BALTIMORE — Think of Seranthony Dominguez’s acquisition as something akin to a stability post for the Toronto Blue Jays with two days left to the trade deadline.
The 30-year-old right-hander with a fastball that averages 97.7 m.p.h. and a 30.9 strikeout percentage fills the club’s urgent need for a late-game leverage arm, one created by Yimi Garcia’s elbow issues and exacerbated by Chad Green struggling enough that he was designated for assignment after the deal.
More pitching help is expected prior to Thursday’s cutoff and it is needed, something made abundantly clear during a gruelling day-night doubleheader in the clothes-soaking Maryland heat. The Orioles jumped depth arms Easton Lucas and Lazaro Estrada for a 16-4 beatdown in the opener, before Adley Rutschman’s go-ahead RBI double in the eighth inning off Jeff Hoffman sent Toronto to a fourth straight loss, 3-2 in the nightcap, its longest losing streak since dropping four straight May 3-7.
To be fair, the Blue Jays had, in the words of manager John Schneider, “a lot of moving parts” during “a long day” that was “hot as heck” in which the broad brush-strokes were:
• Three contests in roughly 27 hours starting with Monday night’s series opener, with yet another noon-time affair Wednesday capping a stretch of 14 games in 13 days out of the all-star break;
• Attrition, as George Springer missed the day after being hit in the helmet by a pitch Monday, with his status still unclear but trending in an optimistic direction; Joey Loperfido jamming his left thumb and needing an X-ray to confirm there was no fracture; and Ernie Clement taking a 96.5 m.p.h. heater off the forearm during an unfulfilled rally attempt in the ninth;
• Deadline intrigue producing a unique deal that allowed Dominguez to suit up for different teams on the same day: “It's been, like, kind of crazy,” he said. “I woke up today and came to play for the Orioles and after the first game, I was sitting there hanging out with the guys, and they called me and told me, 'Hey, we've got a trade, go to the next dugout.'”
• An emotional parting with Green, a stalwart veteran pummelled for 14 homers in 43.2 innings, two of them during a messy outing in the opener that turned out to be his final appearance with the club, leading Schneider to huddle with the leadership group “to make sure it lands well in the room.” Green, the manager added, “is the definition of a professional. He's tight with a lot of guys in the clubhouse. He's meant a lot to us over the last couple of years. And on the flip side, everyone understands the business part of the game. We have veteran guys that understand it. I wanted to touch base with few of them and make sure they understood that. And we're all excited to have Seranthony.”
That’s a day.
Bigger picture, before Dominguez walked the Camden Yards tunnel from one clubhouse to the other and became the 30th different pitcher used by the Blue Jays this season — not including three position players, including catcher Ali Sanchez in the opener, pressed into duty — it was clear they’d essentially exhausted their internal options. Underlining the point is that only two pitchers on their 40-man roster, Canadian lefty Adam Macko and righty Jake Bloss, whose season is over after reconstructive elbow surgery, haven’t seen time in the majors this year.
Hence, upgrading the pitching staff is the Blue Jays’ biggest area of opportunity prior to the deadline, and their first buy offers legitimate impact as well as pedigree, as in 17 playoff outings over the past three post-seasons, Dominguez has allowed only two earned runs while striking out 27 in 17.2 innings.
That ability to dominate was evident during his debut inning, when he struck out two around a Dylan Carlson hit by pitch erased when he tried to steal third, keeping things 2-2 through seven.
“It's a lot of things in a short time,” Dominguez said of having barely an hour to acclimate to his new club before facing his old club. “I just tried to not think, just tried to go out and do my best. … I'm happy to be on a team that's really good. The Blue Jays have a lot of good talent, a lot of good guys. I hear a lot of good things already.”
The same goes the other way and in securing that back-end skill-set, the Blue Jays now have more flexibility to wait out the market over the next couple of days for their next adds.
And while they paid a high price for Dominguez in double-A righty Juaron Watts-Brown, ranked as their system’s No. 14 prospect by Baseball America, ninth among pitchers, it’s not one that prevents them from still shopping in all markets.
Various industry sources have told colleague Ben Nicholson-Smith and me that the Blue Jays are examining a wide array of options, linking them to everyone from starters Joe Ryan and Michael Soroka to relievers such as David Bednar, Phil Maton and Anthony Bender. Ryan Helsley — whom the Cardinals and Blue Jays discussed as part of a potential deal for Danny Jansen after the 2022 season — surfaced as a possibility after the Dominguez trade, but it’s possible there’s an element of market-making there, too.
Regardless, that’s far from an exhaustive list, isn’t indicative of the Blue Jays’ preferences and every team is engaging in some degree of value-gauging. But the thoroughness of their work is at least demonstrative of how the need is being viewed internally.
Between games, Schneider conceded that the Blue Jays’ depth is being severely tested at the moment while adding that his players are in “a tough part of the schedule, it's a grind,” but added, “they've responded really well all year, so I don't want to look back on the last 24 hours negatively.”
Coming after an 8-2 run against the Giants, Yankees and Tigers and with the Blue Jays (63-46) still four games up on New York in the American League East, context matters. But the next two months only get harder, which is why the Dominguez deal is a stability post, or a platform for more in a competitive trade market shaping how the rest of the season plays out.
