Blue Jays Place Yimi García On Injured List

The Blue Jays announced that right-hander Yimi García has been placed on the 15-day injured list with right elbow ulnar neuritis. Left-hander Brandon Eisert was selected to the roster in a corresponding move. The Jays had two open 40-man spots as Cavan Biggio and Daniel Vogelbach were designated for assignment in recent weeks.

It’s unclear how long García will be away from the club but it’s a blow nonetheless, with the club’s bullpen having been hit hard this year. Closer Jordan Romano has twice been placed on the injured list due to elbow inflammation and is still on the shelf at the moment. He also struggled in between those IL stints with an earned run average of 6.59 in his 15 outings. Erik Swanson was supposed to be a key setup guy for Romano but had an ERA of 9.22 in his 17 appearances before getting optioned to the minors. His nine Triple-A outings haven’t been much better, with an 8.22 ERA in those.

García stepped up and has been 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, but he had to depart yesterday’s game with an apparent injury. The club told reporters earlier today that García’s MRI showed no structural damage, per Keegan Matheson of MLB.com on X. Though the prognosis is unclear, it seems the issue is serious enough that the Jays decided to let García rest up for at least 15 days.

The Jays came into the season planning on that Romano/Swanson/García trio anchoring their bullpen but will now have to proceed without all three of them. Romano could be the next to return, as Shi Davidi of Sportsnet relays on X that the righty could be back on a mound as soon as Wednesday, but it’s still a less-than-ideal set of circumstances for the Jays. The club’s relievers had a 3.68 ERA last year, placing them eighth in the league, but this year’s bullpen group is in 27th place with a 4.69 ERA.

Chad Green is likely to step into the closer’s role for now, per Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet on X. Green has a 1.76 ERA on the year but that’s a bit of a mirage. His 21.8% strikeout rate is actually below league average and much lower than his career rate of 32.1%. His strong results this year have been helped by a .167 batting average on balls in play and 100% strand rate that he won’t be able to maintain, so getting his punchouts back will be key for him and the Jays.

Though the news is glum for García, it’s an exciting day for Eisert, as the 26-year-old southpaw cracks a big league roster for the first time. An 18th-round selection of the Jays in 2019, he wasn’t able to make his professional debut until 2021 due to the pandemic.

But since then, he has tossed 215 2/3 innings across various levels with a 4.01 ERA, 29.5% strikeout rate and 8% walk rate. That includes 22 2/3 innings at Triple-A Buffalo this year with an unsightly 6.35 ERA, though a .442 BABIP is surely playing a role in that. The Jays are probably more interested in his 33% strikeout rate this year, though Eisert has also walked 13.2% of batters faced. He’ll give the club a fourth lefty arm alongside Tim Mayza, Génesis Cabrera and Brendon Little.

It may end up being a short stay for Eisert since Yariel Rodríguez is going to be reinstated from the IL at some point this week, likely taking the rotation spot opened by Alek Manoah’s UCL surgery. Over the past few weeks, Bowden Francis has been covering that spot as a bulk guy, with Trevor Richards often serving as an opener. But if Rodríguez can take over that rotation spot, Richards and Francis can move to the relief mix to try to offset the loss of García somewhat.