Yankees enemy Alek Manoah reportedly whined after Blue Jays demotion, won't return

God, is it hard to root for anyone down the stretch. The Blue Jays need to cobble together wins to keep the Red Sox out of the playoffs, but they're the Blue Jays, an outfit nearly as detestable as Boston. The Texas Rangers and Seattle Mariners seemingly lose daily, so it's on Toronto's shoulders to be a rock of stability as this race nears its conclusion ... and yet ... you can't trust anyone. Lord knows the Yankees aren't going to do any of the work themselves.

More drama leaked on Monday evening, when the chatter surrounding 2022 ace Alek Manoah's demotion to Triple-A began to get amplified a bit.

The right-hander and '22 All-Star was demoted all the way down to the Florida Complex League to work on rebuilding (gestures) all of this back in June, following an outing against the Astros where he allowed seven hits and six earned runs in one-third of an inning. When he got down there, things didn't go much better initially; a team of Yankees teenagers rocked him for 11 runs in 2.2 nonfunctional innings.

After the tinkering supposedly "worked," Manoah was elevated back to the bigs again just before the All-Star break, dominated the Tigers, then posted five more middling-to-bad outings until the Jays decided they could make better use of his big-league roster spot.

Manoah ... felt differently. He was optioned to Triple-A on Aug. 11, and simply did not go. He hasn't been throwing. He hasn't been working on anything, instead prioritizing medical "testing" that has yet to find any physical issues or damage. He's just been lounging, recently being placed on the inactive list to (finally) clear up a Triple-A spot for depth. His season is, officially, over.

Yankees nemesis Alek Manoah threw tantrum after being demoted to Triple-A, won't return this year

According to the latest intel from Toronto-area radio hosts, the team's cover story, involving a wide swath of medical tests, may or may not be true.

Per sources, Manoah was upset with the decision to send him down. Instead of pitching, he prioritized ... anything and everything else he could possibly do.

Next year might not go much smoother after Manoah's midseason reset, which seems to have had the opposite effect.

One year removed from a campaign where the then-24-year-old allowed 144 hits in 196.2 innings, finished third in the AL Cy Young chase, called Gerrit Cole the "biggest cheater in baseball history," and was mic'd up in the All-Star Game, Manoah barely qualifies as a big-leaguer, an ego hit he seemingly cannot handle.

Yankees fans shouldn't be shocked, though. Much like every single time a brawl begins between the Yanks and Blue Jays, you can count on Manoah not showing up where he's claiming he'll be.