Blue Jays cut ties with pitcher Mat Latos

The Toronto Blue Jays have officially cut ties with veteran pitcher Mat Latos releasing the hurler and subsequently relieving him of his duties with the Buffalo Bisons.

Mat Latos made 3 starts for the Blue Jays earlier in the season posting a 6.60 earned run average in 15 innings of work with the big club. The 29-year old surrendered 11 runs including 5 home runs in his 3 starts signaling for his demotion to Buffalo.

Latos was significantly better with the Buffalo Bisons making 5 starts for the Triple-A affiliate posting a respectable 3.81 earned run average. The timing of the release seems odd as Latos appeared to be rounding into form, in his last two starts, he had only given up 1 and 2 runs respectively.

Purely speculating but Latos has apparently had attitude issues in the past with some of his previous employers, so maybe some of his old habits began to creep back into the fold. If nothing else Latos seemed to be an adequate spot starter and a nice depth piece to keep stashed in Triple-A. Latos had already been removed from the Bison roster on their website.

According to the voice of the Bisons’ Ben Wagner the Buffalo rotation will now feature Luis Santos, Brett Oberholtzer, Jarrett Grube, T.J. House and Cesar Valdez.

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The former 11th round draft pick of the San Diego Padres has now pitched for 8 major league teams and will surely latch on with another club before it is all said and done. Latos has made 189 career starts during his 9-year career posting a 71-59 record with a 3.64 earned run average.

Latos had a career year in 2010 with the Padres finishing 8th in the NL Cy Young voting with a 2.92 earned run average in 31 starts that season.

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With Latos out of the picture, it will be interesting to see who the Jays pluck from the farm the next time they require a starter to step up in a pinch. My guess is T.J. House is next in line for a look.