The Blue Jays are set to advertise offseason signee Yariel Rodríguez, experiences Francys Romero (X hyperlink). The Cuban-born righty will formally be recalled on Saturday, in response to the report.
Rodríguez already occupies a spot on the Toronto 40-man roster. The Jays signed him to a five-year, $32MM free agent pact late within the winter. The 27-year-old may need been in consideration for the ultimate rotation spot after Alek Manoah suffered a shoulder harm early in camp. But Rodríguez was barely delayed in his personal proper by again spasms. He solely made two Spring Coaching appearances because of this, tossing 5 innings of one-run ball.
The Jays tabbed Bowden Francis to step into Manoah’s vacated rotation spot. They optioned Rodríguez to Triple-A Buffalo to proceed constructing his arm power. He has pitched twice for the Bisons, working 6 1/3 scoreless frames whereas fanning 10 and issuing three walks. He has thrown 55 and 47 pitches in his respective appearances.
It’s truthful to imagine the Jays aren’t going to depend on Rodríguez to go 100+ pitches in his main league debut. He ought to be capable of contribute in some type of multi-inning capability out of the gate, although. That might take the type of lengthy reduction or a barely abbreviated begin. Rodríguez final pitched on Monday, so he’ll be on 5 days relaxation by the weekend.
The corresponding transfer isn’t clear, however the Jays at the moment listing Francis as their possible starter for Saturday’s matchup with the Rockies. Francis’ first two main league begins haven’t gone effectively. The righty has been blitzed for 12 runs on as many hits in solely 8 1/3 innings. He nonetheless has a minor league choice remaining, so the Jays might ship him to Buffalo in the event that they wished to swap Rodríguez into his place within the rotation. Alternatively, they may deploy Francis and Rodríguez in some type of tandem begin, maybe letting them every face the lineup twice with out stretching their pitch counts too far.
Nonetheless the Jays deploy Rodríguez, they’ll absolutely regulate his innings tally because the season rolls alongside. His solely aggressive motion in 2023 got here throughout the World Baseball Basic. After that event, Rodríguez sat out the season as he waited for MLB to formally declare him a free agent. He pitched solely as a reliever with the Chunichi Dragons of Nippon Skilled Baseball two years in the past, tossing 54 2/3 frames of 1.15 ERA ball. Rodríguez threw 94 2/3 innings between the Dragons and their minor league group in 2021. The heaviest workload of his profession got here in 2018, when he labored 133 1/3 innings as a 21-year-old in Cuba.