How Brandon Woodruff, other non-tendered players fit Blue Jays’ plans

TORONTO — The Toronto Blue Jays will explore every avenue available to improve their club during the off-season, and a new one opened last week.

On Friday, the free-agent pool expanded by 63 as clubs around the league non-tendered players that were eligible for arbitration. The Blue Jays participated by cutting ties with reliever Adam Cimber.

While it’s easy to see non-tendered players are unwanted flotsam, there are often interesting talents available that teams simply can’t keep within their payroll structure, or bounce-back candidates who have the career numbers to warrant a significant payout in arbitration without the recent production to justify it.

The success of the Blue Jays’ off-season is unlikely to come down to the players who’ve recently become available — but there are a few interesting options for the club to consider:

The biggest name available: Brandon Woodruff

Age: 30

Position: Starting pitcher

Throws: Right

2023 stats: 9.94 K9, 2.01 BB/9 and 1.21 HR/9 in 67.1 innings with a 2.28 ERA, 2.86 xERA and 3.60 FIP for 1.4 fWAR

How the fit works: Milwaukee wasn’t about to pay Woodruff an eight-figure salary in 2024, considering the right-hander is expected to miss most of the season due to a recent shoulder surgery, so they cut free one of the National League’s best starters.

Since the beginning of the 2019 season, Woodruff ranks 15th among all pitchers in fWAR (15.1) despite missing most of 2023 and never topping 180 innings in any individual year.

Plenty of risk is associated with pursuing the veteran, as it’s unclear how effective he’ll be coming off his surgery, or even when he’ll be back. Shoulder issues can be trickier than elbow injuries, and there’s a chance Woodruff doesn’t look like himself again in the near future — or ever.

Even so, he’s well worth checking in on for the Blue Jays on a creative contract. If Toronto is willing to bite the bullet of paying him to rehab next year, it might just have a top-of-the-rotation pitcher at a reasonable price in 2025 and possibly beyond, depending on the structure of the deal.

That’s the sort of gamble teams with significant financial resources should jump at, and Yusei Kikuchi will come off the books after 2024, leaving a hole for Woodruff to step into.

Another Chad Green gambit: Jose Trivino

Age: 32

Position: Relief pitcher

Throws: Right

2022 stats (didn’t pitch in 2023): 11.24 K9, 4.02 BB/9 and 1.01 HR/9 in 53.2 innings with a 4.53 ERA, 4.37 xERA and 3.63 FIP for 0.2 fWAR

How the fit works: A pitcher with the middling numbers you see above who had Tommy John surgery in May doesn’t seem like a no-brainer addition on the surface, but Trivino has shown himself to be a potent late-inning arm at times in his career.

Trivino posted a 3.34 over the previous two seasons, with 22 saves for the Oakland Athletics between 2021 and 2022 — and the last time he was on a major-league mound, he was a force to be reckoned with.

His 2022 got off to an awful start with the A’s, but after joining the New York Yankees, he posted a 1.66 ERA in 21.2 innings. While that’s a small sample, the improvement in his results was backed by significant changes to his pitch mix and his slider rate took off while he threw significantly fewer sliders and cutters.

Trivino’s return date is unclear, and his track record doesn’t match that of a guy like Green, but it’s possible on the right contract he could follow in the right-hander’s footsteps and provide an in-season boost while contributing beyond 2024.

A cheap power option: Mike Ford

Age: 31

Position: 1B/DH

Bats: Left

2023 stats: 228/.323/.475 in 251 PA with 16 HR and 0 SB for 0.6 fWAR

How the fit works: Ford probably can’t be expected to replicate last season’s numbers, which are by far his best since 2019, but he brings a lefty bat with real thump.

In his MLB career, he’s hit 36 home runs in 719 PA, with an ISO of .207. His robust strikeout rate (26.1%) and low BABIP (.237) have meant that power has resulted in just average total production (100 wRC+), but an approximately average lefty bat has a place in the right matchups.

Ford could hold down the DH spot against certain right-handers without demanding its use as regularly as Brandon Belt did, giving the Blue Jays a little more flexibility to give other players a half day off. He’d also be a handy late-game pinch-hitting option.

Although the veteran has limited defensive utility and he’s far from the perfect hitter, he could help Toronto improve its power output. 

If nothing else, he might help the Blue Jays with their struggles against the Baltimore Orioles, considering he hit the longest home run bullpen ace Félix Bautista has ever allowed (434 feet).

The ultimate utility guy: Garrett Hampson

Age: 29

Position: Utility

Bats: Right 

2023 stats: 276/.349/.380 in 252 PA with 3 HR and 5 SB for 0.6 fWAR

How the fit works: It’s possible the Blue Jays feel like there’s enough defensive versatility in their position-player group but, really, Hampson can play anywhere.

The veteran demonstrated that well last year, appearing at every position except for first base and catcher, and playing six at least 10 times.

Hampson’s offensive output in 2023 was a career-best by a significant margin, even though it was narrowly above MLB average (101 wRC+). He’ll probably come back to earth a bit with the bat, but as an end-of-the-bench player, he checks a lot of boxes.

One of the 29-year-old’s most interesting tools is his 98th percentile sprint speed (29.8 ft/s). He’s never been able to convert that into massive stolen-base totals, but if he was encouraged to run more, he might be able to generate significant value swiping bags.

Hampson wouldn’t be an exciting addition, but he’s the kind of floor-raising depth player who could fit on plenty of clubs. 

A Pete Walker and Co. project: Josh Staumont

Age: 29

Position: Relief pitcher

Throws: Right

2023 stats: 10.80 K9, 5.85 BB/9 and 0.45 HR/9 in 20 innings with a 5.40 ERA, 4.48 xERA and 3.76 FIP for 0.2 fWAR

How the fit works: Staumont is coming off season-ending thoracic-outlet-syndrome surgery, but if his medicals check out, he’d be an interesting upside play.

The right-hander has struggled with his command in recent years, but as recently as 2021 he was a devastating high-leverage arm. He still has solid fastball velocity (95.8 mph average), the ability to miss bats and a track record of keeping the ball in the ballpark.

Staumont probably couldn’t be handed a spot in the Blue Jays bullpen outright at this point in his career, and it’s possible that a rebuilding club can give him an easier road to an MLB mound than Toronto.

If he’s gettable on a minor-league deal, he’d be precisely the type of talented reclamation project this coaching staff has gotten production from in the past.