Blue Jays swap one recent addition for another in pair of roster moves

A few weeks ago, the Toronto Blue Jays claimed right-handed reliever Dillon Tate from their division rival Baltimore Orioles and it seems he's about to get his shot at the MLB level once again. Tate has tasted MLB action in parts of five seasons with the Orioles, most recently earlier this year when he notched a 4.59 ERA and 3.74 FIP for Baltimore over 29 appearances. Tate has finished 48 games over his tenure with the O's, so he gives Toronto a bit of back-end support in their struggling bullpen

This call-up comes as a corresponding move to Toronto sending down reliever Luis Frias to Triple-A Buffalo, who most recently featured in last night's matchup against the reigning World Series champion Texas Rangers. Frias surrendered three earned runs and walked three in just 0.2 innings of work last night, and that was the nail in the coffin for his September stint with the big league club. The Jays' bullpen was responsible for six earned runs in last night's affair, a below-par performance the likes of which haven't been hard to come by for them. Toronto's relievers have combined for a -3.0 fWAR on the season thus far, a mark good (or extremely bad) enough for 30th in all of MLB by far.

Not only does Tate provide the experience of a 4+ year MLB veteran, but he's a warm body in what is currently an exhausted bullpen. Especially over the remainder of this series with the Rangers, the Jays will need as many options as possible in relief no matter how strong the starters may perform. Six arms combined to relieve Chris Bassitt in Tuesday night's bludgeoning at the hands of the Rangers and Dillon Tate could make his impact immediately known if he can provide even a bit of support for his new club.

Dillon Tate is one of many names the Blue Jays have claimed off other teams over the last month or so, not to mention they grabbed Nick Robertson from the Los Angeles Angels yesterday. In his limited 33.1-inning sample size thus far in 2024, Tate ranks in the upper echelons of opponent barrel rate (4.5%), walk rate (6.1%), and groundball rate (52.7%). Thanks to his bowling ball sinker, Tate has found success for several years now at a competitive level by limiting hard contact with this tough-to-barrel pitch. He also throws a sweeper that has generated an opposing batting average of .194 with over 2500 RPM of spin. Oh, and he also has a changeup to throw hitters off their timing. The Jays don't currently sport a reliever with this type of repertoire so he might be here to stay until the season's end in a few weeks.

The addition of Dillon Tate to a bullpen that's in a really bad spot right now can only improve what's been happening on the mound for Toronto. No matter what level of success he finds in the fading games of the 2024 season, his contributions to this team when they need help will not go unnoticed.