Toronto facing roster decision on two veteran relievers

Opening Day is less than a week away, which means the Blue Jays are staring down the barrel of some season-defining roster decisions. 

Two of those decisions will come to roost this weekend thanks to the contract status of veteran relievers Ryan Yarbrough and Jacob Barnes. 

Both Yarbrough and Barnes signed minor league Article XX(b) contracts, which grants them some freedom to determine what’s next in their MLB journey.  

The contract, which is only available to players with six-plus years of MLB service time, has three uniform opt-out dates that allow for the player to trigger a clause that gives his current club 48 hours to either add him to the 40-man roster or let him become a free agent.

The first opt-out day is Saturday, which means that both Yarbrough and Walker can trigger their clause if they so choose. 

The other opt-outs are on May 1 and June 1.

Toronto facing roster decision on two veteran relievers

Let’s start with Yarbrough, who was lights out after Toronto acquired him from the Dodgers at the trade deadline.  

He posted a 2.01 ERA across 31 1/3 innings, and could be beneficial as both a swingman or lefty specialist out of the bullpen. He has a 4.21 ERA across 768 innings in his career, and has a complete game and three saves on his résumé, which speaks to his versatility. 

Barnes is a veteran of nine MLB seasons with nine different teams, and briefly played for the Blue Jays in 2021. He recorded a career-high 66 innings last year with the Nationals where he had a 4.36 ERA. 

His best season came in 2017 when he had a 4.00 ERA in 72 innings with the Brewers. 

Perhaps the biggest thing working in both of their favors is the amount of injuries to the Blue Jays bullpen. Ryan Burr, Erik Swanson and Zach Pop are all likely to start the season on the injured list, so Toronto’s going to need to dip into its reliever depth early in the season. 

That said, neither pitcher is on the 40-man roster, so the Blue Jays would need to make some kind of additional roster move to get them in the bullpen. Toronto’s already placed Alek Manoah and Angel Bastardo on the 60-day IL, and they don’t have any other players suffering from an injury that would require a 60-day stint. 

For either Walker or Yarbrough to make the roster, Toronto would need to send another player packing. 

Yarbrough likely has a bit of a leg up due to versatility, left-handedness and familiarity with the roster. He has a 4.05 ERA in 6 2/3 innings this spring, while Barnes has a 6.75 ERA in 5 1/3 innings. 

With Pop, Burr and Swanson down at the start of the season, Toronto will need some key members of the ‘pen to step up. Jeff Hoffman, Chad Green and Yimi García should handle most of the high-leverage situations, but there will still be plenty of innings available for other arms. 

Nick Sandlin (who was acquired from Cleveland in the offseason) seems poised to get some more action, as does Brendon Little and Tommy Nance, who is out of options.  

Tomorrow we should get a chance to see if either Yarbrough or Barnes get a chance to join them.