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

Trevor Richards

One player I did not expect to struggle as much as he has this year is right-hander Trevor Richards. After being acquired midway through the 2021 campaign and pitching well to end the year, Richards was one of the relievers the Blue Jays staff could trust in the high-pressure situations, at least, that’s how it felt going into the 2022 season.

Fast forward to the end of July and Richards is not living up to expectations, as the former Milwaukee Brewers reliever has struggled to find consistency on the mound and is currently holding a 5.54 ERA through 37 appearances. While June was not kind to him (ten earned runs through eight innings pitched with a neck strain IL stint to finish out the month), the 6’2″ Richards has turned in better results in July, only getting knocked around on Sunday against the Red Sox to the tune of two earned runs with a home run to boot. Before that, Richards had a seven-game stretch going where he didn’t allow an earned run while striking out 12 with four walks through 7.2 innings.

With Richards, it really comes down to the numbers game and who the club would prefer to have on the MLB roster. If the Jays acquire two to three relievers, I believe it will really be decided on whether they want to send Max Castillo down and have him start again in Buffalo or DFA Richards, keeping the Castillo in the Jays bullpen over the veteran reliever. Castillo does have options available but he is pitching better while being able to give the Jays multiple innings.