The Blue Jays announced that they have selected left-hander Eric Lauer to their roster. To open a 40-man spot for him, Casey Lawrence has been designated for assignment. Prior to the official announcement, Mitch Bannon of The Athletic relayed that Lauer was no longer scheduled to start for Triple-A Buffalo. Shi Davidi of Sportsnet reported that Lauer was on his way to join the Jays.
Lauer, 30 in June, signed a minor league deal with the Jays in the offseason. He’s been pitching out of the Buffalo rotation so far this year, having logged 24 innings over five starts. He has allowed 4.50 earned runs per nine with a 20.6% strikeout rate and 5.9% walk rate.
The Jays need some innings, whether that’s from a starter or a bulk guy pitching behind an opener. Left-hander Easton Lucas took a rotation spot earlier in the year when Max Scherzer landed on the injured list. Lucas had two good starts and two awful ones, getting optioned to Buffalo last week.
The Jays planned to use some off-days in the schedule to have a four-man rotation for a while, though Mother Nature interrupted there. A rainout in the Bronx on Saturday led to a Sunday doubleheader, with Kevin Gausman and Chris Bassitt starting those two games. After an off-day on Monday, Bowden Francis started against the Red Sox last night. José Berríos could have started on regular rest today but the club would have needed someone to start Thursday’s game.
The club grabbed Lawrence off waivers on Monday to give them a long man on the heels of the doubleheader. He was needed immediately, as Francis only lasted three innings yesterday. After Dillon Tate and Mason Fluharty got four and six outs respectively, Lawrence came in and absorbed 2 2/3 innings of long relief. Lauer logged five innings in each of his four most recent starts for the Bisons, so he will ideally give the club some length today. The last of those starts was on Thursday, so he’ll be on five days of rest today.
It’s unclear if he’ll stick on the roster beyond today’s game. The Jays have another off-day on Monday, so they could go back down to four starters for a couple of turns. Lucas was optioned on April 21st, so he’ll be beyond the 15-day minimum by next week and could be recalled. Jake Bloss has also been in better form of late, with his two most recent Triple-A starts resulting in 12 strikeouts and no earned runs allowed. That could get Lauer bumped off the roster, depending on how things go in today’s game. It’s also possible Lauer holds a rotation spot for a few turns while Lucas and Bloss stay in Buffalo as depth.
Either way, Lauer will be making his first major league appearance in quite some time. He had a solid run with the Padres and Brewers earlier in his career. From 2018 to 2022, he had a 4.11 ERA over 550 innings. His 22.1% strikeout rate and 8.7% walk rate were both around league average. But in 2023, a shoulder impingement sent him to the injured list for most of the year. He was only able to toss 46 2/3 innings with a 6.56 ERA. He split 2024 between Triple-A clubs of the Astros and Pirates as well as the Kia Tigers of the KBO League, with an ERA near 5.00 in all of those stops.
He is out of options and can’t be easily sent back down to the minors if this is just a spot start situation. If he’s later designated for assignment and passed through waivers unclaimed, he would have the right to reject an outright assignment and elect free agency. Players gain that right when they have a previous career outright or at least three years of service time, with Lauer meeting both criteria.
Lawrence heads into DFA limbo for the fourth time this year, the first three being with the Mariners. He was called up by Seattle whenever they needed a fresh arm to cover long relief innings. Since he is out of options, he was designated for assignment a few days after being called up in each instance. The first two DFAs resulted in him clearing waivers and returning to the team, though the Jays claimed him on the third try.
Photo courtesy of Kim Klement Neitzel, Imagn Images