Former Blue Jays castoff surprisingly lands with National League juggernaut Phillies

It wasn’t too long ago when the Toronto Blue Jays picked up a viable former Philadelphia Phillies castoff in infielder Rodolfo Castro to add valuable depth to the organization. They also picked up 29-year-old left hander Michael Plassmeyer for pitching depth. So it would be only fitting for the Phillies to return the favour and do the same with a former Blue Jays castoff.

This week, Philadelphia signed reliever Zach Pop to a one-year MLB contract. It came as quite the surprise in the fact that Pop actually netted a major league deal instead of a minor league one given the immense struggles that he endured during the 2025 season. Nevertheless, with the Phillies in need of bullpen help for the upcoming year, securing candidates that previously had some success at the major league level appeared to be of utmost priority for the club.

Former Blue Jays castoff surprisingly lands with National League juggernaut Phillies

Philadelphia must have looked back to the standout performance that Pop had with the Blue Jays after joining the club via a trade with the Miami Marlins back in 2022. In 17 appearances down the stretch that season, the right-handed reliever posted a 2-0 record with a 1.89 ERA, 1.05 WHIP, along with just two walks and 11 strikeouts in 19 total innings pitched. In doing so, Pop did his part in helping Toronto get back into the postseason after missing out just the previous year.

However, his subsequent campaigns with the Jays was less memorable, as he was met with inconsistencies and injury woes that plagued him throughout his remaining tenure with the club. In the end. Pop finished with a 5-5 record, 4.89 ERA, 1.25 WHIP, along with 58 strikeouts in 81 innings pitched over 90 relief appearances before he was ultimately designated for assignment and released by Toronto at the beginning of the 2025 season.

From there, Pop would go on to play for three more different organizations this past year in the Seattle Mariners, New York Mets and Chicago Cubs. However, he ended up making only five major league appearances in total and would spend the majority of his time in the minor leagues trying to find his game.

In those five games, Pop compiled a dismal 14.85 ERA, 2.55 WHIP, giving up 11 earned runs including four home runs in just 6.2 innings of work. As a result, he would suffer the same DFA fate with the Mariners and Mets, before finishing off the season with the Cubs organization and electing for free agency at the conclusion of the year. 

With the opportunity to play for a contender once again in the Phillies, Pop will hope to revitalize his career by rediscovering his dominant seen back when he first joined the Blue Jays. However, with Philadelphia making many additions to their bullpen this offseason, including Zach McCambley via the Rule 5 Draft, Jonathan Bowlan, Kyle Backhus and Yoniel Curet by trade, and of course Brad Keller by free agency, Pop will likely be facing some tough competition to land a spot on their big league roster, at least to start the 2026 MLB season.