Image credit: ClutchPoints

The Toronto Blue Jays have endured a sluggish start to the 2024 campaign, and while they haven’t exactly played well on the field, the number of injuries that they are currently dealing with isn’t exactly helping them.

But now, the Blue Jays are getting some reinforcements back in the form of pitchers Erik Swanson and Jordan Romano, per MLB.com:

“Toronto’s bullpen got a major boost with the return of Romano and Swanson. The closer’s role will be Romano’s, and with Yimi García pitching as well as he has in his Blue Jays career, Toronto should also have one of the hottest setup men in baseball.

White was out of options, and with the Blue Jays preferring to keep Bowden Francis for length, White was the odd man out. The Pearson move is the more surprising one on the surface, given his 0.00 ERA and nine strikeouts over 6 1/3 innings, particularly after he touched 102 mph on Sunday against the Rockies. Pearson still has options, though, and while Toronto is very confident he will play a major role in the big leagues this season, he’s on the outside looking in for now.”

One of the chief struggles for the Blue Jays has been their pitching; at present, they rank 15th in the MLB in starting pitcher ERA, and that’s thanks in large part to the strong starts Jose Berrios and Yusei Kikuchi have had. Middle of the rotation starter Chris Bassitt then called out the Blue Jays rotation without sparing himself, urging them to get back on track given how little margin of error there is in the AL East.

“I’ll be honest with you, I’m pretty disappointed in our starters so far. This is my third start and two of my starts were terrible, in my opinion, so I’m no help to the problem. The biggest thing for us is getting our starters going. I’m so confident in the guys we have, it’s just that the first 10 or 11 games have been pretty rough for us, outside of Berrios.”

Blue Jays hitters also need to step up

Toronto Blue Jays left fielder Daulton Varsho (25) hits a home run and celebrates with first base Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (27) against the New York Yankees during the seventh inning at Rogers Centre. © Nick Turchiaro-USA TODAY Sports

The Blue Jays pitching is struggling bat has improved somewhat over the last week. The hitting is a different story, however.

Toronto’s offense ranks near the bottom of Major League Baseball in multiple categories. The Blue Jays are 21st in runs scored, 20th in batting average, and 19th in OPS.

In a 19-game sample size, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. is hitting just .211 with a .349 on-base percentage, while Bo Bichette is at .227 and .297. The two combined have an OPS below .700 and just 10 total RBI. Add in George Springer’s .666 OPS and the Jays can’t seem to buy top-of-the-order production.

Thank goodness for Justin Turner, or the top half of the Blue Jays’ order would be hitting worse than most teams’ bottom halves with those two catalysts struggling so much.

The Blue Jays continue to try to get right against the San Diego Padres on Friday.

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