The Toronto Blue Jays designated lefty reliever Tim Mayza for assignment on Saturday and selected the contract of right-hander Jose Cuas from Triple-A Buffalo.
ROSTER MOVES:
🔹 We’ve recalled RHP Jose Cuas from Triple-A
🔹 LHP Tim Mayza designated for assignment pic.twitter.com/E6cc7kIIZb
— Toronto Blue Jays (@BlueJays) June 29, 2024
Mayza spent the past few seasons as a reliable, high-quality arm in Toronto’s bullpen. Unfortunately, both he and the Blue Jays have both struggled this season, and with the urgency to perform only growing as the trade deadline approaches, the organization decided to move on.
Toronto Blue Jays Designate Tim Mayza For Assignment
Mayza spent the past 12 years in the Blue Jays organization after being selected in the 12th round of the 2013 draft. His career started a bit slowly after he made his big league debut in 2017. From that year through 2019, the lefty tossed 104 innings across 129 games and posted a 4.67 ERA (95 ERA+).
The rough start continued as he missed the entire 2020 campaign due to Tommy John surgery. However, Mayza rebounded nicely from the surgery and pitched better than ever.
From 2021-2023, Mayza appeared in 193 games and posted a 2.67 ERA (158 ERA+) in 155 innings. He succeeded with slightly better than average walk and strikeout rates and by excelling at inducing ground balls and preventing barrels.
2023 appeared to be a major breakout for the Pennsylvania-native. Last year, he produced a 1.52 ERA (281 ERA+) in over 53 1/3 innings of work. While Toronto likely didn’t anticipate Mayza to continue providing results that were 181 percent better than league average, they surely expected him to continue pitching well.
Tim Mayza had been the longest tenured Jay. José Bautista was still there playing RF when Mayza made his debut. Pretty effective reliever for a while, but had a huge drop in both K and GB this year, this is a hard trend to overcome. pic.twitter.com/u5rgwf59QS
— Mike Petriello (@mike_petriello) June 29, 2024
Instead, the Blue Jays will designate Mayza for assignment after three horrendous months following his breakout season. This year, the 32-year-old has been hurt by home runs and hard contact. Plus, he is not striking batters out nor is he generating ground balls or weak contact.
His production has done a complete 180, evident by a 8.03 ERA in 24 2/3 innings. Mayza might have hit rock bottom in his last two outings, where he faced a combined seven batters and recorded no outs but allowed seven runs.
What’s Next For Mayza
The Blue Jays must quickly save their season and seemingly had no choice but to designate Mayza now. As a result, the organization will eat the remainder of his $1.7 million salary this year unless a team claims him or takes on his contract via trade.
Despite his struggles, Mayza could realistically interest many teams. With his track record of success, inexpensive salary, and one more year of team control, it’s not hard to see a team claiming or trading for him. The acquisition cost likely won’t be that high, and surely will be cheaper than prices at the deadline.
If you’re the kind who hopes good things happen to good people, root hard for Tim Mayza. As humble, down to earth and well-liked as any player I’ve come across. Hope he can find success on his next stop.
— Dan Shulman (@DShulman_ESPN) June 29, 2024
Contenders always need more pitching this time of year and will always look for deals. Because of this, Mayza should land on his feet in a good situation.
Main Photo Credits: Nick Turchiaro-USA TODAY Sports
