The injury bug has hit the Toronto Blue Jays’ pitching staff again and the already thin Buffalo pitching rotation is being drawn upon to fill in the gap. While not officially announced by the club (the roster move will be announced tomorrow), Sean Reid-Foley is with the Blue Jays now and he will be slated to start Monday’s game in the place of lefty Clayton Richard who is suffering from a sore knee.
Clayton Richard was acquired by the Blue Jays in the offseason in a trade with the San Diego Padres, sending minor league outfielder Connor Panas to San Diego. Richard, 35, has a career 4.46 ERA and 1.42 WHIP, striking out 6.1 batters per nine innings while walking 3.4 BB/9.
Richard had a solid spring with a 3.38 ERA and 1.03 WHIP, striking out nine and walking three in 10 2/3 innings.
Reid-Foley, on the other hand, struggled this spring with an 8.40 ERA and 1.47 WHIP with 13 strikeouts and eight walks in 15 innings. Reid-Foley has struggled with his control, especially in his 33 1/3 big league innings in 2018, walking 21 and striking out 42, showing his big-league stuff. He has flashed better control in outings in Triple-A and Double-A recently but it will be interesting to watch how Reid-Foley starts out his 2019 season.
Richard is expected to be placed on the 10-day Injured List on Monday and he’s expected to miss a couple of weeks.
The biggest consequence of this move is that it further thins out the Buffalo rotation. With Trent Thornton, Thomas Pannone and, now, Sean Reid-Foley in Toronto, it leaves the Buffalo Bisons with, by my estimates, Jacob Waguespack, Shawn Morimando, Jon Harris and Ryan Feierabend in the rotation when they open . Conor Fisk could probably step in on an emergency basis, as could Jordan Romano, although both have been working in a relief role all spring. I could also see Justin Dillon temporarily in Buffalo as he made four appearances there last year. A final “stretch” Buffalo assignment could be made for Patrick Murphy who has been impressing all spring (including when I saw him about a week and a half ago).
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