Blue Jays Roster Moves
Oct 15, 2025; Seattle, Washington, USA; Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Yariel Rodriguez (29) throws in the eighth inning against the Seattle Mariners during game three of the ALCS round for the 2025 MLB playoffs at T-Mobile Park. Mandatory Credit: John Froschauer-Imagn Images | John Froschauer-Imagn Images This morning, our head Tom reported that Yariel Rodriguez was coming up and speculated that Eric Lauer might be the roster casualty. He was right, as Lauer caught a DFA this morning and his roster spot has gone to Rodriguez.
It’s been a rough season for Lauer. As Tom noted, his velocity is down. for a while that could be attributed to the stomch flu he suffered in early April, but that was a month ago and in his most recent outing he was still a mile per hour off his average from last year.
For a guy who didn’t have great stuff at his best, losing a little edge is a problem. It’s been confounded by some location issues. If he makes it through waivers, hopefully he’s able to work in Buffalo and rediscover his form from last season, but I suspect we’ve seen the last of him in a Blue Jays uniform.
Rodriguez, meanwhile, was DFA’d back in the winter. He’s been effective as a 1-2 inning reliever for the Bisons, with a few more walks than you’d like but an excellent strikeout rate. He’s de-emphasized his fastballs and leaned harder on his splitter, throwing either that or the slider 70% of the time.
Hopefully that translates to the majors, as Rodrigez has been a pretty disappointing singing after a lot of hope when he came over from Japan. In other news, Addison Barger is officially on the IL. That’s hardly a surprise after it was announced this morning that he was getting an MRI on his elbow.