On Thursday, the Toronto Blue Jays re-signed their only free agent after the 2024 season, Ryan Yarbrough.

Before joining the Blue Jays before the 2024 trade deadline, Yarbrough was known as someone who always dominated the team, usually with the Tampa Bay Rays. Before the 2024 season, the soft-tossing left-handed pitcher’s best season came in his rookie year back in 2018, posting a 3.91 ERA and a 4.19 FIP in 147.1 innings pitched. For his career, he’s authored a 4.21 ERA and a 4.24 FIP in 768 innings. The team he pitched the most against was the Blue Jays.
Splitting time between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Blue Jays in 2024, Yarbrough authored a 3.19 ERA and a 4.64 FIP in 98.2 innings pitched, with a 16.3 K% and 8 BB%. What he lacks in striking batters out, he makes up with soft outs, look no further than his <a href="https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/savant-player/ryan-yarbrough-642232">Baseball Savant page</a>.
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But with Yarbrough signing a minor-league deal to bolster the Blue Jays bullpen, more questions have arisen. The two most glaring questions are whether or not it’s worth having two long-men in the bullpen, as well as whether or not the Blue Jays need an additional left-handed pitcher in the bullpen.
<h2>Is it worth having two long-men in the bullpen?</h2>
After the 2024 trade deadline trade, Yarbrough posted a 2.01 ERA and a 3.49 FIP in 31.1 innings pitched with the Blue Jays, appearing in 12 games. While he didn’t start in any of those games, the lefty commonly pitched in a multi-inning capacity, pitching two or more innings nine times, as well as three or more innings five times, and five innings once.
On several occasions, the Blue Jays dialed back the clock to 2019 and used an opener (no Wilmer Font necessary), with Yarbrough being used as a bulk reliever. It could make sense for the Blue Jays, sans the opener, to use Yarbrough in the same role.
The Blue Jays have one of the oldest rotations in the league, if not the oldest, with the addition of Max Scherzer. Moreover, Scherzer only pitched 43.1 innings pitched in nine starts last season, so it makes sense to have a spot starter who can fill in the rotation if need be. Enter Yariel Rodríguez.
Last season, the Cuban right-handed pitcher made 21 starts in the Blue Jays rotation, posting a 4.47 ERA and a 4.34 FIP in 86.2 innings pitched. With the emergence of Bowden Francis to end the 2024 season, as well as the addition of Scherzer, Rodríguez is seen as the defacto long-man in the bullpen.
However, getting additional length out of a bullpen is never a bad option, especially if you have different-handedness pitchers like the Jays do with Rodríguez and Yarbrough. There’s also an argument that Rodríguez’s stuff will play better out of the bullpen as he can go full throttle instead of needing to conserve energy. Maybe they don&#8217;t use him as a long-man, instead opting for two innings or less.
Yarbrough gives the Blue Jays some flexibility while being able to munch innings. However, do the Blue Jays need another left-handed pitcher in the bullpen?
<h2>Do the Blue Jays need another left-handed pitcher in the bullpen?</h2>
Simply put, yes.
As it stands, the <a href="https://www.fangraphs.com/roster-resource/depth-charts/blue-jays">Blue Jays have one left-handed pitcher in their bullpen projected by Fangraphs</a> &#8211; Brendon Little. The 2024 season wasn’t bad for Little by any means, posting a 3.74 ERA and a 4.90 FIP in 45.2 innings pitched with the third-highest ground ball percentage of 70.9%, an insane number.
With that said, it’s never a bad idea to have a second lefty in the pen. Little saw some high-leverage innings last season, 11.1 to be exact, picking up his first big league save. As it stands, he’s set to be what Tim Mayza was in 2023, being used in higher leverage while pitching mainly against left-handed batters.
It’s also worth mentioning that the Blue Jays have two other left-handed relievers on their 40-man roster. Easton Lucas was a waiver claim in the summer of 2024 and had solid numbers in Triple-A with the Buffalo Bisons, posting a 1.37 ERA and a 2.50 FIP in 19.2 innings, his last three appearances being starts.
The Blue Jays also signed Josh Walker around Christmas time. Walker hasn’t found much success in the big leagues but <a href="https://www.fangraphs.com/players/josh-walker/23617/stats?position=P#dashboard">Fangraphs’ projections are rather kind to him</a>. He, Lucas, and Little have option years remaining, giving them extra flexibility.
<h2>The logistics </h2>
Speaking of options, what are the logistics regarding Yarbrough?
As it stands, there are six relievers in the bullpen who all but have a guaranteed spot &#8211; Jeff Hoffman, Yimi García, Chad Green, Erik Swanson, Nick Sandlin, and Yariel Rodríguez. That leaves two spots and a whole lot of options for the Blue Jays.
As discussed in the last section, the Blue Jays have three left-handed pitchers on their 40-man roster who all have an option year in 2025. One of them, probably Little, will likely be in the bullpen. That leaves one spot for Tommy Nance Jr. (no option year), Zach Pop (no option year), Ryan Burr (option year), and Nick Robertson (option year). Add in Yarbrough, who doesn’t have an option year, and there’s a lot of competition for just one or two spots.
Yarbrough also isn’t on the 40-man roster, but that isn’t much of a problem. Spring Training starts on Saturday for the Blue Jays, meaning they could place Angel Bastardo and/or Alek Manoah on the 60-day Injured List. Those 60 days don’t start ticking until the first day of the regular season, but both pitchers are recovering from Tommy John surgery.
There are also a couple of important dates worth noting. Players who sign a minor-league deal with 6+ years of service time and who finished on a major league roster the season before can opt out of their minor-league deal. One of those days is five days before the first day of the regular season, meaning the Jays will need to decide whether or not to add Yarbrough on Mar. 22.
If the Blue Jays don’t add Yarbrough and he elects to stay with the team to pitch in the minor leagues to begin the season, there are two more days in which he could opt out: May 1 and Jun. 1. Realistically, the only way this could happen is if he has a rough Spring Training.
All in all, if Yarbrough pitches anything like he did to end the season, expect him to make the Blue Jays&#8217; 26-man roster rather early in the season with the role of a long-man.
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As always, you can follow me on Bluesky @ryleydelaney.bsky.social.
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On Thursday, the Toronto Blue Jays re-signed their only free agent after the 2024 season, Ryan Yarbrough.



Before joining the Blue Jays before the 2024 trade deadline, Yarbrough was known as someone who always dominated the team, usually with the Tampa Bay Rays. Before the 2024 season, the soft-tossing left-handed pitcher’s best season came in his rookie year back in 2018, posting a 3.91 ERA and a 4.19 FIP in 147.1 innings pitched. For his career, he’s authored a 4.21 ERA and a 4.24 FIP in 768 innings. The team he pitched the most against was the Blue Jays.

Splitting time between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Blue Jays in 2024, Yarbrough authored a 3.19 ERA and a 4.64 FIP in 98.2 innings pitched, with a 16.3 K% and 8 BB%. What he lacks in striking batters out, he makes up with soft outs, look no further than his <a href="https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/savant-player/ryan-yarbrough-642232">Baseball Savant page</a>.
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&nbsp;

But with Yarbrough signing a minor-league deal to bolster the Blue Jays bullpen, more questions have arisen. The two most glaring questions are whether or not it’s worth having two long-men in the bullpen, as well as whether or not the Blue Jays need an additional left-handed pitcher in the bullpen.
<h2>Is it worth having two long-men in the bullpen?</h2>
After the 2024 trade deadline trade, Yarbrough posted a 2.01 ERA and a 3.49 FIP in 31.1 innings pitched with the Blue Jays, appearing in 12 games. While he didn’t start in any of those games, the lefty commonly pitched in a multi-inning capacity, pitching two or more innings nine times, as well as three or more innings five times, and five innings once.

On several occasions, the Blue Jays dialed back the clock to 2019 and used an opener (no Wilmer Font necessary), with Yarbrough being used as a bulk reliever. It could make sense for the Blue Jays, sans the opener, to use Yarbrough in the same role.

The Blue Jays have one of the oldest rotations in the league, if not the oldest, with the addition of Max Scherzer. Moreover, Scherzer only pitched 43.1 innings pitched in nine starts last season, so it makes sense to have a spot starter who can fill in the rotation if need be. Enter Yariel Rodríguez.

Last season, the Cuban right-handed pitcher made 21 starts in the Blue Jays rotation, posting a 4.47 ERA and a 4.34 FIP in 86.2 innings pitched. With the emergence of Bowden Francis to end the 2024 season, as well as the addition of Scherzer, Rodríguez is seen as the defacto long-man in the bullpen.

However, getting additional length out of a bullpen is never a bad option, especially if you have different-handedness pitchers like the Jays do with Rodríguez and Yarbrough. There’s also an argument that Rodríguez’s stuff will play better out of the bullpen as he can go full throttle instead of needing to conserve energy. Maybe they don't use him as a long-man, instead opting for two innings or less.

Yarbrough gives the Blue Jays some flexibility while being able to munch innings. However, do the Blue Jays need another left-handed pitcher in the bullpen?
<h2>Do the Blue Jays need another left-handed pitcher in the bullpen?</h2>
Simply put, yes.

As it stands, the <a href="https://www.fangraphs.com/roster-resource/depth-charts/blue-jays">Blue Jays have one left-handed pitcher in their bullpen projected by Fangraphs</a> - Brendon Little. The 2024 season wasn’t bad for Little by any means, posting a 3.74 ERA and a 4.90 FIP in 45.2 innings pitched with the third-highest ground ball percentage of 70.9%, an insane number.

With that said, it’s never a bad idea to have a second lefty in the pen. Little saw some high-leverage innings last season, 11.1 to be exact, picking up his first big league save. As it stands, he’s set to be what Tim Mayza was in 2023, being used in higher leverage while pitching mainly against left-handed batters.

It’s also worth mentioning that the Blue Jays have two other left-handed relievers on their 40-man roster. Easton Lucas was a waiver claim in the summer of 2024 and had solid numbers in Triple-A with the Buffalo Bisons, posting a 1.37 ERA and a 2.50 FIP in 19.2 innings, his last three appearances being starts.

The Blue Jays also signed Josh Walker around Christmas time. Walker hasn’t found much success in the big leagues but <a href="https://www.fangraphs.com/players/josh-walker/23617/stats?position=P#dashboard">Fangraphs’ projections are rather kind to him</a>. He, Lucas, and Little have option years remaining, giving them extra flexibility.
<h2>The logistics </h2>
Speaking of options, what are the logistics regarding Yarbrough?

As it stands, there are six relievers in the bullpen who all but have a guaranteed spot - Jeff Hoffman, Yimi García, Chad Green, Erik Swanson, Nick Sandlin, and Yariel Rodríguez. That leaves two spots and a whole lot of options for the Blue Jays.

As discussed in the last section, the Blue Jays have three left-handed pitchers on their 40-man roster who all have an option year in 2025. One of them, probably Little, will likely be in the bullpen. That leaves one spot for Tommy Nance Jr. (no option year), Zach Pop (no option year), Ryan Burr (option year), and Nick Robertson (option year). Add in Yarbrough, who doesn’t have an option year, and there’s a lot of competition for just one or two spots.

Yarbrough also isn’t on the 40-man roster, but that isn’t much of a problem. Spring Training starts on Saturday for the Blue Jays, meaning they could place Angel Bastardo and/or Alek Manoah on the 60-day Injured List. Those 60 days don’t start ticking until the first day of the regular season, but both pitchers are recovering from Tommy John surgery.

There are also a couple of important dates worth noting. Players who sign a minor-league deal with 6+ years of service time and who finished on a major league roster the season before can opt out of their minor-league deal. One of those days is five days before the first day of the regular season, meaning the Jays will need to decide whether or not to add Yarbrough on Mar. 22.

If the Blue Jays don’t add Yarbrough and he elects to stay with the team to pitch in the minor leagues to begin the season, there are two more days in which he could opt out: May 1 and Jun. 1. Realistically, the only way this could happen is if he has a rough Spring Training.

All in all, if Yarbrough pitches anything like he did to end the season, expect him to make the Blue Jays' 26-man roster rather early in the season with the role of a long-man.

<hr />

As always, you can follow me on Bluesky @ryleydelaney.bsky.social.

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