With Mitch White gone, who does Chad Green replace on the Blue Jays?

Despite a somewhat underwhelming trade deadline, the Toronto Blue Jays may still be getting a little boost post-deadline in the form of Chad Green in the not-so-distant future. Green has had three rehab outings with their Single-A affiliate Dunedin Blue Jays and have fared well, going 3.1 innings and giving up no runs, two hits and four strikeouts. In his most recent rehab outing with the Triple-A Buffalo Bisons, he went 1.2 scoreless innings of one-hit ball with two strikeouts, while looking great with his command of his pitches.

With his potential return on the horizon, and with all the recent moving parts in the Jays’ 26-man roster from the trade deadline fallout, who is Green going to replace when he comes off the IL?  If Mitch White was still here, the choice would have been obvious, but he is no longer an option. Also, remember to keep in mind that the Jays can have a maximum of 13 pitchers on the roster at one time.

With Trevor Richards’ neck injury announcement on Thursday, joining Jordan Romano on the sidelines along with Jay Jackson being on the family medical emergency list, let’s start with the list of those currently on the active roster that won’t be going anywhere: Kevin Gausman, Chris Bassitt, José Berrios, Yusei Kikuchi, Tim Mayza, Erik Swanson, Yimi García, along with new acquisition Jordan Hicks. That leaves Alek Manoah and Hyun Jin Ryu from the starting rotation and Génesis Cabrera, Bowden Francis and Thomas Hatch from the bullpen.

With the Jays going with a six-man rotation, they probably would want to find out what they have with Manoah and Ryu to see if either of the two can provide the necessary effectiveness in their pitching in the coming month to determine who stays in the rotation if they decide to go back to a five-man rotation, or even keep the six-man rotation if both end up doing well. So to keep that experiment alive, neither will be moving from their spot for the time being.

That leaves Cabrera, Francis and Hatch as the three main candidates. Cabrera just recently had a sub-par outing against the Orioles on Tuesday night, giving up three earned runs in just an inning of work, but prior to that, he had been almost spotless in three appearances against top-notch teams in the Los Angeles Dodgers and Los Angeles Angels. For Francis, he has certainly made quite the impression with the Jays, despite multiple callups for fill-in duties, as he has posted a 1-0 record with a 2.30 ERA and 1.02 WHIP with 14 strikeouts in 15.2 innings pitched. For Hatch, he has been used sparingly throughout his stints with the major league club this year, and hasn’t appeared in a game since the beginning of July, despite holding a respectable 2.25 ERA in five appearances.

Given that Cabrera had just been recently acquired by the Jays from the Cardinals and that he provides a second useful lefty in the bullpen that can throw some heat, as well as Francis’ reliable performances that have been on full display so far, added to the fact that the Jays haven’t been confident in really using Hatch at all this year and the years’ previously, it most likely will be Hatch that will be gone when Green is activated from the IL.

The bigger and more pressing question actually will be when Trevor Richards, Jordan Romano and Jay Jackson all eventually come back, who becomes the odd men out then, as the decisions will definitely be a lot tougher.

Nevertheless, that question mark will be left for another day as we look forward to welcoming back Green in the coming days to help out the Jays in their playoff chase.