Brandon Morrow heading to Buffalo on rehab, Blue Jays next stop?

Toronto Blue Jays starter Brandon Morrow has spent the past last three-plus months on the disabled list, working his way back from torn tendon sheath in his right index finger. However, the right-hander, who has accumulated more service time on the disabled list than on the active roster, started his rehab assignment with a scoreless inning of relief on August 27 for Single-A Dunedin and could be ramping himself up for a late season comeback as a reliever.

According to a tweet from Shi Davidi of Sportsnet, Morrow is making the jump up to Triple-A Buffalo, and will appear with the Bisons on Saturday.

That would seem to be in line with the widespread belief that the Blue Jays will activate Morrow from the 60-day disabled list after rosters expand on Monday. Given his lack of appearances, he will likely stay in a bullpen role through the remainder of the season. Whether the Blue Jays view this as an audition for a relief role in 2015 or not remains to be seen.

The Blue Jays hold a club option on the right-hander for the 2015 season, valued at $10 million. However, given the results of the past several seasons, they are unlikely to exercise that option regardless of the potential in Morrow’s right arm. Instead, they may opt to bring him back on a one-year, incentive laden deal or simply suck up the $1 million buy-out and cut their losses there.

The 30-year-old Morrow has had an erratic health history over the last three seasons, making a total of 37 starts over that span  and posting a 13-12 record with a 4.06 ERA and 7.7 K/9 ratio in 206.1 innings of work.  Overall, he holds a 34-30 record in a Blue Jays uniform with a 4.40 ERA and a 9.4 K/9 ratio.