Blue Jays fans can't believe the team is relying on new acquisition for key stretch

José Ureña is perhaps the best definition of a "league average" pitcher.

He has a career ERA of 4.80 in 951 1/3 innings for seven different teams. His career ERA+ (which takes a player's ERA and normalizes it across the entire league) is 85. He's thrown one complete game in his career and has two career saves.

And the future of the Blue Jays relies on his right arm. The Blue Jays inked Ureña to an MLB contract over the weekend, and he'll make his team debut as Tuesday's starting pitcher against the Angels.

He's put together a solid career, but it's also a career that destined to be a quality answer on Immaculate Grid. Yet here we are.

Blue Jays fans can't believe the team is relying on this recent acquisition for key stretch

Ureña pitched three innings for the Mets earlier this year before being designated for assignment and was working as a starter in Triple-A Syracuse prior to be promoted by the Mets, so he'll likely be able to go a couple innings before being ceding action to the bullpen.

Eric Lauer went four innings as the bulk man during the Blue Jays' last turn through this spot in their rotation, so he'll likely get some work behind Ureña.

Neither of them are inspiring much confidence among the Blue Jays' fanbase.

Ureña's been in baseball since 2015, but he hasn't been an impactful MLB pitcher since 2020, which was his final year with the Miami Marlins.

He signed with the Marlins out of the Dominican Republic in 2009 and made his professional debut with the team in 2015. He had an ERA under four in 2017 and 2018, and he was Miami's Opening Day starter in 2018 and '19.

He's been searching for that peak since. The Marlins designated him for assignment after the 2020 season, and he's been in the baseball wilderness since.

Ureña signed with the Tigers in 2021 but he posted a 5.86 ERA in 100 2/3 innings. He then pitched for the Brewers and Rockies in 2022, the Rockies and White Sox in 2023 and the Rangers in 2024.

That shuffling kind of sums up the Ureña experience at this point in his career. His stuff is good enough for teams to give him a chance, but not good enough to stick on a winning team.

That point doesn't seem to be lost on Blue Jays fans.

He's able to limit fly balls (he finished last year in the 84th percentile in ground-ball rate), but that's about it. He was in the 3rd percentile in strikeout rate, the 21st percentile in expecting batting average and the 23rd percentile in chase rate.

He allowed multiple hits on three of his four pitches in his lone appearance for the Mets this year, and allowed a second-deck home run to James Wood on a sinker he left over the plate.

Ureña's a stop-gap option, and nothing more. He's a stop-gap option filling in while Max Scherzer's on the mend, and he'll likely be designated for assignment the minute that Scherzer returns.

But it doesn't change the fact that he's getting the ball in a big series for the scuffling Blue Jays. Their offense isn't doing much, so every opposing run feels like an insurmountable mountain that Toronto's offense is unable to climb.