Liam Hendriks called up, R.A. Dickey pushed back for Toronto Blue Jays

The Blue Jays appear to be back in roster carousel mode and made another move following tonight’s 6-4 defeat to the New York Yankees. Right-handed pitcher Liam Hendriks has been called up from the Triple-A Buffalo Bisons and will pitch Friday while R.A. Dickey‘s start has been pushed back to Sunday.

Gregor Chisholm of MLB.com had it first on Twitter.

Hendriks, 25, was picked up by the Blue Jays this off-season and has pitched well in two starts this season. He throws lots of strikes and doesn’t walk many batters but his early peripheral numbers (5.24 FIP) have been much worse than his traditional ones (2.31 ERA). He doesn’t miss many bats either but someone survived two starts at the Rogers Centre despite giving up a home run in both of his appearances.

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That’s probably being a little harsh of Hendriks as he did an admirable job filling in with a couple spot starts when the Jays were in a jam. However I just don’t feel there’s going to be a tremendous amount of value in Hendriks going forward. Once opponents start to figure out a bit more what he features he’ll have a much tougher time getting through tough American League lineups. However this next series will be played at a National League park in Cincinnati, against a Reds’ offense that has posted a meager 87 wRC+ as a team this season.

This is actually the second time Dickey has been pushed back this season for Hendriks and is dealing with a strained groin. Two other Blue Jays, lefty reliever Brett Cecil and pitching prospect Sean Nolin, have also had groin strains recently and both appeared to re-injure themselves by returning to the mound too early. The last thing this team needs is to lose a starter to injury so I’ll assume they play it safe with Dickey but at the same time I’d be surprised if he ends up missing his next scheduled start on Sunday.

Dickey hasn’t been able to pitch late into many games this season but his ERA has slowly trended downward. After a shaky start and after briefly sitting under four now it’s now at 4.08 but he’s still walking too many batters.