Blue Jays bolster pitching depth with two veteran signings

On Friday, Blue Jays general manager Ross Atkins alluded to the team being close to adding some free agent reinforcements to the big league roster.

It took less than 24 hours for that to come to fruition.

On Saturday morning, the New York Post's Jon Heyman reported that the Blue Jays were in agreement on free agency contracts with Spencer Turnbull and José Ureña.

They both inked major league deals.

Blue Jays bolster pitching depth with two veteran signings

There's been a ton of chatter connecting Turnbull to the Blue Jays since the end of spring training, so his signing doesn't come as much of a surprise.

He threw a no-hitter with the Tigers in 2021 and was effective at the start of 2024 with the Phillies, but was moved to the bullpen mid-way through the season before suffering a season-ending lat strain.

While he finished last year with a 2.65 ERA in 54 1/3 innings, he likely lasted in free agency for so long because of his injury history (he missed the second half of 2021 and all of 2022 due to Tommy John surgery and missed a good portion of 2023 due to a neck strain).

There are worse options to take a flier on, especially since he wasn't on an MLB roster in April, which means that that's one less month of wear and tear that the Blue Jays need to worry about.

On the other hand, Ureña has already seen some MLB action this year, but it hasn't been pretty.

He signed a minor league deal with the Mets in spring training and made on MLB apperance in April where he allowed five runs in three innings.

A veteran of 11 MLB seasons, he spent the start of his career as a starter with the Marlins before bouncing around MLB as both a starter and a swingman. He spent last year with the Rangers where he had a 3.80 ERA in 109 innings.

He had a 3.90 ERA in 343 2/3 innings with Miami across the 2017 and 2018 seasons, but he hasn't been able to recapture that magic since.

While he came out of the bullpen in his lone appearance this year, he was working as a starter in Triple-A for the Mets and allowed three runs in 9 1/3 innings. The Mets designated him for assignment after his rough season debut, and the Blue Jays wasted no time pouncing on him.

We'll likely see Ureña first out of the two since it's clear that he's already MLB ready, while Turnbull will likely need to go on a coule rehab assignments.

While neither one of them move the needle much, it's good to see the Blue Jays making moves with their backs against the wall. Max Scherzer's been out since Opening Day and it doesn't seem like he'll be back this month, while Eric Lauer is the latest player called upon to fill his spot after Easton Lucas hit a wall after two starts.

This is still a shrewd move by the Blue Jays. They won't lose much of anything if either one of them don't pan out, but they'll have everything to gain if they can hold things down. It's not an ideal situation, but it seems like they're making the most of it.