Blue Jays Acquire Connor Seabold

The Blue Jays announced that they have acquired right-hander Connor Seabold from the Tigers. Detroit, who designated Seabold for assignment a few days ago, gets minor league lefty Juanmi Vasquez in return. Seabold is out of options and will need a spot on the active roster once he joins the team. The Jays opened a 40-man spot by moving José Berríos to the 60-day injured list. Berrios required Tommy John surgery and will miss the remainder of the season.

Seabold, 30, began the season with the Jays on a minor league deal. He came into the year with a career track record of being a swingman, without much success to his name, sporting a 7.79 earned run average in 119 innings.

Back in March, Arden Zwelling of Sportsnet profiled Seabold, noting that the Jays had planned on using Seabold as a multi-inning depth option until he showed some increased velocity at the start of camp. He had averaged around 92 miles per hour in his big league career but was suddenly hitting 96 and averaging 94.1 mph this year. He also changed up his breaking pitches with some encouraging developments.

The Jays kept him mostly in a single-inning relief role in spring. He tossed 6 2/3 innings over six Grapefruit League appearances. Allowing five earned runs gave him an unsightly 6.75 ERA but he struck out 13 of the 33 batters he faced, a huge 39.4% clip.

Despite the extra velocity and strikeouts, the Jays couldn’t find a roster spot for him. Seabold triggered an opt-out in his deal and then quickly landed with the Tigers. He gave them 15 2/3 innings over 11 appearances with a 3.45 ERA. His fastball averaged 93.5 mph, a slight drop from spring training but an increase over his previous big league work. Though the ERA was decent, he only struck out 20.3% of batters faced. He got bumped off the roster when Troy Melton came off the 60-day IL.

For the Jays, they didn’t have a spot for Seabold in March but there’s a lot more breathing room on the roster now. Since the season started, they have lost Dylan Cease, Cody Ponce, Lazaro Estrada, Max Scherzer, Joe Mantiply and Tommy Nance to the injured list.

It’s unclear whether the Jays plan to use Seabold as a multi-inning option or as more of a traditional reliever. They could use help in both areas. Thanks to the rotation injuries, they currently only have three true starters in Kevin Gausman, Trey Yesavage and Patrick Corbin. They’ve been doing a bullpen game every five days with Rule 5 pick Spencer Miles taking on bulk innings. With Cease recently hitting the IL, there’s another hole to fill.

Seabold could perhaps get stretched out but the relief corps also needs help. Thanks to those bullpen games, and the injuries to Nance and Mantiply, the current group has been heavily used. Someone will have to be bumped off when Seabold is added. Chase Lee and Adam Macko have options and could be candidates. Yariel Rodríguez and Austin Voth aren’t optionable but could end up designated for assignment.

More moves are probably coming for the Toronto pitching staff. They have Shane Bieber rehabbing, so he could be in the mix in the next few weeks. Maybe Cease or Scherzer can get healthy in the near future. Perhaps they will call up someone like Chad Dallas for a spot start or two. For now, Seabold will hopefully be useful in bridging the gap.

To get Seabold, the Jays are giving up a bit of long-term depth, though Vasquez isn’t really a top prospect. He’s 22 years old and hasn’t climbed higher than the High-A level. He can get strikeouts but control is an issue. He has 33 High-A innings under his belt between last year and this year with a 6.00 ERA, 32.7% strikeout rate but a 15% walk rate. The Tigers will hope he harnesses his stuff a bit better going forward and they have some time to help him out. He won’t be Rule 5 eligible until after the 2027 season.

Photo courtesy of Kim Klement Neitzel, Imagn Images