Blue Jays Designate Matt Waldron For Assignment

The Blue Jays announced that they have selected the contract of left-hander Brendan Cellucci. Right-hander Matt Waldron has been designated for assignment as the corresponding move.

Waldron, 29, was just claimed off waivers from the Padres two weeks ago. He tossed 4 1/3 innings for the Jays, allowing five earned runs. The Jays have decided to move on after that. Waldron is out of options, which led to him losing his roster spot in San Diego. Since the trade deadline has passed, he’ll be on waivers again in the coming days.

The knuckleballer hasn’t been in good form for a while now but once looked like a potential rotation member for the Friars. Over 2023 and 2024, he gave San Diego 188 innings with a 4.79 earned run average, 20.6% strikeout rate and 6.5% walk rate. But he spent most of last year on optional assignment and put up a 6.67 ERA at the Triple-A level. He exhausted his final option season, putting him on the roster bubble this year. Working mostly in long relief, he has a 7.54 ERA in 2026.

Those recent numbers will obviously tamp down interest but perhaps some clubs will be attracted to the uniqueness of a knuckleballer and/or his results from a couple of years back. He is still in his pre-arbitration years and would be a cheap pick-up. If he were to clear waivers, he would stick with the Jays as non-roster depth. Since he hasn’t yet been outrighted in his career and has less than three years of service time, he would not have the right to reject an outright assignment and elect free agency.

Cellucci, 28, gets a big league roster spot for the first time. A 12th-round pick of the Red Sox in 2019, he was released last year, allowing the Jays to scoop him up on a minor league deal coming into this season. He has thrown 44 Triple-A innings this year with a 3.68 ERA. His 11.5% walk rate is high but his 24% strikeout rate is above average and his 58.3% ground ball rate is really strong. He is throwing a four-seamer, sinker, slider and changeup.

He will give the Jays a third lefty reliever alongside Mason Fluharty and Brendon Little. Since this is Cellucci’s first time on a big league roster, he has a full slate of options and could be shuttled to Triple-A and back whenever the Jays need a fresh arm.