Blue Jays: 5 RH relief pitchers to consider in free agency

Nov 2, 2015; Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Toronto Blue Jays interim general manager Tony LaCava speaks to the media during an introductory conference at Rogers Centre. Mandatory Credit: Dan Hamilton-USA TODAY Sports

The Toronto Blue Jays enter the MLB free agent period in desperate need of some arms. While the starting rotation is getting primary attention thus far, the Blue Jays bullpen could end up having an equal number of holes to fill, if not more.

Gone is LaTroy Hawkins into retirement, and Mark Lowe will be seeking a moderate payday on the open market following a breakout season split between Seattle and Toronto. While Aaron Loup is due for some sort of rebound and arms such as Ryan Tepera or Bo Schultz will return as options to round out the ‘pen, the Jays will need more than just depth. They’ll need impact arms.

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This will become especially apparent if one or both of Roberto Osuna and Aaron Sanchez are moved into a starting role. Doing so would fill a gaping rotation need for a fraction of the salary it might cost on the open market, but as John Gibbons has said several times now, it also creates a new hole in the back end of the bullpen. As the Brett Cecil experiment showed in early 2015, that’s not a role for everybody.

Ahead, we look at five prominent names that the Blue Jays could be linked to in the coming weeks of free agency. Left-handed relief options will be addressed in a similar fashion tomorrow, and these are meant to cover the names that we can expect Toronto to automatically have some level of linkage with, assuming a back-end role is made available.

Note that while I believe there will be interest in returning Mark Lowe, I’ll be exploring candidates that were not on the 2015 roster. Also, Darren O’Day has been left off this list, because, well… First up, we have a 31-year old with a lengthy track record of closer’s experience and over 200 career saves.

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Jul 26, 2015; Denver, CO, USA; Cincinnati Reds relief pitcher Burke Badenhop (25) delivers a pitch during the seventh inning against the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field. The Rockies won 17-7. Mandatory Credit: Chris Humphreys-USA TODAY Sports

Burke Badenhop   (32)
2015:  66.1 IP, 3.93 ERA

Badenhop recently had his $4 million team option declined by the Cincinnati Reds, who instead opted to pay his $1.5 buyout. While he certainly didn’t earn a raise in 2015, it was another steady season from the underrated ground ball specialist. That’s a trait that would play very well in the American League East, especially on the Rogers Centre turf.

If you’ve been kicking around here since last offseason, or if you’re a regular listener to the Jays Nest Podcast, you know I’m a not-so-closeted Badenhop super fan. While he’s by no means the back-end option that Soria represents, plugging Badenhop into the middle of a bullpen will bring you 60+ innings of quality relief, most often at a level high enough to keep the game above water.

Badenhop kicked his career off with the Detroit Tigers organization before being dealt to the Florida Marlins as part of the Miguel Cabrera blockbuster. As the centrepiece, I’m sure. He’s now coming off four consecutive quality seasons with the Rays, Brewers, Red Sox and Reds.

If one of Osuna or Sanchez stays in a back-end role, a signing like Badenhop would allow for Liam Hendriks to experiment with a more prominent role while Brett Cecil stays put in his high-leverage spot. With an innings-eater like Mark Buehrle out the door and a rotation that could be going young, an arm like Badenhop’s would be a wise addition in my books.

The righty pounds away with a sinker as his primary pitch, mixing in a splitter and slider. He was able to produce ground balls at a 61.0% rate for the Red Sox in 2014, but that number did fall to 46.7% with the Reds this past season. Despite an improved slider, he lost the feel for his sinker at times. If that can bounce back, so can Badenhop.

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Oct 18, 2015; New York City, NY, USA; New York Mets relief pitcher Tyler Clippard throws a pitch against the Chicago Cubs in the 8th inning in game two of the NLCS at Citi Field. Mandatory Credit: Anthony Gruppuso-USA TODAY Sports

Tyler Clippard   (30)
2015:  71.0 IP, 2.92 ERA

Like Soria, Clippard will be commanding a multi-year deal with an opportunity at an eighth or ninth inning role this offseason. After a string of highly successful seasons with the Washington Nationals franchise, Clippard was dealt to the Oakland Athletics in exchange for Yunel Escobar this past January then flipped to the New York Mets mid-season.

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He’s not coming off his finest season, however, and did himself no favors on the grand playoff stage. Clippard also saw his K/9 turn downwards in 2015, hitting 8.1 after that number rested above 10.0 in five of his six prior seasons. Clippard is primarily a fastball and chcngeup pitcher, topping out around 93 MPH.

Fly balls may plague him the odd time, but his arm has the talent to work in any environment. If Clippard is going to exist with a dipped strikeout total, however, he’ll need to improve upon his career average of 3.7 BB/9. That’s easy to overlook with a back-end arm that strikes out more than a batter an inning, but control issues could be risky in the closer’s role.

Clippard will surely seek out an opportunity to close ballgames first and foremost. That’s where the money is, and he did record 32 saves in 2012 with the Nationals. He’s an arm I’d prefer to keep in a setup role as part of a great bullpen, but if Toronto has the need following their other pitching moves, he’s a name the club will be linked to.

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Jul 2, 2015; St. Louis, MO, USA; San Diego Padres relief pitcher Shawn Kelley (56) throws to a St. Louis Cardinals batter during the ninth inning at Busch Stadium. The Padres defeated the Cardinals 5-3 in eleven innings Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports

Shawn Kelley   (31)
2015: 51.1 IP, 2.45 ERA

Blue Jays fans likely remember Shawn Kelley as a barely-decent middle reliever with the New York Yankees, one whose raw stuff never quite played as well as it should have. A lot has changed in one season with the San Diego padres, and Kelley enters the 2015 free agent pool with some wildcard value in the right situation.

Kelley has always been able to strike batters out, posting K/9 numbers of 12.0, 11.7 and 11.0 in the past three seasons. He works with a fastball that touches 93 MPH and a very good slider, one which played a starring role in his breakout 2015 campaign.

Cutting down on walks and improving his plate control helped Kelley immensely this past season, which shows in his 2.45 ERA, 1.091 WHIP and 2.57 FIP (well below career average). Having another strikeout arm in the Blue Jays bullpen alongside Brett Cecil would allow for John Gibbons to execute in high-leverage situations with a greater success, and save Brett Cecil for lefty matchups when he sees fit.

One worry with Kelley, past the fact that his 2015 season was an outlier from the rest of career, is his limited ground ball tendency. That’s not ideal for the Rogers Centre, but he’s done very well to keep his HR/9 numbers down, and a high strikeout total would help to balance that further. He wouldn’t be Toronto’s stud out of the pen, but in a role similar to Lowe or Hawkins this past season, there’s potential.

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Apr 9, 2015; Kansas City, MO, USA; Chicago White Sox pitcher Matt Albers (34) delivers a pitch against the Kansas City Royals during the seventh inning at Kauffman Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Peter G. Aiken-USA TODAY Sports

Matt Albers   (32)
2015: 37.1 IP, 1.21 ERA

Albers is a name flying relatively under the radar, and I consider him a quality fit for the Blue Jays in the same vein of a Burke Badenhop. With a pounding sinker and ground ball tendencies, Albers could chew up some very nice innings in the middle of Toronto’s bullpen without breaking the bank.

Beginning his career as a starter with the Astros and Orioles, Albers battled through some fairly inconsistent years before finding his groove as a relief pitcher in 2012. Since that time, and for a staggering five different franchises, he’s pitched 170.2 innings out of the bullpen to an ERA of 2.32. While his walks and strikeouts aren’t something to swoon over, he keeps the ball in the yard and feeds his infielders.

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After a career of fairly stable velocity, it’s odd that Albers’ sinker dipped by nearly 2.5 MPH down to a level of 89.7 last season. His slider, changeup and seldom-used curveball all experienced a similar dip, so while the results on the field remained very strong, that’s enough to cause a raised eyebrow.

Albers, like Badenhop, would fit into a Toronto bullpen with or without Osuna and Sanchez on the back end, as their role would not change or drift closer to the late innings. The back-end picture will gain some clarity over the coming weeks, but expect the Jays to be involved with many arms, and keep an eye out for these five first and foremost.