Tommy Milone has been added to the Blue Jays roster

The Blue Jays have added some veteran insurance to their active roster ahead of Sunday’s series finale in New York.

The team announced today that they’ve selected the contract of left-handed pitcher Tommy Milone. In two corresponding moves, Joel Payamps has been optioned to the Alternate Training Site while Kirby Yates, who underwent Tommy John surgery, has officially been moved to the 60-day Injured List.

The 34-year-old Milone has been in the big leagues for 10 seasons, bouncing around to eight different teams over that span. He’s probably best remembered as a decent middle-of-the-rotation guy with the Minnesota Twins. Most recently, Milone pitched in 2020 for the Baltimore Orioles, where he posted a 3.99 ERA over six starts before getting dealt to Atlanta. He allowed 16 earned runs in just nine-and-two-thirds innings for the Braves and wasn’t a part of their post-season roster.

The play here with Milone seems to be that the Blue Jays want a lefty who can log some innings in the event that T.J. Zeuch gets drilled by the Yankees, which is most certainly a possibility. If Sunday’s game goes to shit, the team can have Milone mop things up and the bullpen will remain fresh for the series in Texas that begins on Monday.

Milone will wear No. 69. That’s the first time we’ve seen a Blue Jay rock the number since Peter Munro in 1999. Nice.