Blue Jays Remain In Bullpen Market

The Blue Jays landed Seranthony Domínguez in a trade with the Orioles on Tuesday afternoon. That could be one of multiple bullpen pickups for Toronto. Mark Feinsand of MLB.com suggested the Jays remain in the mix for Ryan Helsley. More generally, Mitch Bannon and Will Sammon of The Athletic report that Toronto would like to add another high-leverage piece as well as a swingman.

Potentially available late-game arms aside from Helsley include David Bednar, Dennis Santana, Jhoan Durán, Griffin Jax, Phil Maton, Anthony Bender and Pierce Johnson. Washington’s Michael Soroka, the White Sox’ Adrian Houser and Tyler Alexander, old friend Steven Matz and the A’s Sean Newcomb all have experience working as starters or in multi-inning relief. Players like Cal Quantrill, Austin Gomber and Andrew Heaney have mostly worked as starting pitchers throughout their careers. They’re impending free agents and could get squeezed into a long relief role somewhere if they’re dealt to a contender.

Toronto has a late-inning group of Jeff Hoffman, Domínguez, Yariel Rodríguez, Brendon Little and Braydon Fisher. Righties Nick Sandlin and Yimi García are on the 15-day injured list with uncertain return timelines. Hoffman, Domínguez and middle reliever Tommy Nance are the only pitchers in the current bullpen with even two years of MLB service. Rodríguez, Fisher and Little have pitched well this year but don’t have any experience shouldering significant innings down the stretch in a pennant race.

A swingman would provide some insurance at the back of the rotation. All five of their starters are at least 30 years old. Max Scherzer’s injury history is a concern. Eric Lauer has been great and deserves to hold his rotation spot, but he was a fringe MLB roster player just a few months ago. Toronto’s bullpen has shouldered a fairly heavy workload, and adding a Soroka or Alexander type could take some pressure off their late-inning arms.