In need of improved relief work, the Toronto Blue Jays tweaked the structure of their bullpen on the first day of the season’s second half. Todd Redmond will be relied upon more, and Chad Jenkins returns to triple-A Buffalo once again to accommodate the arrival of fellow long reliever Brad Mills.
Even more intriguingly, top prospect Aaron Sanchez represents a potential relief addition now that he has been moved to the bullpen of the triple-A Buffalo Bisons.
“Why not? He’s got everything he needs,” manager John Gibbons said. “He’s got the arm that most guys don’t have.”
If Sanchez takes well to the new role, he could be promoted sooner, rather than later. First, though, he must make a few more relief appearances.
“We put him in the ‘pen for a reason. We’ll get him used to it a little bit and see where it goes,” Gibbons said. “He might be able to help us out of the ‘pen. We figure he’s got to get used to it a little bit, though. A few outings anyways.”
Sanchez has struggled to command his pitches this year, walking 57 in a career high 99.1 innings for the Blue Jays’ top two affiliates. By moving him to the bullpen the Blue Jays cap his innings total and allow for the possibility that he could help in a relief role.
In the meantime, Mills joins the bullpen as a left-handed strike thrower who replaces Jenkins and Todd Redmond as the team’s long reliever. Redmond, meanwhile, will be used in shorter, more frequent stints — a reflection of the Blue Jays‘ increased confidence in his ability.
“He’s pitched pretty damned good, so we’ll give him some tougher situations and see how he does,” Gibbons said.
Redmond has a 2.57 ERA in 49 innings of relief work this year with three times as many strikeouts as walks. He has averaged nearly two innings per appearance during his 25 outings.
The Blue Jays could eventually get reinforcements from Brandon Morrow, depending on how the right-hander progresses from his tendon sheath injury. Morrow, who has resumed throwing, will remain with the Blue Jays during their current homestand before heading to Florida for more rehabilitation when the team leaves Toronto.
Gibbons said the Blue Jays would decide how to use Morrow depending on how many innings Drew Hutchison and Marcus Stroman have logged. While the Blue Jays don’t have hard innings caps for the 23-year-old right-handers, they don’t want to overexert them. Allowing Morrow to start would ease the load for Toronto’s young arms, and if nothing else he’ll return in relief.
One way or another, the Blue Jays must play better after losing the division lead to the Baltimore Orioles.
“We need to play good and we haven’t played good in a while,” Gibbons said. “We just haven’t played good consistently, so, yeah, we need to do that. We’re still in this thing.”
Blue Jays relievers now rank 27th in MLB with a 4.39 ERA, so improved bullpen work would go a long way toward making sure it stays that way.
INJURY UPDATES: Edwin Encarnacion will ride a stationary bike pretty soon and “start pushing it a little bit,” Gibbons said. However, the Blue Jays still don’t know how soon the first baseman will be able to return from his quadriceps injury.
Adam Lind (foot) and Brett Lawrie (finger) are both making progress as well, but their timelines are similarly uncertain.