The Blue Jays have acquired Ross Stripling

Well, here’s one that’s totally out of the blue.

I had thought the Blue Jays were done after getting Robbie Ray and Jonathan Villar, but they’ve also acquired RHP Ross Stripling from the Los Angeles Dodgers.

This is an interesting addition because, unlike Toronto’s other additions, Stripling isn’t a rental as he’s under control for two more years.

Stripling hasn’t been great this year, posting a 5.61 ERA across steven starts for the Dodgers, but he’s been much more effective in the past working as a hybrid starter/reliever. Between 2016 when he made his debut and 2019, Stripling posted a 3.51 ERA over 52 starts and 136 total appearances. Stripling was also an All-Star in 2018 after a very good run of starts early in the season.

With that in mind, I would guess that the plan for Stripling in Toronto is to make him a bulk guy who comes in after an opener, similar to the role we saw Shun Yamaguchi used in last week after Julian Merryweather started.

Regardless, when it comes to pitching, the more depth, the merrier.

We don’t yet know who’s going back to Los Angeles, but it’ll be two players to be named later, meaning they aren’t guys at the Alternate Training Site.