Blue Jays hang on to a pair of relievers despite their recent DFAs

As they say, you can never have enough pitching depth. That is exactly what the Toronto Blue Jays believe in as well when they decided to hang onto a pair of relievers that were recently designated for assignment.

First it was Josh Fleming, who agreed to stay in the Blue Jays organization by signing a minor league deal on Sunday, as per Mitch Bannon of The Athletic. Then it was Austin Voth, who also signed a minor league contract with Toronto to remain with the franchise on Monday, as reported by Thomas Hall of MLB.com. Both players had cleared waivers and elected free agency after being DFA’d by the Blue Jays after just one appearance.

Fleming and Voth return to Toronto hoping to get back to the big leagues

For Voth, he was released by the Chicago White Sox towards the end of Spring Training when the Blue Jays decided to pick him up on a minor league deal. When the Blue Jays pitching staff was hit with multiple injuries, along with the ineffectiveness of Brendon Little, Voth was eventually called up to the big leagues by Toronto in early April. The 33-year-old right hander would make his Blue Jays debut on April 5, pitching in relief against his old White Sox team. Voth went 2.2 innings and gave up one run on three hits with one walk and one strikeout.

As for Fleming, he initially had signed a minor league contract with the Blue Jays during the past offseason to serve as valuable pitching depth for the organization. The 29-year-old left-hander would ultimately get his chance when Toronto selected his contract and promoted him to the majors in early April. However, Fleming would only appear in one game in relief on April 6, giving up four runs on six hits with two walks and one strikeout in three innings of work.

It actually didn’t really matter how Voth and Fleming had performed because they would be true victims of the numbers game. With a taxed Blue Jays bullpen at the time, it forced the ballclub to circulate through fresh arms to maintain effectiveness in their relief corps. As a result, the duo surprisingly became quick DFA casualties after just one game with the team.

Nevertheless, now that both players have re-signed with the Blue Jays on minor league contracts, they can serve once again as valuable pitching depth for Toronto in Triple-A Buffalo. Fleming brings with him six years of major league experience primarily as a reliever, but has also made some MLB starts in his career.

Voth, on the other hand, has made 39 career starts and 169 relief appearances over his eight years in the big leagues as well. Having much-needed swingman insurance could come in handy once again for the Blue Jays down the road, especially after seeing how their injury woes have ravaged the team in the early going.

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