Blue Jays: Cimber’s Great, But What’s Next For The Bullpen?

Raisel Iglesias RHP LAA

Back in December, the Los Angeles Angels attempted to strengthen their bullpen by going out and acquiring Reds closer Raisel Iglesias.  Iglesias was coming off a fantastic 2020 season, posting a 2.74 ERA, while striking out a career-high 12.1 batters per nine, in 23 innings of work.

The Angels were hoping that the Cuban native would be able to repeat his stellar season and shore up the ninth inning for a team that has had issues closing out games in years prior.  Unfortunately for the Halos, Iglesias hasn’t helped them inch any closer to a playoff spot, and because of this, the right-hander may be on the move again within the next couple of weeks.

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Iglesias had a dreadful beginning to his 2021 campaign, posting an ERA of 6.00 in the month of April. This slow start really hurt the Angels and although Iglesias has looked like his normal self in May and June, posting a 3.00 and 2.84 ERA in those months respectively, the Halos haven’t been able to make up any ground and are still eight games out of a playoff spot and on their way to missing out on October baseball for a 7th consecutive year.

Eight games isn’t an impossible amount to make up, All-World center fielder Mike Trout is still on the IL for at least another couple of weeks, which will make it even more difficult to catch one of the Wild Card teams.  GM Perry Minasian may elect that the best course of action to take is to sell at the deadline.  If the Angels do look to unload talent, the Jays should be all over Iglesias.

The right-hander would be a perfect complement to Jordan Romano at the back end of the bullpen.  Though he doesn’t have the same kind of fastball that the Markham native possesses, Iglesias can still run it up there, with a heater that averages 96MPH and has high spin rates, giving it a little extra life.

He combines his plus fastball with two offspeed pitches, a sharp slider, and a power changeup that both play well off his heater and have helped him punch out 14.1 batters per nine innings this season.  Due to the fact that Iglesias is a rental, he shouldn’t break the bank from a prospect standpoint and will probably demand a similar return to which the Blue Jays had to cough up to acquire Cimber.

If the price point is right from a prospect trade view, Raisel Iglesias would be a great addition to the back end of the Blue Jays bullpen and would provide an experienced option to pitch in the eighth inning ahead of Romano while also providing a safety net in case someone else needs to pick up saves.

José Alvarado LHP PHI

The name José Alvarado should be a familiar one to Jays fans.  The Venezuelan-born lefty spent four years in the Tampa Bay Rays organization, where he appeared in 149 games, a number of those coming against the Blue Jays.

Alvarado is known as a pitcher who has a phenomenal arsenal but struggles with command, which has prevented him from fully tapping into his potential thus far in his career.  The left-hander has one of the best fastballs in all of baseball.  Alvarado’s heater sits in the upper 90’s and regularly touches triple digits, with a tremendous amount of arm side run.  He combines his fastball with a mid 90’s slider and a slower curveball that has plenty of movement.  When Alvarado has all three pitches working, he provides a super uncomfortable at-bat for hitters, due to the elite velocity and insane amount of movement he possesses.

The issue for Alvarado is that he rarely has all of his offerings on point, and because of this, he struggles to throw strikes consistently.  Over the course of his career, the hard-throwing lefty has walked a whopping 5.3 batters per nine innings.  This year alone he’s allowed 7.4 free passes per nine but has still managed to post a very impressive 2.79 ERA in 29 innings of work.

Alvarado has become a quality relief pitcher, despite his erratic control thanks to his strikeout stuff, as he is able to pitch himself out of jams due to how electric his arsenal is.  If the left-hander was able to harness his command and wasn’t always pitching himself in and out of trouble, that already impressive ERA would be a lot lower than where it is right now.

The Blue Jays have pitching coach Pete Walker at their disposal, who was able to fix a similar issue with Robbie Ray this past offseason, which has turned him into a legitimate All-Star candidate.  I believe that if Walker is given the opportunity to get his hands on Alvarado, that he has the chance to work the same magic that he used on Ray.  If he’s able to do so, Alvarado has the arsenal to turn into one of the better pitchers in the game, and a true shutdown reliever that can come in and pitch in high leverage situations.

Alvarado does have two years of control left after this season.  Philadelphia was a team trying to compete this year and with the amount of money they have invested in their core, I believe they will attempt to do the same next season.  They may want to hold onto Alvarado to help them down the road, however, the Phillies may be frustrated with the lefty’s erratic command and could be ready to move off from him because of this.

If GM Dave Dombrowski is willing to listen to calls on Alvarado, I think he could be an interesting addition to this ball club.  He’s already a quality reliever and would instantly become one of the best in the Blue Jays bullpen, but also has the upside to turn into a special talent, he just has to harness his command to do so.

Taylor Rogers LHP MIN

The Minnesota Twins have been one of the more disappointing teams so far this season.  After making the playoffs in three of the last four years, most people around the sport expected the Twins to push the loaded Chicago White Sox for the Central Division title this season.

Unfortunately, due to injuries and poor on-field performances, the Twins have failed to live up to these lofty expectations and currently sit third in the American League Central, 12 games out of a playoff spot.  Calling the first half of this season dreadful is an understatement for GM Thad Levine and his ball club.  With how slowly they’ve started, Minnesota is headed in the direction of becoming sellers, barring a major turnaround in the next couple of weeks.

If the Twins decide to sell, there are going to be a number of intriguing names on their roster who draw interest from teams, with the likes of Jose Berrios, Michael Pineda, and Andrelton Simmons all being players that could help contending clubs.  If the Blue Jays are committed to repairing their bullpen, one name on the Twins roster they should definitely keep an eye on is Taylor Rogers, who’s quietly become one of the best left-handed relievers in all of baseball.

Rogers has been a beast for the Twins ever since debuting back in 2016.  The southpaw has posted a 3.06 ERA, a 10.1 K/9 ratio, and has saved 48 ball games during his first six seasons at the big league level.  The Colorado product is a pure fastball-slider pitcher, with a heater that resides in the mid 90’s and one of the best sliders in baseball that Rogers has great feel for and is able to generate a lot of swings and misses with.

The Colorado native has utilized his deadly combination to put together a career year.  Rogers has posted a career-low 2.53 ERA, along with being in the 100th chase rate percentile and the 91st percentile in walks allowed, according to Baseball Savant.

Bringing Rogers aboard would give Montoyo another dominant arm in the back end of the bullpen that has experience closing games.  It would also give the club a true number one lefty, bumping Ryan Borucki into the second left-hander role and mitigating Tim Mayza to a depth piece, which would strengthen the left side of the pen as a whole.

Rogers does have one more year of arbitration after this season which will inflate his price point if the Twins decide to shop him.  As long as top prospects like Austin Martin, Gabriel Moreno, and Simeon Woods Richardson aren’t involved in the deal, I would be fine overpaying a little, to get two years of a dominant reliever.