TORONTO — The Blue Jays’ bullpen could use a break. For now, they’ll have to settle for some help.
The Blue Jays claimed veteran reliever Paul Sewald off waivers from the Diamondbacks on Wednesday, and the 36-year-old is likely to be activated by Friday’s series opener against the Yankees at Rogers Centre.
Sewald collected 24 saves for the D-backs this season, but he’s struggled with giving up home runs, posting a 6.23 ERA before being designated for assignment. The Blue Jays are familiar with Sewald from his time in the Mariners’ bullpen from 2021-23, where he notched 110 career saves over ten seasons in the majors.
In Toronto, Sewald won’t be thrown into high-pressure situations right away. This move could help if the Blue Jays want to get some solid weeks out of him.
“When you’re closing, you’re kind of just pitching against whoever,” John Schneider said. “I think we can probably find some better spots for him. There’s some weirdness to a lot of relievers [in performance]. We talked about it with [Jeff] Hoffman the whole time he was here this year. When a guy has pitched the late innings, you feel good about that. It’s just been a weird year for [Sewald] keeping the ball in the park, so we’re going to try to tighten up some matchups for him.”
The late innings are fine with Louis Varland, Tyler Rogers and Braydon Fisher; however, that trio has been heavily used in 2026. Mason Fluharty entered Wednesday leading all of baseball with 62 appearances as well, so this group is worn out. This fatigue has started showing up recently in games as the Blue Jays have had to rely on less likely options late in games while Varland and Rogers took needed days off.
There’s no time to rest though. The Blue Jays have just 41 games left this season. Schneider isn’t planning on using Varland five games straight, but beyond that? Anything goes.
“Sustainable is out the window,” Schneider said Tuesday. “It’s about what we have to do tonight. If this was April, it would be a different story when guys were on pace for a historic amount of appearances out of the bullpen. Right now, sustain it for tomorrow night. After tomorrow, sustain it for the next night. It’s a full send right now.”
Alongside Sewald, the Blue Jays can keep cycling through some relievers to maintain fresh options who can pitch multiple innings if needed. Right now that’s Simeon Woods Richardson; he’s also a candidate to fill Jameson Taillon’s rotation spot after Taillon landed on the 15-day IL with right forearm tendinitis. CJ Van Eyk, Chad Dallas and Lazaro Estrada are other possibilities as they push through these last games.
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