Goodbye, Casey Lawrence, we hardly knew ye. 
After needing Lawrence to eat innings in Tuesday&#8217;s 10-2 blowout loss to the Boston Red Sox, the Toronto Blue Jays needed to alter their plans (again) for Wednesday&#8217;s scheduled bullpen game. As such, they&#8217;ve selected left-hander Eric Lauer to the major league roster while designating Lawrence for assignment to make room.
Lauer, who signed a minor-league deal over the off-season and owns a less-than-flattering 4.50 ERA through five starts at triple-A Buffalo this season, will likely pitch the bulk of the innings behind opener Yariel Rodríguez. Manager John Schneider wouldn&#8217;t 100 per cent confirm those plans during his pre-game media availability, though.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">
ROSTER MOVES: 
🔹 LHP Eric Lauer has been selected to the Major League roster and will be active tonight
🔹 RHP Casey Lawrence designated for assignment <a href="https://t.co/BuocfesQz2">pic.twitter.com/BuocfesQz2</a>
&mdash; Toronto Blue Jays (@BlueJays) <a href="https://twitter.com/BlueJays/status/1917653196073324572?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 30, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
A few years ago, Lauer strung together consecutive strong seasons with the Milwaukee Brewers, pitching to a respectable 3.47 ERA and 4.30 FIP with a strikeout rate just under 25 per cent across 53 games (49 starts) from 2021-22. He also performed above replacement level during that span, nearly combining for three wins above replacement per FanGraphs.
But the now-29-year-old missed most of 2023 due to a shoulder impingement, limiting him to just 46.2 innings over 10 appearances (nine starts) with the Brewers. After that, he bounced around for a bit in triple-A, making stops with the Pittsburgh Pirates and Houston Astros&#8217; affiliates, before deciding to play the rest of &#8217;24 in the Korean Baseball Organization (KBO) with the Kia Tigers.
Relatively speaking, things worked out quite well overseas for Lauer, who posted a 4.93 ERA with a much improved 4.04 FIP and struck out nearly a quarter of his batters faced while issuing an eight-per-cent walk rate in seven starts, spanning 34.2 innings.
While the veteran southpaw endured a rough start to his 2025 campaign at triple-A, he had started to turn a corner over his previous two starts, striking out 10 across 10 frames of two-run ball. Plus, he&#8217;s completed at least five innings in all but one of his five outings thus far.
That length could prove to be extremely valuable for the Blue Jays after Bowden Francis could only offer three innings of work a night ago amid his worst performance of the season, surrendering seven runs on eight hits &#8212; including five home runs, raising his &#8217;25 total to an MLB-high 11.

Goodbye, Casey Lawrence, we hardly knew ye. 

After needing Lawrence to eat innings in Tuesday's 10-2 blowout loss to the Boston Red Sox, the Toronto Blue Jays needed to alter their plans (again) for Wednesday's scheduled bullpen game. As such, they've selected left-hander Eric Lauer to the major league roster while designating Lawrence for assignment to make room.

Lauer, who signed a minor-league deal over the off-season and owns a less-than-flattering 4.50 ERA through five starts at triple-A Buffalo this season, will likely pitch the bulk of the innings behind opener Yariel Rodríguez. Manager John Schneider wouldn't 100 per cent confirm those plans during his pre-game media availability, though.

https://twitter.com/BlueJays/status/1917653196073324572

A few years ago, Lauer strung together consecutive strong seasons with the Milwaukee Brewers, pitching to a respectable 3.47 ERA and 4.30 FIP with a strikeout rate just under 25 per cent across 53 games (49 starts) from 2021-22. He also performed above replacement level during that span, nearly combining for three wins above replacement per FanGraphs.

But the now-29-year-old missed most of 2023 due to a shoulder impingement, limiting him to just 46.2 innings over 10 appearances (nine starts) with the Brewers. After that, he bounced around for a bit in triple-A, making stops with the Pittsburgh Pirates and Houston Astros' affiliates, before deciding to play the rest of '24 in the Korean Baseball Organization (KBO) with the Kia Tigers.

Relatively speaking, things worked out quite well overseas for Lauer, who posted a 4.93 ERA with a much improved 4.04 FIP and struck out nearly a quarter of his batters faced while issuing an eight-per-cent walk rate in seven starts, spanning 34.2 innings.

While the veteran southpaw endured a rough start to his 2025 campaign at triple-A, he had started to turn a corner over his previous two starts, striking out 10 across 10 frames of two-run ball. Plus, he's completed at least five innings in all but one of his five outings thus far.

That length could prove to be extremely valuable for the Blue Jays after Bowden Francis could only offer three innings of work a night ago amid his worst performance of the season, surrendering seven runs on eight hits -- including five home runs, raising his '25 total to an MLB-high 11.

Blue Jays swap Casey Lawrence for Eric Lauer ahead of bullpen game versus Red Sox

Series recap: Blue Jays return to series win column, taking two of three against Diamondbacks

; Toronto Blue Jays catcher Alejandro Kirk (30) hits a solo home run against the Arizona Diamondbacks in the eighth inning at Rogers Centre.

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