Blue Jays Have Reportedly Taken The Lead In Yariel Rodriguez Sweepsta

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After mi sing out on top free agents  and  earlier this month, the Blue Jays have ramped up activity at the lower levels of the market of late by re-signing center fielder  to a and landing utility man  on a in recent days. It appears the club isnt stopping there, as reported Friday afternoon that the club has taken the lead in the sweepstakes for the services of right-hander  , who Rojas adds is close to making a decision in free agency. Its hardly a surprise that the Blue Jays have interest in Rodriguez, as a indicated that Toronto was among several teams with interest in the righty.  Rodriguez, 27 in March, is among the most intriguing free agents available on the market this offseason. The right-hander was by MLB back in early November after being from his deal with Nippon Profe sional Baseballs Chunichi Dragons back in October. Rodriguezs profe sional career began in Cuba during the 2015-16  Peyton Mansell Jersey season, and he spent six seasons pitching primarily as a starter to solid results in his home country before joining the Dragons ahead of the 2020 campaign. Upon arriving in Japan, Rodriguez was moved to the bullpen and broke out in a big way during the 2022 campaign, where he posted a dominant 1.15 ERA with a 27.5% strikeout rate.  Rodriguez participated in the World Baseball Cla sic in early 2023 as a member of Team Cuba and began to stretch back out as a starter in that series, throwing 7 1/3 innings acro s two appearances. After the event, Rodriguez declined to report back to the Dragons and sat out the 2023 season before securing his release after the season. Since then, Rodriguez has hosted workouts for a host of MLB clubs in the Dominican Republic, allowing scouts an opportunity to see the right-hander up close.  Whether Rodriguez will be able to stick in the majors as a starter or not has been a point of division among clubs throughout his free agency, though the Blue Jays reportedly fall into the camp that views him as a starting pitcher alongside teams such as the Pirates and Red Sox. While Rodriguez has also received recent interest from the Reds, Padres, and Yankees, each reportedly prefers the right-hander as a reliever. Due in part to that division on whether his future is in the rotation or the bullpen, Rodriguezs position as the #28 free agent on our annual list, where we projected him for a deal worth $32MM over four years, is le s concrete than other free agents of a similar caliber.  In spite of the uncertainty involved in Rodriguezs free agency, the Blue Jays are a solid fit for the right-handers services. While Toronto has a full rotation on paper with a stable quartet of  ,  ,  , and  , the uncertainty surrounding right-hander  creates a major question mark at the back of the clubs starting staff. Manoah was a finalist for the AL Cy Young award in 2022 with a dominant 2.24 ERA in 196 2/3 innings of work, but his performance fell off a cliff in 2023 as he managed an ERA of just 5.87 in 19 starts for Toronto as he spent much of the summer in the minor leagues.  By adding Rodriguez to the clubs mix, the Blue Jays add additional starting depth to the clubs mix while also giving Manoah significant competition for the fifth starter role entering the season. If Rodriguez were to either struggle in the rotation or simply be pushed out by the re-emergence of Manoah or a strong debut from top prospect  , he could then be utilized to bolster a bullpen that lost  to free agency last month. Hickss departure leaves open a vacancy at the back of Torontos bullpen alongside closer  and set-up man  , where Rodriguez would be an excellent fit if he wound up outside of the clubs preferred rotation mix.  Jermari Harris Jersey