'It's been tough': Blue Jays' bullpen takes yet another blow

TORONTO -- There's not much John Schneider could say on Saturday morning when discussing the state of his beleaguered bullpen.

The Toronto Blue Jays manager entered the season with Jordan Romano, Yimi Garcia, Erik Swanson, Chad Green and Tim Mayza as his leading leverage options and, to this point, each of those relievers has dealt with their own cases of injury or underperformance.

In some cases, there's been a combination of both.

"It makes it tough," Schneider said. "It's always an opportunity for guys to step up and guys have in certain moments. And you hope for those moments to be more consistent, but it's hard.

"It's been tough."

The outlook certainly didn't improve on Saturday with news that the Blue Jays designated Mayza for assignment and Romano suffered a setback in his recovery from an elbow issue.

It's seemed as though everything that could go wrong with the bullpen this season has in fact done so and the situations faced by the pair of relievers are emblematic of just that.

Mayza, who's been with the organization since 2013, has been a stalwart left-hander in the Blue Jays bullpen for much of his seven-year MLB career. He enjoyed his finest campaign last season when he posted a 1.52 ERA and 2.1 wins above replacement, per Baseball Reference.

The 32-year-old’s numbers severely regressed this season, though, to the tune of an 8.03 ERA over 24.2 innings. Opponents hit .340/.397/.528 off Mayza and his 13.2 strikeout percentage was easily the worst mark of his career.

"This year has been really strange and tough for him," said Schneider, who expressed hope that Mayza would catch on with another big-league team. If the Blue Jays don't find a trade for the left-hander and he passes through waivers, he can reject an option assignment to triple-A — a right afforded to players with at least five years of service time — and still collect the remainder of salary owed. That's a typical result with players in Mayza's situation.

The reliever experienced a puzzling dip in velocity this year, with his sinker registering at 91.9 m.p.h., down from 93.4 m.p.h. last season. Schneider said that's been at the core of his struggles.

"The velo was a big thing this year with him," said the manager. "We tried a lot of things, from delivery to introducing a new pitch, and when you're that type of pitcher — he's kind of contact-reliant — and you don't really have your velo, it makes it a little bit tough. So, it was just an uphill battle from the get-go coming out of spring."

Schneider spoke to Mayza about the club's decision on Friday night after the lefty allowed five runs in the ninth inning without recording an out during the Blue Jays' 16-5 loss to the New York Yankees. The two spoke again Saturday morning and while Schneider described the conversation as "tough," he said Mayza was not surprised.

"Handled it professionally, like everything else he does," said Schneider. 

And while the decision to cut Mayza, the longest-serving pitcher on the Blue Jays' staff, was understandably jarring for those inside the clubhouse, the setback experienced by Romano carries a more damaging long-term impact to the Blue Jays.

The closer, currently on the injured list for the second time this season with right elbow inflammation, experienced discomfort in his elbow while throwing on Friday and will now be shut down. He's set to visit specialist Dr. Keith Meister in Texas on Tuesday.

That's the same doctor who operated on Alek Manoah earlier this month and the Blue Jays aren't certain if the same fate awaits Romano.

"I don't know at this point," said Schneider. "We've done imaging and it's nothing structural with [his] ligament or anything. So, I think kind of just seeing what [Meister] says in person and going from there. Hope not obviously."

The Blue Jays bullpen has been a clear weakness and owns a collective 4.78 ERA that ranks 28th in MLB. In contrast, the club's relief corps ranked eighth in baseball in 2023 with a 3.68 ERA.

Mayza's struggles and Romano's injury have contributed to that mark. As have the injuries to Garcia — who is progressing toward a return from right elbow ulnar neuritis — and Green, along with the struggles of Swanson, which resulted in a demotion to triple-A.

The confluence of misery has forced Schneider to try and make do by inserting relievers in spots that are less than ideal. He pointed to the sixth inning of Friday's loss when the Yankees scored a pivotal six runs off starter Yusei Kikuchi and reliever Nate Pearson. If the Blue Jays had drawn that situation up in spring training and had the intended healthy and performing bullpen pieces in place, Garcia would be trusted as the extinguisher in that scenario.

"It wasn't on our bingo card this year," said Schneider, when asked about the tough year that Romano has endured. It was an account that could describe the status of the entire bullpen and the manager quickly followed it by making that connection.

"Variety of things down there in that pen."