Blue Jays acquire Seranthony Domínguez from Orioles for Juaron Watts-Brown

The Blue Jays’ bullpen desperately needs help, and the Jays get that with Domínguez. This season, the 30-year-old right-handed pitcher has a 3.24 ERA and 3.47 FIP in 41.2 innings pitched, with a 30.9 K% and 13.7 BB%.

Domínguez, who is in the final season of his contract, features a four-seam fastball that sits a tick below 98 mph. He has a five-pitch mix, which includes a sweeper, splitter, sinker, and curveball. The 30-year-old is also in the 95th percentile for whiff%, generating a whiff on 34.3% of swings. Overall, there’s a whole lot of red on his Baseball Savant profile.

He’s in the final year of his contract, and he earns $8 million toward payroll and $7.5 million toward the luxury tax.

As for what the Blue Jays gave up, it’s not a small price by any means, as Watts-Brown is one of their better pitching prospect in their farm system. The 23-year-old ranked as the Jays’ 10th-best prospect according to MLB Pipeline.

Watts-Brown has split his time between High-A and Double-A this season, authoring a 3.54 ERA and 3.11 FIP in 89 innings pitched, with a 30.5 K% and 10.1 BB%. In the minor leagues, Brown has struck out 116 batters, which is the sixth-most in all of the minors and only one behind the Blue Jays’ top pitching prospect, Trey Yesavage.

Although the Jays have acquired a high-leverage reliever who throws heat, they aren’t done with bullpen additions. According to MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand, the Blue Jays are still interested in St. Louis Cardinals’ closer Ryan Helsley.

Mapping out the rest of their bullpen, Jeff Hoffman , Yariel Rodríguez, Brendon Little, and Braydon Fisher are four pitchers who deserve permanent spots, as well as Nick Sandlin and Yimi García, but they’re on the Injured List.

It’ll be interesting to see what else the Blue Jays do ahead of Thursday’s trade deadline.