The Blue Jays’ addition of Adam Cimber should be just the beginning of the bullpen moves

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This article was published 30/06/2021 (1922 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Blue Jays had to do something, anything, to upgrade the bullpen before a promising season potentially went up in flames. This week, they finally did.

With a three-game series against division-rival Tampa Bay looming this weekend, and a rematch scheduled one week later, the Jays got some help when they really needed it by acquiring right-hander Adam Cimber and outfielder Corey Dickerson from the Miami Marlins on Tuesday.

With more holes to fill, it should be the first of several moves in the weeks leading up to the July 30 trade deadline, but the timing of this one is particularly significant. While most deals around the league won’t take place until late July, the Jays got one out of the way early.

That’s important because they have some ground to make up in the standings. The Jays entered play on Wednesday 6 1/2 games back of Boston for first place in the American League East and four games back of Oakland for the second wild-card spot. With three months to play, neither deficit is insurmountable, but the margin for error is undeniably smaller than it was much earlier in the year.

Two weeks ago, the Jays appeared to be teetering on the edge of irrelevance. At one point they lost five games in a row and no lead was safe with a bullpen that was clearly overmatched. The results have been better since, thanks in large part to a soft spot in the schedule. With the quality of opponents set to increase, there’s a legitimate risk that those issues will resurface yet again.

Adding someone like Cimber should help avoid some of those late-inning meltdowns. The 30-year-old submariner was a key cog in the Marlins bullpen this year with a 2.88 ERA across 34 1/3 innings. Cimber will settle into a high-leverage role, and he gives manager Charlie Montoyo another reliable arm to use alongside Jordan Romano late in games.

“The consistency,” Jays GM Ross Atkins said when asked what he liked most about the newest member of his bullpen. “Just the elite soft-contact, elite ground balls, strike-throwing ability, pitching in multiple roles. He’s someone who at one point was a specialist, right on right, and developed into someone who can throw multiple innings and has really worked hard to attack left-handed hitters.”

Cimber is an upgrade, there’s no denying that, but he can’t and won’t be the only meaningful addition this front office makes before the deadline. Thirteen of the Jays’ last 17 losses have come when they were tied or leading in the seventh inning or later and a lot of pitchers were responsible for those woes. Adding another guy helps, but it doesn’t make the other issues disappear.

That’s why the Jays will be linked to just about every reliever available over the next month. Reports like the one from MLB Network’s Jon Heyman on Wednesday that stated the Jays are among the teams looking at Pirates closer Richard Rodriguez are barely worth mentioning because, well, of course they are. Inquiries have been made on just about every reliable reliever out there that isn’t playing for a contender and that trend will continue.

Beyond additions from the outside, there will have to be some internal improvements as well. Rafael Dolis is expected to come off the injured list in the coming days, potentially in time for the weekend series versus Tampa Bay. Ryan Borucki and Julian Merryweather are supposedly closer to returning, as well, but we’ve been hearing that for weeks.

Then there is the recent emergence of Tim Mayza and Patrick Murphy. Mayza hasn’t allowed a run over his last six appearances, which coincides with his promotion to a high-leverage role. Murphy has looked sharp in all but one of his games since returning from the injured list on June 16. And Tyler Chatwood? One night he looks like Liam Hendriks, the next he has less control than Nuke LaLoosh from “Bull Durham.” That’s not the type of performance you want to gamble on in October.

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There are pieces to work with, just not enough of them to complete the puzzle. That’s why pitching remains the Jays’ No. 1 priority as the trading season begins. The upgrades could be in the form of another reliever, or it could involve adding a starter while shifting other guys around. The most likely scenario involves a bit of both.

“The way we’re viewing it, we want to add in the area of run prevention,” Atkins said. “That could be via starting pitching, that could be via relief. We’ll work to do that and then, when we have that decision to make in front of us, then we can factor in where all those other alternatives are and how significant the contributions are we should be expecting from them. Having alternatives is important and adding to the alternatives internally is something we’re trying to do.”

The renovation of the Jays bullpen is underway but there is still a lot of heavy lifting that needs to get done between now and the trade deadline. This was never going to be a quick fix, it’s going to take some time because the Jays weren’t one pitcher away from having a reliable bullpen, they were two, three, maybe even four.

One down, at least a couple more to go. For the second year in a row, the Jays, who have the money and prospect capital it takes to make some moves, should be one of the most aggressive buyers out there.

Gregor Chisholm is a Toronto-based baseball columnist for the Star. Follow him on Twitter: @GregorChisholm or reach him via email: gchisholm@thestar.ca