as soon as this spring. The As want to maintain their flexibility so they can move someplace else if a new facility isnt built in Oakland. A few scheduling details would have to be worked out, since, right now, the As and Giants are both scheduled to play eight games at home on the same days. End of the Astrodome? The fate of the sports first indoor facility, the Houston Astrodome, could well be decided shortly. There is a vote being taken on Tuesday on a $217M bond issue on whether to transform the Astrodome into a convention and exhibition centre. If the nays carry the vote, the Astrodome, which opened in 1965, will be leveled. ' ' '