DETROIT — Soon after joining his new team, Felix Doubront offered relief for a depleted Toronto Blue Jays bullpen. What comes next for the left-hander has yet to be determined.
He had been viewed as a leading candidate to start Tuesday’s game against the Chicago White Sox, and appears to remain in the mix for that assignment. But the Blue Jays could call on him beforehand — potentially as soon as Sunday — in which case they would have to look elsewhere for starting depth.
Doubront made his Blue Jays debut Friday, pitching 2.1 innings of relief while holding the Detroit Tigers to one run on three hits. Before the game, manager John Gibbons said “he’d probably be the guy” Tuesday if he wasn’t needed for too many innings before then.
Seven Blue Jays relievers combined to record all 27 outs Thursday after starter Matt Boyd was unable to retire a single Red Sox batter. In the aftermath of Toronto’s loss to Boston, the Blue Jays optioned Boyd and designated Todd Redmond for assignment, promoting Doubront and Ryan Tepera from triple-A in their places.
Doubront, who had been preparing to start for Buffalo Friday, has posted a 2.44 ERA with 43 strikeouts in 48 innings spanning nine starts for the Bisons since signing a minor league deal with the Blue Jays in early April. He said all the right things Friday, expressing a willingness to do whatever the Blue Jays ask of him.
“I’m going to be wherever they want me to be. So for right now I’m in the bullpen.”
The 27-year-old posted a 5.54 ERA in 21 games last year but posted a 4.32 ERA in 162.1 innings as a starter for the Boston Red Sox as recently as 2013. He expects his past success in the AL East to help him succeed with his new club.
Tepera, who posted a 2.77 ERA in 12 appearances with the Blue Jays this season, posted a 0.44 ERA at Buffalo. Chad Jenkins remains on the Blue Jays’ radar as a potential relief reinforcement, but he pitched two innings Wednesday.
