Blue Jays option Miguel Castro, Scott Copeland, recall Steve Delabar and Chad Jenkins

With the Toronto Blue Jays looking for anything to turn their fortunes around, roster churn is starting to become the norm. The latest moves came on Sunday night, with the Blue Jays optioning Miguel Caatro and Scott Copeland to Triple-A Buffalo. In their places, Steve Delabar and Chad Jenkins will be joining the Blue Jays according to Shi Davidi of Sportsnet.

The conveyor belt continues as #BlueJays recall Chad Jenkins and Steve Delabar, option Miguel Castro and Scott Copeland to #Bisons.
— Shi Davidi (@ShiDavidi) May 4, 2015

The decision to option Miguel Castro to Buffalo is the third such move by the Blue Jays in the last week in which the team optioned one of its promising top prospects. Castro joins Daniel Norris and Dalton Pompey, both of whom were optioned to Buffalo with the team needing to make corresponding moves.

For Castro, the move came on the heels of another rough outing, in which he surrendered 2 runs on 2 hits and a pair of walks over 1.1 innings of work during Sunday’s collapse to the Cleveland Indians. After being nearly untouchable during Spring Training and throughout the first few outings of the regular season, Castro struggled over the case over the last 10 games, surrendering 15 hits and 6 earned runs over his last 9.1 innings of work.

Meanwhile, Scott Copeland was just recalled by the Blue Jays on Saturday to make his Major League debut for Toronto. The 27-year-old made the most of his first taste of the big leagues, making two appearances and throwing 3 scoreless innings while allowing 2 hits and walking a pair.

In their stead, the Blue Jays will recall a pair of veteran arms that have a fair share of experience in the Blue Jays bullpen.

The 31-year-old Steve Delabar was an All-Star for the Blue Jays in 2013, posting a 3.22 ERA and a 12.6 K/9 ratio as the team’s primary set-up man. Unfortunately, he slid badly in 2014, getting rocked to the tune of a 4.91 ERA, 6.7 BB/9, and a 7.4 K/9 ratio. However, Delabar has been solid to start 2015 while pitching for the Bisons, posting a 1.08 ERA, a 2,2 BB/9, and a 7.6 K/9.

With the Blue Jays going with a youth movement this spring, and his own struggles, the oft-shuttled Chad Jenkins also found himself in Buffalo to start the season. In 4 starts for the Bisons, Jenkins has 2.89 ERA over 18.2 innings. However, his K/9 rate was at a rather low 4.8 and his typically strong groundball rates are at an unimpressive 1.04. However, he does own a solid 2.63 ERA and a 1.185 WHIP with the Blue Jays over the last two seasons (65 innings pitched).

Curiosity will be an interesting thing over the course of the next several games. After making a big push to the youth movement out of camp, the Blue Jays are seemingly stepping back and deciding to give Norris, Pompey, and Castro some time to breath and get themselves back on track against lesser competition. Meanwhile, the team will turn itself back over to some of the veteran presence it had in camp as well.

One has to wonder how quickly we could see one or all of these three back in a Blue Jays uniform this season. With youth on their side, Toronto could opt to let them play things out in Buffalo for a bit before pressing the issue again, essentially making them earn a spot before recalling them as needed. However, the sudden rash of moves around these younger players almost feels as though it is somewhat of a knee-jerk reaction to the team’s struggles. While the belief here was that Delabar needed to be called up anyway, I have to wonder if the need was better served by replacing another player on the roster. The same could be said for the promotion of Albers earlier this week.

Regardless, I have a feeling there are many moves in store for this Blue Jays team in the coming weeks, especially if they continue to struggle in all facets of the pitching department.

Next: Blue Jays blow early lead in 10-7 loss to Indians

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