Blue Jays: Five players who could lose their roster spot at the deadline

Anthony Banda

Designated for assignment by the Pittsburgh Pirates back in late June, reliever Anthony Banda hasn’t spent a lot of time with the Blue Jays but has pitched to mixed results since arriving in Toronto.

Through five outings and 4.1 innings, Banda has surrendered three runs and allowed five hits in that span. He has three outings where he didn’t give up an earned run and also has four strikeouts on his record but opponents are finding ways to get hits off of him although it is a small sample size with his new organization. Before being traded to Toronto, Banda was struggling with the Pirates, sporting a 6.41 ERA through 23 outings while opponents authored a 3.94 batting average off the southpaw.

I can see why the Jays took a flier on him given he throws from the left side but if the Jays make some moves, Banda could be one of the first to lose his roster spot, especially since he is out of options. It’s tough for a playoff-worthy team to keep a pitcher with an ERA over 5.00 on the year and unfortunately, Banda’s time with the Jays might be coming to an end over the next week.