TORONTO – Painful as it is shutting Jordan Romano down for two weeks, putting the all-star closer on the 15-day injured list with lower back inflammation was the right thing to do. Already once, coming out of the all-star game when the injury first occurred, the Toronto Blue Jays day-to-day’d their way through his absence. Once ready, they used him four times in five days only for his back to lock up again when he retook the mound after three days of rest. The recurrence is an opportunity for the 30-year-old to try and eliminate the issue ahead of the most important games of the year, when the Blue Jays will assuredly heap loads of leverage on him.
Still, with Tuesday’s 6 p.m. ET trade deadline looming, his absence is also a warning for the Blue Jays, who deftly survived Saturday without Romano thanks to the work of Genesis Cabrera, Jay Jackson, Trevor Richards, Nate Pearson and Yimi Garcia in a 6-1 win over the Los Angeles Angels.
Between Garcia, Tim Mayza and Erik Swanson, the latter of whom were down after pitching Friday, the Blue Jays still have a trio of solid late-game options which could be bolstered by Nate Pearson, back up to take Romano’s spot, and, relatively soon, the rehabbing Chad Green.
But depth can evaporate quickly and with Swanson (eight games and five innings from matching his previous career highs out of the bullpen), Mayza and Garcia ranking among the top 12 in games pitched, their workloads need to be managed.
Potentially exacerbating that is the Blue Jays’ plan to run a six-man rotation beginning Tuesday, when Hyun Jin Ryu returns Tuesday to start against the Baltimore Orioles, which means the bullpen will only have seven relievers in it for the foreseeable future.
All of that adds up to additional risk, which the Blue Jays should mitigate by adding not only a depth reliever, but a leverage arm capable of protecting them in the short-term while Romano recuperates and boosting them once he returns.
Helping out the Blue Jays’ relievers in this one was a two-run homer from Santiago Espinal in the fifth that opened up a 2-1 lead after the Angels went ahead in the top half when Alek Manoah hit Taylor Ward in the head with the bases loaded, plus two home runs from Alejandro Kirk that pushed the game out of reach.
