Blue Jays takeaways: The front office needs to address the bullpen to save the season

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This article was published 15/06/2021 (1616 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The view from Deep Left Field on the Blue Jays’ 6-5 loss to the Yankees on Tuesday:

It has become a regular event.

The Blue Jays get a well- or reasonably well-pitched game from their starting pitcher and then everything goes out the window when they hand it over to the bullpen.

It was Anthony Castro’s turn Tuesday. The right-hander came in to work the seventh after six effective innings from Hyun-Jin Ryu, who was not at his best, trying to hold on to a two-run lead. The first hitter he faced, Brett Gardner, took him deep with a 342-foot wall-scraper to right field. D.J. LeMahieu followed by hammering a double down the left-field line, and two wild pitches later, the game was tied.

It was the first blown save of the season for Castro, who came into the game with a sparkling 1.80 ERA and 0.87 WHIP. In fact, it was the first of his major-league career. But it was the ninth blown save for the Jays’ beleaguered bullpen, a number that does not include several recent losses where the relief corps came in with the game tied and couldn’t keep it there.

The Jays have lost eight of their last 14 games, and five of those losses have been pinned on relievers. The bullpen ERA is 5.15 over that span, although it seems higher. In the just-completed four-game split at Fenway Park, Rafael Dolis coughed up the winning run in the bottom of the ninth inning in both the opener and the finale. The series before, in Chicago against the White Sox, the bullpen gave up five runs in the eighth to turn a 1-1 tie into a 6-1 loss.

The problem is that there are no right answers for Charlie Montoyo right now. The nine-man bullpen is led by Jordan Romano, who has been great but who gave up the game-winning double Tuesday night. Behind him sit Trent Thornton, six pitchers who were either claimed on waivers, have been released multiple times or been granted free agency mid-season, and Tyler Chatwood, who was devastating over the first six weeks of the season but has fallen on hard times since. At least his hitless ninth Tuesday was a step in the right direction.

Yes, the relief corps has been hit hard by injuries but, at the same time, the Jays went into the season hoping for significant contributions from Kirby Yates, Julian Merryweather, David Phelps and Ryan Borucki. Yates had a concerning MRI that caused Atlanta to walk away from a contract offer in the off-season, and the other three have had significant injuries in the recent past.

When you’re starting out as dicey as the Jays did in the bullpen this year, you’re almost asking for trouble.

The offence is tremendous, leading the major leagues in home runs. The starting pitching has come around. The only thing keeping the Jays from being contenders is the shakiness of the bullpen.

They’re ahead of schedule, the Jays weren’t really supposed to be legitimate contenders this season. It almost feels like 1983 all over again. The bullpen wasn’t addressed that season, and that young Jays team fell to Earth with a huge thud in early August. This time, it’s not too late for the front office to understand the rest of the team deserves more of a chance, especially while they’re still over .500, if just barely.

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It’s not as though there as many blockbuster trades to be made in mid-June, so what can be done for immediate help?

I’ve advocated calling up Patrick Murphy, the flamethrowing righty who had six strong innings out of the big-league bullpen last season. There have been calls for Thomas Hatch and Nate Pearson to come up and help out, and though the Jays see them both as future starters, the immediate need for the big club appears to be more urgent. Their innings will have to be watched this season anyway, why not give them some time in the big-league bullpen to help right the ship?

And there’s an old friend looking for work, too. John Axford was hitting 98 miles per hour on the radar gun pitching for Canada at last week’s Olympic qualifier. There’s no reason not to have signed him yesterday. The season may not be hanging in the balance. Then again, it might be.

Correction – June 16, 2021: This article was updated to reflect that Kirby Yates is a Toronto Blue Jay, not Tyler Yates.

Mike Wilner is a Toronto-based baseball columnist for the Star and the host of the podcast Deep Left Field, with new episodes every Thursday. Follow him on Twitter: @wilnerness