Blue Jays have upcoming decision to make on Glenn Sparkman

The Toronto Blue Jays plucked pitcher Glenn Sparkman from the Kansas City Royals during the annual Rule 5 draft, however, a spring training thumb injury afforded the Blue Jays some time to make a final decision on the hurlers future.

The time has now come for the Blue Jays to either add Glenn Sparkman to the 25-man roster or offer him back to the Royals by the June 30th deadline. The 25-year old has been impressive during his rehab assignment and appears poised to join the big club.

Sparkman sports a 2.57 earned run average in seven innings of work with the Buffalo Bisons and could be a fresh option for the Blue Jays overworked bullpen. Unfortunately, the emergence of Sparkman may result in the Blue Jays closing the book on fan favorite Jason Grilli.

The Jays could also look to cut ties with reliever J.P. Howell who has been sidelined with shoulder tightness since June 04th. The Howell experiment has not gone as planned as the reliever has been terrible in a Jays uniform allowing eight runs in 8.2 innings of work.

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The native of Texas was a 20th round draft pick, 594th overall in the 2013 amateur draft out of Wharton County Junior College. The hurler has only 46.1 innings at the Double-A level under his belt and would be making a significant jump to the majors.

However, the Jays caught lightning in a bottle the previous season when they selected Joe Biagini in the Rule 5 draft from the San Francisco Giants, and we all know how that worked out.

Sparkman owns a tidy 2.66 earned run average fanning 262 hitters in 257 professional innings. Like Biagini, Sparkman was also a starter for a good part of his minor league career starting 42 of his 75 career appearances.

Next: Blue Jays need to add another bullpen arm

Look for a corresponding roster move involving Sparkman by Friday, however, the smart money would be that the Jays are going to call him up in an attempt for him to remain on the major league roster.