Who’s coming up in place of Thomas Pannone?

After a rough spot start in Texas last weekend, Thomas Pannone has been optioned to Triple-A Buffalo. We don’t yet know what the corresponding roster move will be.

Pannone cracked the team out of spring training as the Blue Jays dealt with various injuries. He ultimately filled into the role the team envisioned for Clayton Richard as the ‘pen’s versatile second lefty who was stretched out to make spot starts.

Over 20 2/3 innings across 13 outings, Pannone posted a 7.40 ERA while striking out 23 and walking 10 batters. He had some really good outings and some really bad ones. The aforementioned start in Texas was ugly, as was his other spot start in Cleveland in April. But as a reliever, Pannone was mostly solid. If you take away his two starts in which he allowed 11 runs in five innings, Pannone allowed six runs in 15 2/3 innings.

The play here, I imagine, is stretching Pannone out so he can be a starter down the road.

Given the fact the team now only has one lefty arm on the 25-man roster, I immediately assume another pitcher is coming up. The other two lefties other than Pannone and Tim Mayza on the 40-man roster are Clayton Richard and Ryan Borucki. Richard hasn’t made a rehab appearance in Triple-A yet, so I can’t imagine he’s being activated in place of Pannone, and Borucki also won’t be ready until the end of May.

Who else could it be? The starters in Buffalo on the 40-man, David Paulino, Sean Reid-Foley, and Jacob Waguespack, aren’t exactly killing it. Could Cavan Biggio or Lourdes Gurriel be getting the call? Both are dominating Triple-A right now and the Jays could clearly use a bit of a spark offensively. Another name we don’t take about much is Jonathan Davis. He’s been hitting well in Triple-A recently and would give the Jays another outfielder.

We shall see!