Blue Jays sign veteran reliever to minor league deal

Tomorrow morning, the 2025 Blue Jays will officially convene at Spring Training for the first time. When they do so, they'll have another veteran reliever among their ranks.

On Sunday, the Blue Jays inked Amir Garrett to a long minor league contract, per a report from Sportsnets’ Ben Nicholson-Smith. The deal with originally reported by Johnny Giunta of the Gate 14 Podcast. The deal would be in the “low seven figures” if the 34-year-old makes it to the big league roster, per Nicholson-Smith.

Blue Jays ink exciting veteran reliever to minor league deal

Garrett has a career 4.95 ERA across 330 2/3 innings in eight seasons. He spent last season with the Los Angeles Angels, where he had a 5.06 ERA in 5 1/3 innings early in the season before spending most of the season in Triple-A. 

He spent last spring with the Giants but was released at the end of spring training before he caught on with the Angels. 

His best seasons came with the Reds. He had a 3.03 ERA across 74 1/3 innings in 2019 and ‘20, but struggled in the other three seasons he spent in Cincinnati.

The biggest problem throughout his career has been command.

He has a career 26.2% strikeout rate, but also has a career walk rate of 13.3%. He had a startling 20.8% walk rate in his brief MLB cameo with the Angels last season. 

That said, there's still a path for Garrett to make the MLB roster, as Brendon Little is the only left-handed reliever who is projected to make the Blue Jays’ Opening Day roster. While Garrett’s command issues are a bit scary, he makes for a good lottery ticket who, at the very least, could serve as a depth piece.