The Toronto Blue Jays have brought in some reliever depth.
On Tuesday evening, the team announced that they have re-signed Joe Mantiply to a minor league deal with an invite to Spring Training.
OFFICIAL: We’ve signed LHP Joe Mantiply to a Minor League deal with an invite to #SpringTraining. pic.twitter.com/bKWOnA6Hej
— Toronto Blue Jays (@BlueJays) March 4, 2026
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This season won’t be Mantiply’s first go-around with the Blue Jays. In mid-July, the left-handed reliever signed a minor league deal with the team, and spent the remainder of the season with the Triple-A Buffalo Bisons. Over 14 outings, the 35-year-old had a 3.45 ERA and 1.90 FIP in 15.2 innings. More impressively, he didn’t walk a single batter and struck out 29.7% of the batters he faced.
Signing Mantiply to a minor league deal is a smart play for the Blue Jays, because he has shown to be an effective reliever in the big leagues. Back in 2022, the lefty finished the season with a 2.85 ERA and 2.83 FIP in 60 innings pitched, with a 25.1 K% and 2.5 BB%. He wasn’t great in 2023, finished with a sub 4 ERA in 59.2 innings in 2024, but struggled mightily in his 10 outings with the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2025.
Even after the 2022 season, when he was named a National League All-Star, Mantiply had good command. In 2023, his BB% sat 5.7%, then 7.4% in 2024, and 5.2% before his demotion to Triple-A last season. Command is the name of the game for the veteran lefty.
Of course, a lot would need to go right for Mantiply to make the Blue Jays roster. Right now, both Brendon Little and Mason Fluharty are ahead of him on the pecking order. Once the Jays are healthy, it’s expected that Eric Lauer will move to the bullpen, while both Ricky Tiedemann and Adam Macko could find themselves in a bullpen role at some point this season. It doesn’t help that Mantiply isn’t on the 40-man roster, so he’ll really need to force the team’s hands.
All that being said, you can never have too much pitching, and having a receiver who attended an All-Star game as minor league depth probably means that you’re doing something right.
Ryley Delaney is a Nation Network writer for Blue Jays Nation, Oilersnation, and FlamesNation. She can be followed on Twitter @Ryley__Delaney.