Blue Jays Select Simeon Woods Richardson

The Blue Jays announced that they have selected right-hander Simeon Woods Richardson to the roster. Right-hander Lazaro Estrada has been optioned to Triple-A Buffalo in a corresponding active roster move. Catcher Willie MacIver has been designated for assignment to open up a 40-man spot. The Jays also made a swap on the position player side, optioning infielder/outfielder Davis Schneider for infielder/outfielder Charles McAdoo. Additionally, outfielder Rudy Martin Jr. has been outrighted to Triple-A after being designated for assignment last week.

The pitching moves are surely related to the club’s recent on-field results. The Jays have gone to extra innings in four of the past five contests, forcing them to lean hard on their bullpen. They went to 12 innings against the Phils yesterday, which meant Estrada had to pitch for a third day in a row. With the group fairly gassed overall and Estrada probably unavailable for a bit, he has understandably been subbed out for a fresh arm.

The Jays have guys like Chad Dallas, CJ Van Eyk, John Klein and Ricky Tiedemann on the 40-man roster but couldn’t really go to anyone in that quartet. Tiedemann has been on and off the injured list for years and is currently only throwing single innings, so he’s not an option for long relief. Both Dallas and Van Eyk were optioned in the past 15 days and therefore couldn’t be recalled unless someone was going on the IL. Klein just started for Triple-A Buffalo on Saturday.

Instead, the Jays have added Woods Richardson back onto the roster. He was just outrighted at the end of June but has been in decent form in Triple-A since then. He has thrown 24 1/3 Triple-A innings over six appearances with a 4.07 earned run average. However, while his 8.7% walk rate is around average, his 19.4% strikeout rate is subpar.

Once upon a time, Woods Richardson seemed to be a budding rotation building block in Minnesota. He logged 245 innings with Minnesota over the 2024 and 2025 seasons with a 4.11 ERA, 21.5% strikeout rate and 9% walk rate. But here in 2026, he struggled and got put on waivers in May, which is when the Jays got him. Toronto later passed him through unclaimed. Between the two clubs, he has a 6.40 ERA in the big leagues this year, along with rough strikeout and walk rates of 11.7% and 12.1%, respectively.

As mentioned, Woods Richardson has been a bit better than that since being outrighted but still not quite up to his 2024-25 levels. Still, he may have been the best option for the Jays for tonight. Their bullpen has been used heavily and they have Jameson Taillon starting tonight. Depending on how things go, Woods Richardson could potentially eat multiple innings and spare the other arms. In the future, if the Jays want to get another fresh arm in the mix, Woods Richardson is out of options.

To add Woods Richardson onto the 40-man, the Jays have had to squeeze off MacIver, who was acquired from the Rangers in a cash trade in April. Since that deal, MacIver has been kept in Triple-A and has hit .270/.344/.459 for a 110 wRC+. That’s nice production, especially from a catcher, but there are some asterisks. MacIver struck out in 28.1% of his plate appearances in that span and his offense was inflated by a .358 batting average on balls in play.

MacIver’s big league track record is small, as he got into 33 games with the Athletics last year and hit just .186/.252/.324. But he has always hit the minors, which is enough for him to interest other clubs. The Rangers claimed him off waivers in November and then the Jays didn’t even let him hit the wire earlier this year. With the trade deadline now in the past, he’ll be on waivers again shortly. Since he’s still optionable and has decent minor league numbers, he will likely end up claimed.

The Jays will probably be hoping for him to clear. With this move, they are now down to just Alejandro Kirk and Brandon Valenzuela as the only catchers on the 40-man roster. If they lose MacIver via waivers, their top depth options will be CJ Stubbs and Will Simoneit. Stubbs has one major league game under his belt, Simoneit none.

Martin, 30, is still looking to make his major league debut. He began this season with the Royals on a minor league deal. He triggered an upward mobility clause in that deal and got flipped to the Orioles, getting a roster spot for the first time in his career.. Baltimore sent him to the minors and tried passing him through waivers a few days later but the Jays claimed him. Now that he has cleared waivers, he is back in non-roster mode. Since this is his first outright and he has less than three years of service time, he has to accept the outright.

He will provide the Jays with a speedy depth outfielder. He has been good for double-digits steals throughout his career and is at 39 already this season. His offense has been more up-and-down but he has a strong .280/.408/.415 line this year.