3 players the Blue Jays should remain patient with, 2 they shouldn’t 

Erik Swanson

It has been quite the unfortunate chain of events that have taken place for Erik Swanson so far this year. After having to deal with the traumatic incident that took place for his family early in spring training, Swanson subsequently landed on the IL with right forearm tightness after appearing in just two games during the preseason.

When he was finally healthy enough to rejoin the big league club in mid-April, it has been nothing but disaster thus far for the 30-year-old reliever. In eight appearances to date, Swanson had yielded runs in six of them, leading to a bloated 16.50 ERA and 2.50 WHIP with 2 walks and 4 strikeouts in just 6 innings of work. For someone that has constantly produced an ERA below 3.40 and a WHIP below 1.10 in each of his past three seasons to make him one of the top relievers in the game, it is obvious that something is not right with him this year.

Whether his family situation is still actively in the mind of Swanson, or whether he may not be fully recovered from his right forearm injury, both the Jays and their fans should be patient with him as he slowly works things out. After all, given his proven track record in recent years, he is a lot better than this. What the Jays should consider now though is perhaps give him a much-needed conditioning stint to allow him to reset and regain his confidence and ability of his pitches before pitching again at the big league level. That way, hopefully he can rediscover his prior dominant form and be the difference-maker out of the bullpen like he was for the vast majority of last season. If there any lesson to be learned, just look at how former Jays reliever Adam Cimber is flourishing with the Los Angeles Angels this year. Had the Jays been more patient with him after his early struggles in 2023, he would have remained with the team and provided a big boost to the current bullpen.