Simeon Woods Richardson escapes waivers purgatory, but his future with Blue Jays is uncertain

Simeon Woods Richardson was a victim of the numbers game last week, getting designated for assignment by the Toronto Blue Jays despite mostly successful work out of the bullpen. Effectively getting replaced by veteran Michael Lorenzen in the long-reliever role, it appeared as though his time with the franchise had come to an end.

However, he wound up going unclaimed on waivers, which gave the Blue Jays the right to keep him around as pitching depth. And so, he's been outrighted to Triple-A Buffalo, still in the organization but no longer on the 40-man roster.

Obviously, having arms who can cover big chunks of innings is valuable, especially at the end of a long season as the Blue Jays attempt to rest some of their best pitchers in case they make it to October. However, with so many pitchers now ahead of him on the depth chart, it's uncertain if we'll see Woods Richardson in Toronto again.

Simeon Woods Richardson has much to figure out in minors before he can think about returning to Toronto

Woods Richardson, who struggled greatly as a starter with the Twins this year before being DFA'd by them, admirably accepted his "demotion" to the bullpen with the Blue Jays. His results, including a 3.93 ERA in 18.1 innings, certainly painted the picture of someone who could be trusted to handle multiple innings as a reliever.

Unfortunately, just about everything else from his stint with the Blue Jays muddled the image. His 5.46 xERA and 4.94 FIP reflected how his success was mostly owed to good fortune; he walked (12) nearly as many hitters as he struck out (14), somehow holding hitters to a .250 BABIP despite a 40.0% hard-hit rate. Considering 70% of the balls put in play against him were also classified as line drives or fly balls, it's safe to say that SWR didn't earn the results he posted.

Now, a lot of the damage done against him came in his final outing with the team on Aug. 27, when the Royals battered him for six runs in just one inning. Even without that appearance in the mix, though, his xERA (4.66) still sat miles above his actual ERA (1.04). Perhaps that clunker against Kansas City was just the law of averages doing its thing, but it's also reasonable to suggest that the Blue Jays identified the exact moment when Woods Richardson's good luck had run out.

Either way, there's a good chance we won't see him again in 2026. Even with 10 pitchers currently on the injured list, the Blue Jays have six others -- Chase Lee, Brendan Cellucci, Ricky Tiedemann, CJ Van Eyk, John Klein, and Chad Dallas, who are waiting in the wings at Triple-A and are still on the 40-man roster.

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Follow