Blue Jays DFA Simeon Woods Richardson after warning signs become impossible to ignore

Not often does one bad outing leads to an automatic loss of a job. But in the case of Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Simeon Woods Richardson, Thursday night’s disastrous inning against the Kansas City Royals felt less like a sudden collapse and more like the moment the underlying numbers finally caught up with him. Woods Richardson was designated for assignment by the Blue Jays on Friday following the blowup, with rookie CJ Van Eyk called up to take his spot on the big league roster

Woods Richardson came into the game on Thursday night in the sixth inning with the Jays trailing the Royals by a score of 4-0. The 25-year-old right-hander would go on to give up six earned runs on five hits with two walks and only one strikeout. With that performance, it quickly put the game out of reach for Toronto as they fell further behind the wild card race.

At first glance, the move still looked harsh. Woods Richardson had a 2-0 record and a 1.04 ERA with 13 strikeouts over 17.1 innings in seven appearances since joining the Blue Jays in a June trade with the Minnesota Twins. On the surface, that reads like a reliever who had given Toronto useful innings and simply picked the wrong time for his first bad outing with the club.

The problem is that the surface-level success was never quite as convincing as it looked. Woods Richardson’s 5.93 xERA and 5.84 xFIP painted a much less flattering picture than his actual ERA, suggesting that regression was probably coming if the command and contact issues did not improve. His 5.05 BB/9 rate was another major red flag, and even his .319 BABIP hinted that the results were being shaped by a shaky foundation rather than consistent dominance.

Simeon Woods Richardson fell victim to the numbers game as Toronto was forced to make a move

With every game being important for Toronto in the standings as they hope to remain in the playoff picture, they need to make moves to help keep the team sustainable down the stretch and Woods Richardson's inability to fix the underlying problems made him an obvious DFA candidate once a roster move became necessary.

They added veteran Michael Lorenzen to help reinforce their pitching staff just the day before, despite the 34-year-old pitcher putting up one of the worst seasons of his career with the Colorado Rockies this year. And as expected, with the relief shortage, Van Eyk was quickly thrusted into action on Friday, after being called up, to close out the game against the Seattle Mariners.

In the end, Thursday’s outing may have been the final push rather than the entire reason for the move. Woods Richardson’s ERA made his Blue Jays stint look like a success story, but the expected numbers, walk rate and shaky command suggested a correction was coming.

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