The Blue Jays announced that right-hander Jose Urena has been designated for assignment. The move opens up a roster spot for southpaw Easton Lucas, who will likely cover some innings what is slated to be a bullpen day for the Jays in today’s matchup with the Athletics.
Urena signed a guaranteed contract with Toronto in early May, just a few days after he was designated for assignment by the Mets and then entered free agency (Urena was able to reject the Mets’ outright assignment in favor of free agency since he has been previously outrighted in his career). Over his six games with the Jays, Urena made two starts and tossed a total of 12 1/3 innings while pitching to a 3.65 ERA.
With only a 9.6% strikeout rate in that brief stint with the Jays, Urena’s ERA significantly outperformed his peripherals, so the club is apparently willing to risk losing Urena in order to get a fresh arm onto the pitching staff. Should Urena clear waivers, he’ll again have the option of either electing free agency or accepting an outright assignment to Triple-A. Given the Blue Jays’ lack of rotation depth, a case can be made that sticking in the organization may give Urena another shot at the big leagues in relatively short order.
The fifth spot in the Jays’ rotation has been a revolving door since Max Scherzer went on the injured list after his first start of the season. Lucas has received four starts, and Braydon Fisher (who has a spotless ERA over his first career 8 1/3 innings) will make his first Major League start today against the A’s. Recent signing Eric Lauer has started two of his six games in a Blue Jays uniform, and the recently-signed Spencer Turnbull may yet factor into the rotation picture before Scherzer is ready to return.