The jays bullpen is starting to look close to elite. I honestly can't tell anymore who our setup men are. We're just lacking a really good loogy with cecil and loup pitching so terribly all year. Wouldn't be surprised to see a loogy traded to the jays at some point if we don't use liriano as such.
Closer: Roberto Osuna. Speaks for himself, sub 2 era and sub 1 whip. His only issue really is allowing homers sometimes. I sweat in 1 run situations still.
Setup Men: Jason Grilli and Joe Biagini, with these two, I'm expecting some regression before the playoffs because they've just been so much better then I've expected. Grilli is an old sinker slider guy who you can hide against righties and weak lefties, but I think he's prone to having some bad innings if we continue to use him like we are. Biagini on the other hand I'm not sure about. His profile is weird as he throws a big 12/6 curve instead of a slider and his fastball isn't that impressive, but he gets a lot of ground balls with this combination and his control AND command of the strikezone have improved a ton since he first pitched for the blue jays back in april. I'm kinda hoping Barned emerges as a suitable setup man to replace one of these two.
Loogy: Brett Cecil. He's been awful all year honestly, but he's improved progressively the last little while. The increase in homers across the league has really killed his era this year, and he's given up a ton more fly balls then he used to. It's really sad for me to see him this shitty as he was one of my favorite players and I hoped he was gonna get paid as an elite reliever in free agency.
MR: Danny Barnes, Joaquin Benoit. Benoit is a solid vet who's completely lost control of his pitches so far this year. As highlighted in a ton of articles I've read about him so far this year, he's still got the stuff that's made him a 3-3.5 era setup guy the last few years, and he just needs to limit the walks to get back to being serviceable. Since being traded to the jays, I've watched him pretty closely and I really think he can get back on track for us the rest of the way. He's not going to be relied upon in big situations unless everyone ahead of him is resting. Barnes on the other hand has the potential (I believe) to be a really good setup guy. He's been in the jays system for a loooooong time and has always posted good numbers in the minors as a reliever. This year, he's been completely dominant between AA and AAA and he debuted last night in the 8th inning of a close game. At first glance, his fastball isn't that good, but it looks to me like he has 2 fastballs and a really nice changeup. His first fastball is a tailing 2seamer which he tries to throw high and in on the hands of righties. He seems to have REALLY good command of this pitch, but I worry he could be homer prone if batters can learn to pull it. His second fastball is a hard sinker he throws to both which is just nasty because it sets up his changeup. I'm interested to see what happens with Barnes and if he can earn the setup role by the playoffs.
LR: Scott Feldman. Journeyman SP who has kinda found his calling as a long relief man the last couple years. He's always been an avg starter, but as a long relief option he's at least above avg IMO. Nothin special here but a good option to eat innings and keep us in games.
Minors Depth: Schultz, loup and Bolsinger. Schultz is a groundball specialist who was just replaced by barnes as a MR option. Schultz by all accounts should be a big leaguer, but with the additions the jays made at the deadline and the emergence of biagini and barnes this year, Schultz is our least reliable righty (of the bunch that can actually get outs). If anyone goes down on the big league club, I think Schultz can come in and be fine. And finally we have bolsinger who I believe is a pretty solid SP/RP option. He can either make a spot start or pitch in long relief like Feldman. Having him in AAA is just gravy. As for loup, he's been so disappointing for so long. He was a fan favorite here for a few years, and still has a fantastic k/bb rate in the big leagues, but he gets hit hard everywhere and his babip is consistently 350+. I don't know how a guy with a 9+ k/9 can get hit so hard.
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Originally Posted by Spencer 555
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