Blue Jays' bullpen about to face its biggest tests yet

TORONTO – The Blue Jays made it through the weekend without Jordan Romano, but those first few games without their closer also offered a reminder of how challenging it will now be to navigate the late innings.

After five innings from Chris Bassitt Sunday, the Blue Jays needed their bullpen to lock down a lead, and that meant taking some leaps of faith. Chad Green, Trevor Richards and Nate Pearson covered the sixth through eighth innings before Yimi Garcia closed things out in the ninth. The results – one earned run in four innings on the way to a 5-4 win – were excellent.

And yet the late innings of Sunday’s game showed what the late innings of close games will look like while Romano and setup man Erik Swanson aren’t part of the solution. Complicating matters further, now that Garcia’s the closer, he’s no longer available for big spots in the seventh or eighth. 

“Yimi’s been so so good this year in any spot we’ve put him, arguably one of best relievers in the league so far,” manager John Schneider said after Sunday’s win. “But you still have to fill in the gaps that Yimi was filling when Jordan was available. It takes innings from (others) to pick up the slack.”

That could get uncomfortable at times, especially on days that some of the Blue Jays’ more trusted relievers are unavailable to pitch. Take Monday, for instance. The Baltimore Orioles arrive in Toronto for a four-game series, yet the Blue Jays may be without Garcia, who threw 27 pitches Sunday and Green, who threw 26.

Under those circumstances, Pearson or Richards could be called on to close with the middle innings equally uncertain. It’s far from ideal, especially if Richards is part of the team’s plans for covering Alek Manoah’s vacant rotation spot Tuesday. At the same time, the Blue Jays have little choice but to trust whoever’s available on a given night.

If they’re able to insert themselves back into the playoff race, relief pitching will clearly be on the Blue Jays’ summer wish list. More specifically, a swing-and-miss arm would benefit the Blue Jays, who now rank 27th in MLB in bullpen strikeout rate. And from the outside looking in, a left-handed reliever would be ideal considering Tim Mayza and Genesis Cabrera have both regressed this season.

The challenge is arriving at the July 30 deadline as a contender – still not a guarantee. If the 28-30 Blue Jays do fall out of it they should at least trade Garcia, a pending free agent, but there’s no need to explore that possibility now. As for where it all leads, this much is clear: the better this bullpen performs over the next two months, the more likely they get meaningful help for the stretch run.

PATHS COLLIDE IN TORONTO

When Davis Schneider hit a 14th-inning walk-off home run at Rogers Centre Friday night, an interesting subplot unfolded alongside the on-field dramatics because the person who drafted Schneider was in the building as a member of the Pirates’ front office.

Steve Sanders, the former Blue Jays executive who’s now Pittsburgh’s senior VP and assistant GM, was with the Pirates for their recent trip to Toronto. Back in 2017, he was running point on his first draft as Blue Jays scouting director when Schneider was available in the 28th round.

Small in stature without a clear defensive position, he had been passed over round after round. But the Blue Jays liked his hit tool and work ethic, so they signed him for a modest $50,000 bonus. Soon afterwards, Blue Jays player development people realized they had someone with the intangibles to make the most of his physical skills.

"You knew that he was a guy where, everything that he had achieved had been earned,” manager John Schneider recalled. “And I always liked his demeanour. From that time on, it was him just evolving as a hitter."

Unfortunately for Sanders and the Pirates, that evolution continued in the late innings of Friday’s game. But from the Blue Jays’ perspective, Schneider can now be considered one of the biggest amateur scouting bright spots for a front office that’s also had its share of high-profile whiffs in the draft.

MAKING SENSE OF THE RUMOURS

Asked about the possibility of trading Vladimir Guerrero Jr. or Bo Bichette on the weekend, Blue Jays GM Ross Atkins told MLB Network Radio “it just doesn't make any sense for us.”

Fair enough. Rival teams have watched with interest as the Blue Jays have gotten off to a 28-30 start, and Guerrero Jr.’s willingness to play third probably nudges his value forward a little, not only in Toronto but elsewhere. Yet the Blue Jays are trying to win, and it’s hard to get better by trading away talented players, even if Bichette’s off to a slow start.

Other GMs will see Atkins’ comments and keep them in mind when assessing the trade market this summer. The chances of a deal involving either player seem extremely remote, since the Blue Jays will look to contend in 2025 even if they fall out of this year’s race. Guerrero Jr. and Bichette can help make that happen next year.

But despite Atkins' comments and the reasoning behind them, we haven’t heard the last of the rumours involving Bichette and Guerrero Jr. That’s simply the reality of having a team around the .500 mark and two talented players approaching free agency. There are only two ways to avoid the rumours: win a lot more games soon or extend the players on long-term deals. So far this season, both of those possibilities have felt pretty distant.