The Blue Jays have placed reliever Matt Gage on unconditional release waivers, tweets Arden Zwelling of Sportsnet. The southpaw had lost his spot on the 40-man roster a week ago once the Jays finalized their two-year free agent deal with Chad Green.
Gage joined the Toronto organization a year ago as a minor league free agent. He opened the season with their top affiliate in Buffalo and pitched well, working to a 2.34 ERA over 42 1/3 innings of relief. Gage fanned 27.4% of opponents, induced grounders at a quality 47% clip and walked 9.5% of batters. It was enough for the Jays to give him his first MLB call at age 29.
While Gage didn’t spend significant time at the big league level, he fared reasonably well in limited opportunities. He’d go on to make 11 appearances, allowing just four runs through 13 innings. His 12:6 strikeout-to-walk ratio wasn’t overly impressive, but he generated swinging strikes on over 14% of his offerings. The 6’3″ hurler now has a 5.22 ERA through 205 career innings at the Triple-A level across four seasons.
It looks as if the 2022 campaign will be Gage’s only year as a member of the Jays’ organization. If he goes unclaimed on release waivers, he’d hit free agency and have the ability to scour the market for other opportunities.
Toronto’s pitching staff skews very right-handed. Tim Mayza is the only southpaw who’s a lock for the season-opening bullpen. Yusei Kikuchi could get another look there if he struggles again as a starting pitcher, though he’s seemingly penciled into the final rotation job to open the year. The only other left-handed pitcher on the 40-man roster is Hyun Jin Ryu, who won’t be ready until around the All-Star Break at the earliest after last summer’s Tommy John surgery. Former Oriole Paul Fry will be in camp as a non-roster invitee to Spring Training, and it wouldn’t be surprising if the Jays look for another veteran depth option to join that mix.