Blue Jays add yet another pitcher on waivers as Triple-A depth piece

If you feel like you've seen the same article from this site 10 times in the past month or so, you're not making that up. The Blue Jays continue to either trade for or place waiver claims on high-minors depth to round out their Triple-A pitching staff.

Time and time again, the Jays have struck to bring aboard players with big league experience (even if it isn't much and hasn't gone well) to stash in Triple-A. We've actually already seen some of them crack the big league roster like Ryan Burr, Tommy Nance, Yerry Rodriguez and Jose Cuas.

On Monday, the Blue Jays took to social media (X link) to announce that left-handed pitcher Easton Lucas had been claimed off of waivers from the Detroit Tigers. He will head to Triple-A to join the Buffalo Bisons. In a corresponding move, Alek Manoah was moved to the 60-day injured list to make room for Lucas on the 40-man roster.

Blue Jays claim Easton Lucas off waivers from the Tigers

Lucas, 27, first broke into the big leagues last year with a six-game cameo out of the Oakland A's bullpen. He gave up six runs on 10 hits in 6.2 innings, good for an ERA of 8.10. He made three relief appearances for the A's this year before being claimed by the Tigers on waivers. The southpaw made three more appearances for Detroit before being designated for assignment once again.

All told, Lucas owns a 10.29 ERA this year in seven innings of work thanks to eight earned runs (and one unearned run) on 11 hits.

While his big league numbers aren't going to instill much confidence, he's historically looked much better in the minor leagues. Lucas has a 3.31 ERA in 31 Triple-A outings this year, striking out just under 10 batters per nine innings while sporting a surprisingly low 7.5 H/9 in the process.

Through and through, this move is not exactly the needle-mover followers of the Blue Jays want. However, he's going to help fill out a Bisons roster that's been hurt by injuries quite a bit as the 2024 campaign has rolled on. He's a multi-inning reliever who could conceivably see some time out of the big league 'pen if he can prove he belongs with the Bisons.

Manoah, 26, had his season cut short after just five big league starts. He had a 3.70 ERA in 24.1 innings and at times flashed some serious potential. Instead of rebuilding his reputation after an abysmal 2023 showing, he is out for the year after undergoing UCL surgery in June.