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.
Much ado about nothing. Brewers only team to make moves so far . Maybe Yankees
Mariners getting Naylor was pretty big.
Orioles have made 3 moves, son!🤣
I still can’t believe the jays are in this position, who would’ve thought springer and Bichette come back like this and they get production from all of their young guys like barger
Helsley would be perfect for them
I’ll be the first to admit, I was very low on them coming into the season. Having watched them a few times this year, they play the game right and seem to have a good mix of guys that buy into their brand of baseball. I think that’s very underrated in the game today where most teams and fans drool over home runs, exit velo and pitch speed. They put the ball in play, wreak havoc on the base paths, and pitch well enough to be a very dangerous team especially if they go out and make a couple moves to improve the bullpen
Sing it with me everyone,
“Yes I’m FREE…FREE FALLING
Yes sir you know I’m
FREE, FREE FALLIN”
They could very well go into the tank. Of course karma being what it is, the Blue Jays will come back to life at the end and sneak in to the WC3 slot in the final series of the year, leaving the Mariners just outside of the playoffs. Again
Doubt it, yeasties.
Or eliminate Seattle in a crazy 3 game series.
Soroka out early in his start tonight with a Fastball sitting 90 -91 that is noticeably below his season average. It has apparently been a couple starts like this recently. Not good timing. Otherwise he profiles as the thing they need behind Scherzer’s precarious health status.
Adrian Houser seems more useful than Soroka.
I guess I still like what Soroka did out of the bullpen last year and think he could help in either capacity. I also like the upside that his peripherals suggest could be in there. But with the big velocity drop, you have to wonder if he’s not right.
They should pick up all 40 of those guys
The Jays are one consistent bat away from contending, and with one more effective starter, and two additional relievers … Steven Kwan would serve as THE BAT to boost their offense , as long as it doesn’t cost them Barger to get him.
@Floridacoach 2
They’re leading in the ALE and tied with the Tigers for the best record in the American League. What part of that isn’t contending?
It costs plenty to get great players under team control. A deal starts with Barger.
The Jays need two starters, one for the front of the rotation. They also need one more reliever and a bat. Given the Atkins and Shaprio hit and miss trades over of the years, I am not confident the Jays will get the starters or bat that they need. They seem to know relievers well.
As stated earlier, hot streaks don’t last forever and now this Jays current streak is over it remains to be seen how they do during the slump time.
They need a guy that can come in and give them length in the pen. That’s something they’ve needed for a while. Either a SP that pushes Laurer to the pen or a lesser SP that slots in when the score is lopsided. The current series with the O’s is exposing this short coming.
Think the Blue Jays could pick up either Quintana, Cortes or Myers for Will Wagner.
@stubby66
Doubtful. Fangraphs has him as a 40 FV. That’s a waiver claim/MiLB signing/Cash considerations type guy. His plus skill is his hit tool. Fielding, run, and arm are below MLB capable so he’s no defensive replacement. His upside is a pinch hitter with no power. His value is that he has options.
If the Jays are going for a pitcher in that class, I think they would want a non-rostered player flyer type guy.
Pitching depth remains the Blue Jays’ Achilles heel. Joe Ryan or Mitch Keller would help them this year and beyond given the Scherzer and Bassitt contracts expire after this season, Gausman is only signed through 2026, and Berríos can opt out of his deal after the 2026 season. Who knows if Manoah can return to his All-Star form, and their prospects like Yesavage, Tiedemann, Macko, Rojas, Maroudis, Stephen, King and Stanifer are lottery tickets, not proven MLB starters.
@charlesk
Agree with the need for pitching depth. Can’t see the Jays landing either Ryan or Keller. They don’t have the assets on the farm. Do a comp with what the price was to land Berrios.
20 teams remain in bullpen market. Got it.