Trade Rumors: Blue Jays interested in Brewers’ Francisco Rodriguez

Friday night’s win over the Baltimore Orioles continued the latest trends we’ve seen from the Toronto Blue Jays; the Blue Jays winning and the bullpen showing weakness. With that in mind, it is understandable that the team continues to scour the trade market for relief help, preferably a closer to cement the back of the bullpen.

So it comes as no surprise that the Blue Jays are again showing interest in Brewers’ closer Francisco Rodriguez, as reported by Bob Elliott of the Toronto Sun.

The interest in Rodriguez isn’t something new for Blue Jays. Toronto was reported to be heavily interested in Rodriguez this past winter before he opted to re-sign with Milwaukee prior to the 2015 season. In terms of available targets, Rodriguez may make the most sense for the Blue Jays.

The 33-year-old Rodriguez is once again putting together a solid season, having posted a 1.13 ERA, a 2.36 FIP, and a 9.8 K/9 ratio while converting all 13 of his save opportunities. After surrendering 14 home runs in 2014, Rodriguez has also seemingly fixed that issue this season, giving up just one long-bomb in his first 24 innings of work.

With roughly $6.7 million due between this season and next (according to Elliott), the financial commitment wouldn’t be extravagant, especially for a closer. When compared to Papelbon, who will make roughly $20 million between the remainder of 2015 and his vesting option for 2016, it’s a downright bargain, even if the Phillies eat a ton of Papelbon’s money.

The cost to acquire Rodriguez would also be significantly less. With the Phillies purportedly scouting Daniel Norris in their discussions about Papelbon, the Blue Jays are obviously wary about over-spending for a closer. Meanwhile, Elliott mentions the Brewers are looking for help at the corners and in center field. The Blue Jays have some prospects in the system that could help out in that regard, with both Matt Dean and Mitch Nay fitting that mold, but neither is quite ready to help the Brewers in the near future. The same could be said of Rowdy Tellez, another power-hitting prospect the Jays have the corner, but one that is still in low-A Lansing.

That said, we can chalk Francisco Rodriguez up to the growing pile of pitchers the Blue Jays are currently tied to. However, if anything has been true over the last couple of seasons, it is that nothing is a certainty in when Blue Jays rumors start flying.

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