After slamming into a wall due to exhaustion earlier this month, <a href="https://bluejaysnation.com/?p=86163&amp;preview=true" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Toronto Blue Jays</a> relievers have recovered quickly as of late and have re-emerged as one of the sport&#8217;s most effective bullpens over the last week-and-a-half. 
With the offence finally igniting recently, the &#8216;pen received a minor reset after essentially running on fumes during the club&#8217;s last road trip through Los Angeles (Anaheim) and Seattle. Thanks to that much-needed breather, they&#8217;ve gotten back into the groove of things over the last three series (SEA, TBR, DET), placing <a href="https://www.fangraphs.com/leaders/major-league?pos=all&amp;lg=all&amp;qual=y&amp;type=8&amp;season=2025&amp;month=1000&amp;season1=2025&amp;ind=0&amp;team=0%2Cts&amp;stats=rel&amp;startdate=2025-05-09&amp;enddate=2025-11-01" target="_blank" rel="noopener">tied for fifth in fWAR (0.5) in the majors since May 9</a>.
Toronto&#8217;s relief corps also sits first in OPP AVG (.156), second in strikeout-to-walk rate difference (21.1 per cent), fifth in ERA (2.45) and sixth in FIP (3.28) during this return-to-form span. And none of it would&#8217;ve been possible if not for the renewed success from the back end of the &#8216;pen.
The likes of closer Jeff Hoffman, Yimi García, Brendon Little and Chad Green have righted the ship, at least more or less, following a brief stretch of uncharacteristically poor outings. However, those four have also received support from a pair of newcomers to the coaching staff&#8217;s circle of trust, Mason Fluharty and Yariel Rodríguez.
Fluharty has been sensational since recovering from a rocky start to his major-league career, excelling to a 1.50 ERA and 2.92 FIP over his last 18 innings of work, issuing 17 strikeouts and only five walks. While Rodríguez had been hit or miss early on,<a href="https://publish.bluejaysnation.com/2025/05/15/yariel-rodriguez-is-finding-sucess-in-high-leverage-situations-for-the-blue-jays/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> the former starter has come into his own lately</a> and hasn&#8217;t surrendered a run over his previous six outings, allowing four hits and only one walk while punching out 10 across 8.2 innings.
Between Hoffman, García, Little, Green, Fluharty and Rodríguez, six of the eight spots in Toronto&#8217;s bullpen now appear to be set. At least for now. Injuries can make these things subject to change. But if this group remains healthy, manager John Schneider shouldn&#8217;t have any shortage of reliable arms to turn to during leverage situations &#8212; and there&#8217;s more help on the way.
Both Erik Swanson (elbow/forearm) and Ryan Burr (shoulder) have been unavailable this season due to injuries sustained during spring training. But they&#8217;ve now each made a pair of triple-A appearances on their respective rehab assignments and are likely due back in the next week or two.
Pitchers have 30 days to complete a rehab assignment. Since Burr began his on May 6, he has until June 5 to complete his spring training-esque build-up before the Blue Jays need to decide on his status &#8212; likewise for Swanson, whose rehab assignment began on May 9 and must conclude by June 8.
At some point soon, Nick Sandlin (right lat) will also head out on a rehab assignment after spending the last several weeks advancing through his throwing progression. Considering he hasn&#8217;t pitched in a month, though, he&#8217;ll likely require a handful of rehab outings, putting him further behind Burr and Swanson.
Either way, Toronto&#8217;s bullpen is destined to become rather crowded near the end of May &#8212; assuming an injury or two doesn&#8217;t pop up before then. With six jobs already set, the impending returns of Burr and Swanson &#8212; and eventually Sandlin &#8212; could create a logjam involving the final two spots in the &#8216;pen, which are currently occupied by Braydon Fisher and José Ureña.
While both have played important roles since their arrival, the unfortunate reality is that this could become a numbers game that ultimately forces them out of the picture.
<h2>Braydon Fisher</h2>
Though it&#8217;s only been a short stint, Fisher has morphed into quite the surprise for the Blue Jays thus far.
Acquired in last year&#8217;s Cavan Biggio trade from the Los Angeles Dodgers, the 24-year-old largely went unnoticed upon his arrival after posting an unimpressive 6.94 ERA with nearly as many walks (10) as strikeouts (16) in eight career triple-A appearances. And the right-hander didn&#8217;t do much to improve his standing inside the organization post-trade, finishing last season with a 6.38 ERA, 14 walks and 21 strikeouts across 17 relief appearances with Buffalo.
However, following a strong start at triple-A this season, Fisher pitched his way up to the majors and has impressed in four career appearances, compiling five scoreless innings of three-hit ball without allowing a walk and striking out six.
The biggest standout from Fisher&#8217;s brief time with the Blue Jays has been his slider, which opponents have gone 2-for-11 against with five punchouts &#8212; the other lone strikeout came via his curveball. His slider is also a pitch &#8212; which he&#8217;s thrown nearly half the time &#8212; that has graded out well per Stuff+, ranking 14 per cent above league average with a 114 score.
The only aspect working against Fisher right now is that he holds all three minor-league options after being selected to the 40-man roster earlier this month. Since Swanson and Burr are both out of options, chances are he&#8217;ll be sent back to Buffalo once a roster spot is needed.
<h2>José Ureña</h2>
Without a viable fifth starter, removing Ureña from the equation won&#8217;t be as clear-cut, especially considering he&#8217;s out of options and would have to be designated for assignment.
Since signing a one-year deal with Toronto, the 33-year-old righty has made a pair of abbreviated starts with the big-league club, allowing three runs (all earned) on six hits and two walks while striking out two across 6.1 combined innings. But it was left-hander Eric Lauer who received the nod in that spot during the most recent turn through the rotation, kicking off <a href="https://publish.bluejaysnation.com/2025/05/17/instant-reaction-blue-jays-ernie-clement-walks-off-the-tigers-in-2-1-victory/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">what proved to be a successful bullpen game against the Detroit Tigers last Saturday</a>.
Lately, the Blue Jays have been piecing innings together with multiple arms rather than calling upon one pitcher to pitch two times through the order over four or five innings. And so far, it&#8217;s been an effective strategy, albeit an unsustainable one, given how much extra stress it&#8217;s placed on the bullpen.
Following Monday&#8217;s off-day, Toronto will begin a stretch of 13 games before receiving its next day off on June 2 &#8212; playing series versus the San Diego Padres, Tampa Bay Rays, Texas Rangers and Athletics &#8212; and will cycle through the fifth starter&#8217;s spot twice during that span. Thus, there&#8217;ll likely be at least two more bullpen games fronted by either Lauer or Ureña, or both.
As such, the Blue Jays may be hesitant to cut ties with Ureña if Swanson and Burr &#8212; who&#8217;s more of a 1-2 inning reliever rather than someone capable offering 3-4 innings of relief &#8212; are activated from the IL before the end of May. That being said, with Rodríguez &#8212; the first arm out of the &#8216;pen on Saturday &#8212; rediscovering his confidence at this level, they may already have another form of length at their disposal.
Deciding between Ureña or Burr could come down to what the team needs at that current juncture. Though, in the end, whoever&#8217;s awarded that final spot will probably be a placeholder until Sandlin returns.

After slamming into a wall due to exhaustion earlier this month, <a href="https://bluejaysnation.com/?p=86163&amp;preview=true" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Toronto Blue Jays</a> relievers have recovered quickly as of late and have re-emerged as one of the sport's most effective bullpens over the last week-and-a-half. 

With the offence finally igniting recently, the 'pen received a minor reset after essentially running on fumes during the club's last road trip through Los Angeles (Anaheim) and Seattle. Thanks to that much-needed breather, they've gotten back into the groove of things over the last three series (SEA, TBR, DET), placing <a href="https://www.fangraphs.com/leaders/major-league?pos=all&amp;lg=all&amp;qual=y&amp;type=8&amp;season=2025&amp;month=1000&amp;season1=2025&amp;ind=0&amp;team=0%2Cts&amp;stats=rel&amp;startdate=2025-05-09&amp;enddate=2025-11-01" target="_blank" rel="noopener">tied for fifth in fWAR (0.5) in the majors since May 9</a>.

Toronto's relief corps also sits first in OPP AVG (.156), second in strikeout-to-walk rate difference (21.1 per cent), fifth in ERA (2.45) and sixth in FIP (3.28) during this return-to-form span. And none of it would've been possible if not for the renewed success from the back end of the 'pen.

The likes of closer Jeff Hoffman, Yimi García, Brendon Little and Chad Green have righted the ship, at least more or less, following a brief stretch of uncharacteristically poor outings. However, those four have also received support from a pair of newcomers to the coaching staff's circle of trust, Mason Fluharty and Yariel Rodríguez.

Fluharty has been sensational since recovering from a rocky start to his major-league career, excelling to a 1.50 ERA and 2.92 FIP over his last 18 innings of work, issuing 17 strikeouts and only five walks. While Rodríguez had been hit or miss early on,<a href="https://publish.bluejaysnation.com/2025/05/15/yariel-rodriguez-is-finding-sucess-in-high-leverage-situations-for-the-blue-jays/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> the former starter has come into his own lately</a> and hasn't surrendered a run over his previous six outings, allowing four hits and only one walk while punching out 10 across 8.2 innings.

Between Hoffman, García, Little, Green, Fluharty and Rodríguez, six of the eight spots in Toronto's bullpen now appear to be set. At least for now. Injuries can make these things subject to change. But if this group remains healthy, manager John Schneider shouldn't have any shortage of reliable arms to turn to during leverage situations -- and there's more help on the way.

Both Erik Swanson (elbow/forearm) and Ryan Burr (shoulder) have been unavailable this season due to injuries sustained during spring training. But they've now each made a pair of triple-A appearances on their respective rehab assignments and are likely due back in the next week or two.

Pitchers have 30 days to complete a rehab assignment. Since Burr began his on May 6, he has until June 5 to complete his spring training-esque build-up before the Blue Jays need to decide on his status -- likewise for Swanson, whose rehab assignment began on May 9 and must conclude by June 8.

At some point soon, Nick Sandlin (right lat) will also head out on a rehab assignment after spending the last several weeks advancing through his throwing progression. Considering he hasn't pitched in a month, though, he'll likely require a handful of rehab outings, putting him further behind Burr and Swanson.

Either way, Toronto's bullpen is destined to become rather crowded near the end of May -- assuming an injury or two doesn't pop up before then. With six jobs already set, the impending returns of Burr and Swanson -- and eventually Sandlin -- could create a logjam involving the final two spots in the 'pen, which are currently occupied by Braydon Fisher and José Ureña.

While both have played important roles since their arrival, the unfortunate reality is that this could become a numbers game that ultimately forces them out of the picture.
<h2>Braydon Fisher</h2>
Though it's only been a short stint, Fisher has morphed into quite the surprise for the Blue Jays thus far.

Acquired in last year's Cavan Biggio trade from the Los Angeles Dodgers, the 24-year-old largely went unnoticed upon his arrival after posting an unimpressive 6.94 ERA with nearly as many walks (10) as strikeouts (16) in eight career triple-A appearances. And the right-hander didn't do much to improve his standing inside the organization post-trade, finishing last season with a 6.38 ERA, 14 walks and 21 strikeouts across 17 relief appearances with Buffalo.

However, following a strong start at triple-A this season, Fisher pitched his way up to the majors and has impressed in four career appearances, compiling five scoreless innings of three-hit ball without allowing a walk and striking out six.

The biggest standout from Fisher's brief time with the Blue Jays has been his slider, which opponents have gone 2-for-11 against with five punchouts -- the other lone strikeout came via his curveball. His slider is also a pitch -- which he's thrown nearly half the time -- that has graded out well per Stuff+, ranking 14 per cent above league average with a 114 score.

The only aspect working against Fisher right now is that he holds all three minor-league options after being selected to the 40-man roster earlier this month. Since Swanson and Burr are both out of options, chances are he'll be sent back to Buffalo once a roster spot is needed.
<h2>José Ureña</h2>
Without a viable fifth starter, removing Ureña from the equation won't be as clear-cut, especially considering he's out of options and would have to be designated for assignment.

Since signing a one-year deal with Toronto, the 33-year-old righty has made a pair of abbreviated starts with the big-league club, allowing three runs (all earned) on six hits and two walks while striking out two across 6.1 combined innings. But it was left-hander Eric Lauer who received the nod in that spot during the most recent turn through the rotation, kicking off <a href="https://publish.bluejaysnation.com/2025/05/17/instant-reaction-blue-jays-ernie-clement-walks-off-the-tigers-in-2-1-victory/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">what proved to be a successful bullpen game against the Detroit Tigers last Saturday</a>.

Lately, the Blue Jays have been piecing innings together with multiple arms rather than calling upon one pitcher to pitch two times through the order over four or five innings. And so far, it's been an effective strategy, albeit an unsustainable one, given how much extra stress it's placed on the bullpen.

Following Monday's off-day, Toronto will begin a stretch of 13 games before receiving its next day off on June 2 -- playing series versus the San Diego Padres, Tampa Bay Rays, Texas Rangers and Athletics -- and will cycle through the fifth starter's spot twice during that span. Thus, there'll likely be at least two more bullpen games fronted by either Lauer or Ureña, or both.

As such, the Blue Jays may be hesitant to cut ties with Ureña if Swanson and Burr -- who's more of a 1-2 inning reliever rather than someone capable offering 3-4 innings of relief -- are activated from the IL before the end of May. That being said, with Rodríguez -- the first arm out of the 'pen on Saturday -- rediscovering his confidence at this level, they may already have another form of length at their disposal.

Deciding between Ureña or Burr could come down to what the team needs at that current juncture. Though, in the end, whoever's awarded that final spot will probably be a placeholder until Sandlin returns.

Blue Jays may soon face crowded bullpen as rehabbing arms inch closer to return

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