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Blue Jays 2026 40-man Roster Review: Chase Lee will likely split this season between Triple-A and the big leagues
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Photo credit: © Rick Osentoski-Imagn Images
Ryley Delaney
Feb 20, 2026, 12:00 ESTUpdated: Feb 19, 2026, 18:06 EST
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A few hours before the Toronto Blue Jays signed submarine reliever Tyler Rogers, they traded for sidearm reliever Chase Lee.
This is Blue Jays Nation’s annual 40-man roster review ahead of the new season. If you missed the most recent article, we looked at Ben Cowles. In this article, we’ll look at Chase Lee.
Attending Alabama, Lee was selected in the sixth round of the 2021 draft by the Texas Rangers. The 27-year-old sidearmer worked his way up the minor league ladder, and was traded to the Detroit Tigers ahead of the 2024 trade deadline for Andrew Chafin.
Thanks to a strong 2024 season where he had a 2.75 ERA and 2.84 FIP in 36 innings pitched, mainly in Triple-A, Lee was added to the Tigers’ 40-man roster to protect him from the Rule 5 draft.
The Birmingham native split his time between Triple-A and the big leagues in 2025. With the Tigers’ Triple-A team, Lee had a 6.47 ERA and 3.78 FIP in 32 innings of work, appearing in 23 outings, all in relief.  Lee finished his Toledo Mud Hens tenure with a 28.1 K% and 7.4 BB%.
With the Tigers, Lee was often used in low-leverage, authoring a 4.10 ERA and 4.53 FIP in 37.1 innings pitched, with a 24.3 K% and 6.1 BB%. Lee’s last big league action was in July, as 23.2 of his innings came in low-leverage. He wasn’t great in his 11 innings of medium leverage, giving up five earned runs, while he only pitched two and two-thirds innings in high leverage.
Just like Rogers, who was acquired just a few hours after Lee was, Lee has a funky arm angle, releasing the ball at a -4 degree angle. It’ll be a weird look for opposing teams going from Trey Yesavage’s 64 degree arm angle, to Lee’s -4 degree arm angle, to Rogers’ -61 degree arm angle. This is exactly what the Blue Jays love, giving the opposition different looks, never giving them time to adjust.
Where Lee and Rogers are different is that Rogers relies on ground balls, while Lee has the ability to get strikeouts. Lee doesn’t throw hard by any means, with a four-seamer and two-seamer averaging a tick under 90 mph, but he pairs that with a rising sweeper and an arm-side fade changeup. Lee also relies on strong command, but has a tendency to give up hard contact.
Rogers will be a mainstay in the Blue Jays’ bullpen next season, as he pitched over 70 innings in each of the last five seasons. Lee, on the other hand, is valuable as he has two more option years left, meaning the Jays can send down Lee without needing to designate him for assignment. Expect him to be a part of the Jays’ bullpen in some capacity, but as a AAAA reliever.
Next season, Lee is projected to post a 3.92 ERA and 3.96 FIP according to Steamer, with a 22.5 K% and 7.7 BB%. If he’s to become a mainstay in the bullpen, ZiPS has him finishing the year with a 3.88 ERA and 3.96 FIP in 60.3 innings, with a 23.5 K% and 7.1 BB%.
Ryley Delaney is a Nation Network writer for Blue Jays Nation, Oilersnation, and FlamesNation. She can be followed on Twitter @Ryley__Delaney.

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