Blue Jays' in-game decisions prove they're worrying about the wrong things

If a year that's been completely full of embarrassing losses, the Blue Jays 15-5 defeat at the hands of the Marlins on Friday night is up near the top of the list. These are the same Marlins who are now 60-100 on the season, good for the second-worst record in all of baseball. They're not going to come even close to the White Sox, but this is a Marlins team that's been awful in 2024.

Somehow, the Blue Jays found a way to fall short to this horrendous team. By the end of the night, the Jays were asking backup catcher Tyler Heineman to come in and pitch the ninth inning since the deficit had reached a whopping 10 runs.

According to Rich Griffin, the Blue Jays' explanation for using Heineman instead of another reliever was that they wanted to preserve the 'pen arms. With just two games left and an entire offseason of preservation coming up, this feels like a strange line to come from the Jays.

Blue Jays have their focus on all the wrong things

This is just proof that the Blue Jays have their priorities all out of whack. This is not just a recent problem. They're more worried about preserving their bullpen at the end of the season than switching George Springer's role around as he continues to struggle. They're more worried about their league-worst bullpen than getting some of their underperforming players turned around.

Ultimately, this is not a massive deal, but it's worth scratching your head at. The Blue Jays refused to wave the white flag at the deadline, only moving on from players on expiring contracts. Then they refuse to make adjustments while some of their top players (Springer, Bo Bichette) continued to struggle down the stretch. Now, they're spending their time worrying about their nine-pitcher-deep bullpen's preservation than seemingly anything else.

It's always a risk to have a position player pitch, as that takes away an option that could come in and pinch hit or play the field later in the game. This is especially true when it comes to the catcher position. The Blue Jays only have Alejandro Kirk and Heineman on their roster. Taking away the only other available catcher to pitch an inning is a risk that didn't really feel like the Jays needed to take.

To Heineman's credit, he did a fine job in what was his second career pitching appearance. He threw eight pitches, six of them for strikes, and was able to escape with just a single base hit allowed. In the process, he became the fourth position player to pitch for the Blue Jays this year, which is a new single-season franchise record.

Don't look now, but he's looking like one of the best relievers this Blue Jays squad has.