Blue Jays swap Casey Lawrence for Eric Lauer ahead of bullpen game versus Red Sox

A few years ago, Lauer strung together consecutive strong seasons with the Milwaukee Brewers, pitching to a respectable 3.47 ERA and 4.30 FIP with a strikeout rate just under 25 per cent across 53 games (49 starts) from 2021-22. He also performed above replacement level during that span, nearly combining for three wins above replacement per FanGraphs.

But the now-29-year-old missed most of 2023 due to a shoulder impingement, limiting him to just 46.2 innings over 10 appearances (nine starts) with the Brewers. After that, he bounced around for a bit in triple-A, making stops with the Pittsburgh Pirates and Houston Astros’ affiliates, before deciding to play the rest of ’24 in the Korean Baseball Organization (KBO) with the Kia Tigers.

Relatively speaking, things worked out quite well overseas for Lauer, who posted a 4.93 ERA with a much improved 4.04 FIP and struck out nearly a quarter of his batters faced while issuing an eight-per-cent walk rate in seven starts, spanning 34.2 innings.

While the veteran southpaw endured a rough start to his 2025 campaign at triple-A, he had started to turn a corner over his previous two starts, striking out 10 across 10 frames of two-run ball. Plus, he’s completed at least five innings in all but one of his five outings thus far.

That length could prove to be extremely valuable for the Blue Jays after Bowden Francis could only offer three innings of work a night ago amid his worst performance of the season, surrendering seven runs on eight hits — including five home runs, raising his ’25 total to an MLB-high 11.