The Toronto Blue Jays made the surprising decision to outright right-hander Yariel Rodriguez on Saturday afternoon. Signed to a five-year deal worth more than $30 million before the 2024 season, Rodriguez served as a starter that season before finding more success in the bullpen in 2025.

Despite that, he’s pushed out of the fold, likely because of the offseason additions of Dylan Cease and Cody Ponce.

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As of now, the Jays have multiple options with him, including:

Rodriguez is still just 28 years old and could appeal to teams who see him as a starter based on his previous history. And teams could covet him as a reliever based upon the success he had in 2025.

Therefore, he should have wide-ranging appeal.

But with just over $17 million remaining on his contract over three years, the Jays likely won’t get a taker for the full contract. It’s a question of how much they’d have to eat in the deal at that point and if that’s worth it to them.

At the moment, Rodriguez is off the 40-man roster, but they can leave him in the minor leagues as a “just in case” option moving forward. For instance, if a starting pitcher gets injured and Jose Berrios needs to re-enter the rotation, Rodriguez can re-enter the bullpen. Same thing if Berrios or Eric Lauer were to get injured.

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He can fight for a roster spot in spring training, but will likely only make it as a result of injury. Given how deep the Jays roster is, and figures to be, it’s hard to see them removing someone from the 40-man roster to make room for Rodriguez, who they just willfully demoted early in the offseason.

Given that the Blue Jays can legally outright him and leave him in the minor leagues, there seems to be no reason to do this, as having pitching depth is always a good thing. That said, if he balks at his situation, then it could become more likely, but there’s no indication that will happen thus far.

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Rodriguez went 3-2 with a 3.08 ERA in 66 games. He struck out 66 batters in 73.0 innings and helped the Jays reach the World Series. He was on the playoff roster for the American League Division Series and ALCS before being removed prior to the World Series.

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