Blue Jays announce pair of roster moves including promotion of brand new pitcher

Congratulations are in order for Toronto Blue Jays lefty Genesis Cabrera, as he has been placed on the paternity list prior to Thursday's contest against the Baltimore Orioles.

In an interesting turn of events, the Blue Jays announced his placement on the list alongside a transaction involving a player nobody knew was even in the organization. No, seriously, even Keegan Matheson of MLB.com tweeted that he had no clue this player was even a part of the system.

Tommy Nance, a right-handed pitcher who was only just recently a member of the Padres organization, has had his contract selected by the Blue Jays. He was acquired on Wednesday in exchange for cash considerations and will be active for Thursday's game.

Blue Jays select Tommy Nance, place Genesis Cabrera on paternity list

Nance, 33, joins the Blue Jays organization with 62 games of big league experience under his belt. He debuted with the Cubs back in 2021, posting a 7.22 ERA across 27 games and 28.2 innings of work. The next season, he made it into 35 more games for the Marlins, improving his ERA to 4.33 while bringing his FIP down from 5.02 to 3.71 as well.

The right-hander signed a minor league contract with the Padres last winter and had been in their Triple-A affiliate for the entirety of the season so far. He made it into 26 contests, posting a 4.05 ERA while striking out 35 batters and walking just eight in 33.1 innings. He's hisotrically not been much of a strikeout pitcher, but he had an 11.7 K/9 rate back in 2022 with the Marlins and was at 9.5 this year in the Padres system.

Cabrera, 27, has been an oft-used piece of the Blue Jays' bullen puzzle this season. He has 50 games under his belt with a 3.50 ERA and 5.15 FIP. The vast difference between ERA and FIP suggests that he's been getting "lucky" this year and that his ERA should be higher. He's continued to be a high-walk pitcher who at times gets himself into sticky situations, but he's been durable, which is all this year's Blue Jays have really needed from him.