Blue Jays activate two relievers prior to Tigers series, shaking up bullpen again

The All-Star break is officially in the rearview mirror and the Toronto Blue Jays are getting ready to rock and roll in the second half of the season. Make no mistake, the Blue Jays are not going to sniff contention this year, but the next few weeks are going to be extremely interesting for the organization.

With the Blue Jays destined to sell at the trade deadline, there's a strong chance this roster is going to look much different once the deadline comes and goes. Prior to their series against the Tigers, the club took to social media (X link) to announce that two relief pitchers have been added to the active roster, one of them being one of the Jays' top trade chips.

Yimi Garcia has been activated from the injured list, Erik Swanson has been recalled from the Triple-A Buffalo Bisons and Zach Pop has been optioned to Triple-A.

Blue Jays activate top trade chip Yimi Garcia from the injured list

Garcia, 33, has been on the shelf since mid-June with an elbow injury. He has 27 outings under his belt so far this year and he's looked great, posting a 2.57 ERA and 158 ERA+ in 28 innings of work. Notably, he's notched five saves in Jordan Romano's absence and has just under 12 strikeouts per nine innings this year. Since he's a rental, Garcia is a virtual lock to be moved at the deadline. Fortunately for the Blue Jays, a ton of contenders need a back-end reliever, so there's a strong chance that Garcia can net a respectable return.

Garcia will take the active roster spot of Brandon Eisert, who was optioned to Triple-A just before the All-Star break. The Blue Jays had just 25 players on their active roster during the break with the intent of activating Garcia once it came time for game action.

After a rough and eventful spring training, Swanson carried a 9.22 ERA in 17 big league outings prior to his demotion to Triple-A. Down in the minors, things did not go much better. In 19 outings (17.2 innings), the right-hander had a 10.70 ERA thanks to 26 runs (21 earned) on 28 hits. He also experienced a complete loss of command, too, walking 13 batters and striking out just 19.

Swanson is a popular player in the clubhouse and amongst Blue Jays fans, but this move is likely nothing more than an attempt at getting a new face in the bullpen. He takes the place of Pop, who has 34 appearances in the big leagues so far. His 5.90 ERA and 6.34 FIP are absolutely nothing to write home about. He has an 8.22 ERA across his last 10 outings and has seemed destined for Triple-A for quite some time now.