Blue Jays: When enough is enough, even at a time of need

It’s no secret that the Blue Jays are badly in need of bullpen help, but even then, it might be time to cut bait with another veteran pitcher.

What started out looking like a savvy signing by bringing in Tyler Chatwood on a one-year, three million dollar contract, has turned into a borderline disaster. The 31 year old started the year by making eight consecutive scoreless appearances to kick off his Blue Jays career, spanning a total of 8.2 innings. He flashed his impressive stuff with a ton of movement on his two-seam fastball as well as his cutter, and he looked like a real asset for the back of the bullpen.

And then it all fell apart.

Since entering a game with that 0.00 ERA on May 5th against the Oakland A’s, Chatwood has been unusable more often than not. After another trouble-filled appearance against the Seattle Mariners on Saturday the former starter’s ERA has now ballooned up to 5.46 and his WHIP has climbed to 1.43. It gets worse when you look at more recent splits, as he has a 12.00 ERA and a 2.33 WHIP over his last 12 appearances. For a badly beaten up bullpen, the timing couldn’t be worse.

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Despite the fact that the Blue Jays are missing a pile of arms from their pitching stables, I’m not sure how much longer they can justify using one of their 40-man roster spots on Chatwood. It’s bad enough that he has seemingly forgot how to throw strikes half the time, but he’s also flashed frustration at Charlie Montoyo at some odd times. For example, he was clearly very upset as he was removed on Thursday, which frankly, is the same poor self-awareness we’ve seen from him before. I realize he had just struck out a batter before the skipper came out of the dugout, but he had already allowed two hits, two walks, and two earned runs. That’s no time to be giving your manager attitude for taking you out of the game, regardless of the circumstances.

I’m sure that’s something that Chatwood and Montoyo can get over pretty quickly if they haven’t already, but I feel like we’ve watched this movie before. Tanner Roark performed badly enough at the beginning of the year that the Jays decided they were better off eating the 12 million owed to the veteran for the 2021 campaign. As much as they could have used another rotation arm at the time, Roark no longer pitched well enough to justify his roster spot and he wasn’t happy about the way he was being used. He was critical of Montoyo in 2020 for being pulled too early in his view, and I’m sure he wasn’t happy about being moved to the bullpen this season either. I’m not suggesting that Montoyo’s management of the bullpen has been perfect, but in this case you have to consider the source.

Even after acquiring Adam Cimber from the Marlins to boost the bullpen, the assumption is the Blue Jays will continue to look for more upgrades. If and when that happens they are going to need to clear some space on their 40-man roster, and it wouldn’t shock me at all if Chatwood doesn’t make the cut. You could make a strong argument that the Blue Jays would be better off with either Joel Payamps or Anthony Castro, who were both optioned to Triple-A this week, so it’s not as if they’re in a position where they have to keep Chatwood around.

Since Payamps and Castro will have to spend at least 10 days in Triple-A before they can be recalled (unless there’s an injury), Chatwood might get one or two more chances to prove the Blue Jays should hang on to him. That said, I wouldn’t be surprised if they cut their losses after the latest tough outing. Regardless of all of the other variables at play, sometimes enough is simply enough.