Blue Jays reportedly adding reliever Marc Rzepczynski

According to Ben Wagner of the Fan 590, the Toronto Blue Jays may be close to adding reliever Marc Rzepczynski to their spring training roster.

There has been no official word of the signing from the ball club although it appears that Blue Jays skipper Charlie Montoyo will shed some light on the potential Marc Rzepczynski signing later this morning.

The hurler who is affectionately known as “Scrabble” was released last summer by the Arizona Diamondbacks after spending the entire campaign in Triple-A with the Reno Aces. The 34-year old made 45 appearances for the Aces posting a 5.04 earned run average in 44.2 innings of work.

Rzepczynski pitched parts of three seasons with the Blue Jays from 2009-11 after the team selected him in the 5th round of the 2007 amateur draft. The southpaw was part of the eight-player trade that saw Colby Rasmus come over from the Cardinals in 2011.

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Over his decade long career, the lefty has suited up for the Jays, Cardinals, Indians, Mariners, Athletics, Padres and Nationals at the MLB level. Zep sports a career 14-27 record with a 3.89 earned run average and an 8.5 SO/9 rate in 506 games.

Throughout his career, lefty batters have hit .227 while righties have hit Rzepczynski at a .280 clip. The 34-year old does have a sinker in his repertoire that has a tendency to induce ground balls so that could be a plus. The veteran does have a couple of seasons under his belt where he sported a 70% groundball rate.

The would-be addition is somewhat puzzling as it does not appear that Rzepczynski could offer the Blue Jays much of an upgrade over their current contingent of relievers who are in camp. Perhaps, the 34-year old would be content with a mentoring role in Buffalo as he surely could offer some veteran experience out of the Bisons bullpen.

The Blue Jays have the likes of Ken Giles, Rafael Dolis, Sam Gaviglio, Anthony Bass, Jordan Romano, Shun Yamaguchi, Thomas Pannone, Wilmer Font, and A.J. Cole all ahead of Rzepczynski on the current depth chart.

We will wait and see what the organization has to say about the likelihood of Rzepczynski making the squad and their motivation for adding him.