Blue Jays Notes: García, Rodríguez, Lukes

Blue Jays right-hander Yimi García departed yesterday’s game after calling for the trainer in the middle of an at-bat. After the game, manager John Schneider told reporters that García has some soreness in his right elbow, with Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet among those to relay the news on X.

In the coming days, García and the club will surely be evaluating the situation to see how it develops. Elbow issues are always concerning for a pitcher but losing García for any amount of time would not be ideal for Toronto. The bullpen has been a surprising weak point for the club this year, with the relief corps having a collective 4.69 earned run average this year, which is ahead of just the White Sox, Angels and Rockies.

Jordan Romano is currently on the injured list with right elbow inflammation, his second such IL stint already this year, and posted a 6.59 ERA in his 15 outings between those IL stints. Erik Swanson struggled badly enough to get optioned to the minors and hasn’t course corrected down in Buffalo. He had a 9.22 ERA with the Jays before getting sent down and has an 8.22 mark in his nine Triple-A appearances this year.

With those two being injured and struggling, and Chad Green also spending some time on the IL, García has stepped up as the club’s best reliever this year. He has five saves and ten holds with a 2.57 ERA, 34.6% strikeout rate and 6.5% walk rate.

If García were to need a stint on the IL, that would further deplete the club’s struggling bullpen. Green has a 1.76 ERA this year and might have to step into the closer’s role, though he’s currently skirting by with a .176 batting average on balls in play and 100% strand rate, neither of which are sustainable. His 21.8% strikeout rate is below league average and well below his career rate of 32.1%.

Aside from García and Green, the only other reliever on the active roster with an ERA under 4.00 is Trevor Richards at 3.09. However, his 24.8% strikeout rate and 10.9% walk rate are more passable than outstanding and he’s also benefited from a low BABIP of .143.

The group is already in a tenuous spot and that will be even more true if García needs to miss some time. If it turns out he has a significant elbow issue, that would also be poor timing for him on a personal level. The 33-year-old is having arguably the best full season of his career and is in the final year of his contract, heading to free agency this winter. If he can overcome this soreness and keep putting up good numbers, he’ll be set up nicely for a strong market but any kind of lingering health problem could negatively impact that.

On the rotation, the Jays seem to be on the verge of getting Yariel Rodríguez back. He is currently on the injured list and has been rehabbing, but Francys Romero reports on X that the righty is travelling to join the Jays today. Rodríguez probably won’t be reinstated immediately, as he just threw 79 pitches in a rehab outing yesterday and won’t be available for a few days, but he could rejoin the roster later in the week.

Alek Manoah went on the IL a couple of weeks ago and it was later reported that he would require season-ending UCL surgery. The Jays have four rotation spots taken by José Berríos, Kevin Gausman, Chris Bassitt and Yusei Kikuchi but have been sort of patching the last spot together without Manoah in the past few weeks. Bowden Francis has taken three turns as a bulk pitcher, with one official start and two outings behind an opener. The first outing wasn’t great, as he allowed four earned runs in 3 1/3 innings against the Orioles, but he then tossed four scoreless in each of the next two, against the Athletics and Guardians.

Francis may now be bumped to a long relief role in the bullpen with Rodríguez taking over the fifth spot. Rodríguez posted a 4.11 ERA in four starts earlier this year before landing on the IL with thoracic spine inflammation. He has since made six rehab appearances with a 1.93 ERA and 36.5% strikeout rate, though a 15.9% walk rate suggests there might be a bit of rust.

On the position player side, the Jays lost a bit of depth last week. Outfielder Nathan Lukes underwent surgery on the UCL in his left thumb, per Shi Davidi of Sportsnet on X. His timeline is unclear, with Davidi simply relaying that the outfielder is expected back later in the year.

Lukes was hitting a tremendous .333/.406/.480 in Triple-A this year, production which translates to a 134 wRC+. The Jays have been dipping into their farm lately to try to find more offense, calling up Spencer Horwitz and Addison Barger while jettisoning Cavan Biggio and Daniel Vogelbach. With Lukes hitting well, perhaps he would have garnered some consideration for a promotion as well, but that won’t be on the table while he’s recovering from surgery.

The Jays will have a bit less outfield depth for the time being but have plenty of options on the active roster. George Springer and Daulton Varsho are playing every day with Davis Schneider and Kevin Kiermaier getting sprinkled in as well. Infielders Addison Barger, Isiah Kiner-Falefa, Spencer Horwitz and Ernie Clement all have varying degrees of outfield experience as well and could move out there if needed.