What options do the Blue Jays have to address their biggest concern - the bullpen

Going into the last week of July, the Toronto Blue Jays bullpen had posted very good numbers over the course of the season. They had the seventh best team ERA at 3.66, with a K/9 rate of 9.88 which ranked second in the league. Their 3.57 BB/9 rate was higher than any pitching coach would like, but it sat around the league average, with the Blue Jays ranked 15th in that category. Home runs had been an issue all year, with the bullpen allowing 45 long bombs, but again, it was league average by the time the end of July rolled around with the Blue Jays again ranking 15th in that category.

But numbers weren't trending in the right direction. In the month of July alone, the Blue Jays bullpen ERA was 4.93. They were giving up home runs at a 1.33 HR/9 rate, and the opponents BABIP was .329, and the only teams worse than the Blue Jays in that category were Colorado and Arizona. At the trade deadline, General Manager Ross looked to reverse those trends and shore up the bullpen by acquiring Seranthony Domniguez from Baltimore and Louis Varland from Minnesota.

What options do the Blue Jays have to address their biggest concern - the bullpen

As August has rolled on the numbers haven't straightened out. In fact the walk rate has ballooned to a league worst 5.96, and the K/9 rate has come down to 9.23 and the ERA is holding at 4.50. The bullpen has been worth -0.5 fWAR this month and the Blue Jays are now running out of time to fix those issues.

The Athletic recently listed every contending teams biggest concern heading into September and this was undoubtedly the Blue Jays'. The report said, "their key question mark down the stretch has to be the bullpen, even though it looks pretty solid on paper with Jeff Hoffman converting 28 of 35 save opportunities, along with trade deadline pickup Seranthony Domínguez and the consistent Brendon Little. However, a couple of their relievers recently have sprung a leak with Louis Varland posting a 9.00 ERA over his last seven appearances (compared to a 2.75 mark overall) and Yariel Rodríguez logging a 6.00 ERA over his last seven outings (3.38 ERA overall)."

With the ability to add impact relievers practically out the window - although Toronto did sign Ryan Borucki to a minor league deal and they could have their eyes on the waiver wire - the options will have to come internally. The focus right now should be on giving the bullpen some rest when they can as a lot of the guys seem over worked at this point, as their velocities are down and some are throwing more high leverage innings than they ever have in their careers.

One option for the Blue Jays to allow those guys some breathing room is to bring up one of their most tantalizing arms from their system. Trey Yesavage has flown through the Blue Jays minor leagues this season, already making it up to Triple-A and pitching 11 innings with the Buffalo Bisons with 16 strikeouts in that span.

Yesavage has already earned himself a September call up, and his role would likely be to eat up some lower leverage innings. It would be a lot of pressure to ask a 21-year-old to be the teams savior as he's also already thrown 91 innings this season, just shy of the most he every threw in one year in college.

Another option would be for the Blue Jays to ditch the six-man rotation idea and just stick with Eric Lauer in the bullpen. Lauer was relegated to a bullpen role when Shane Bieber debuted with the Blue Jays last Friday in Miami - but the move was called a "fluid situation" and Lauer was shifted back into a starters spot on Wednesday night in Toronto. In his start against the Twins, Lauer struggled giving up four home runs, striking out only four and allowing eight runs (six earned) on 10 hits in 4.2 innings pitched.

Maybe moving guys out of their routine at this time of the year isn't the best course of action for the Blue Jays right now who are again shifting starts around to line up specific pitchers to throw against specific opponents as they have lined up Bieber, Kevin Gausman and Max Scherzer to throw against the leagues best team when they host the Milwaukee Brewers for a weekend series starting on Friday.

Both Lauer and Yesavage would give the Blue Jays some much needed depth in the bullpen and could be relied upon to pitch multiple innings if needed. Right now it comes down to managing things effectively and really making sure you get to the finish line healthy. Nothing is guaranteed yet, but as the Yankees and the Red Sox start to get on a roll, the Blue Jays can ill-afford to have the bullpen start to buckle under the pressure.