Blue Jays To Sign Michael Lorenzen

The Blue Jays appear to have a deal in place with right-hander Michael Lorenzen, who was released by the Rockies earlier in August. Keegan Matheson of MLB.com notes that Lorenzen has a locker set up in the Toronto clubhouse. Sportsnet’s Arden Zwelling adds that Lorenzen himself has arrived at the Rogers Centre, where the Jays will host the Royals tonight. The team hasn’t formally announced a deal yet, but it seems that’s imminent. Toronto has a full 40-man roster, so they’ll need to make a corresponding move to free up some space.

Lorenzen signed a one-year, $8MM contract with Colorado this past offseason. Because the Rockies are on the hook for the remainder of that salary, Toronto will only owe Lorenzen the prorated portion of the $780K league minimum for any time he spends on the big league roster.

While Lorenzen had a handful of solid showings early in the season — most notably a seven-inning, one-run gem against the Mets — such performances were few and far between. The 34-year-old righty was rocked for five or more earned runs in eight of his 25 starts with the Rockies, albeit the majority of those coming at the hitter-friendly Coors Field in Denver.

By the time he was released, Lorenzen was sitting on a career-high 7.08 ERA. He tossed 115 2/3 innings but struck out only 14.6% of his opponents. Lorenzen’s 8.7% walk rate and 45.2% ground-ball rate were both solid marks, but the lack of missed bats and the penchant for giving up loud contact (91.1 mph average exit velocity, 46.4% hard-hit rate) were too much to overcome.

Although this year has been one to forget for Lorenzen, the former two-way player has a generally solid track record as a back-of-the-rotation starter. From 2022-25, he combined for 522 2/3 innings of 4.10 ERA ball between the Angels, Tigers, Phillies, Rangers and Royals. His 19.3% strikeout rate along the way was still below average but far better than what he displayed with Colorado this season, and his walk and ground-ball rates generally aligned with hiss Rockies levels.

The Blue Jays’ pitching staff has been decimated by injury this season, but they remain alive in the chase for an AL Wild Card berth even after trading away Kevin Gausman and Daulton Varsho at the deadline. Toronto sold short-term pieces — both Gausman and Varsho are free agents at season’s end — but brought in some longer-term help for the rotation in the form of José Soriano. The pairing of Soriano and Cy Young candidate Dylan Cease (signed to a seven-year deal this past winter) give the Jays a formidable one-two punch atop the starting staff, but the rest of the group is less certain. Injuries have dogged Max Scherzer and deadline pickup Spencer Arrighetti (acquired for Varsho) throughout the season.

Lorenzen gives the Jays an option for the fifth spot in the rotation at a time when Toronto has practically two rotation’s worth of starting pitchers on the injured list. José Berríos had Tommy John surgery earlier this year, as did depth starter Bowden Francis. Offseason signee Cody Ponce tore his ACL in his Blue Jays debut. Shane Bieber recently hit the injured list due to shoulder inflammation. Trey Yesavage had his knee scoped earlier this month. July acquisition Jameson Taillon is out with tendinitis in his forearm. Jake Bloss still hasn’t made it back from 2024 UCL surgery. Patrick Corbin‘s season ended in late July due to a teres major strain.

The Blue Jays are four games below .500 but sit just three back of the final Wild Card spot in a near-unprecedentedly mediocre American League. It might not take much more than a .500 record to secure the final playoff spot in the Junior Circuit, so the Jays and several other clubs with losing records are still actively trying to bring in moderate reinforcements to bolster their chances. Toronto has a soft schedule down the stretch. After today’s series finale against Kansas City, they have series lined up against the Mariners, Guardians, Royals (again), A’s, Orioles, Tigers, Rangers, Orioles (again) and Reds. Cleveland (68-66) is their only remaining opponent that has a winning record.