Blue Jays take another gamble on waivers, claim pitcher from the Marlins

Hey look, the Blue Jays have claimed yet another lottery-ticket type of pitcher off waivers! As if rostering the likes of Ryan Burr, Tommy Nance, Yerry Rodriguez, Luis Frias and Easton Lucas was not enough, the Jays have once again turned to the waiver wire to round out their high-minors depth.

On Thursday, the club took to social media (X link) to announce that right-handed pitcher Emmanuel Ramirez had been claimed off of waivers from the Miami Marlins. Ramirez had only just recently been designated for assignment by the last-place Marlins on Tuesday.

Ramirez, 30, will take the 40-man roster spot of Jose Cuas, who the Blue Jays have designated for assignment. Cuas, another waiver claim, had made four uninspiring big league appearances for the Jays across a few different stints and is currently sporting a 6.89 ERA down in Triple-A for the Buffalo Bisons.

Blue Jays claim Emmanuel Ramirez, DFA Jose Cuas

Ramirez, a native of the Dominican Republic, made his big league debut earlier this year for the Marlins. He was recalled for the first time after floating around the minor leagues since way back in 2013. At the very least, he's a nice feel-good story. Coming across players 30 or older who are finally rewarded for their determination over all these years is always nice to see.

In 15 big league outings for Miami, Ramirez posted a 6.97 ERA, 4.64 FIP and 65 ERA+ in 20.2 innings of work. He also struck out 21 batters (9.1 K/9) and walked eight (3.5 BB/9). He has experience as both a starter and reliever, but all of his appearances this year have been of the relief variety.

In 25 Triple-A games, Ramirez's numbers looked much better than the ones he posted in the majors. He had a 3.76 ERA with over 11 strikeouts per nine innings and a H/9 rate all the way down to 6.9, which is a very respectable number in such an offense-heavy time. With a ton of pitchers similar to him already on the Bisons, it remains to be seen whether we'll see him in a Blue Jays uniform before the regular season is over or not. As we've seen time and time again, though, the Jays are never afraid to dip into their Triple-A bullpen to fill some innings in the bigs.