{"id":736084,"date":"2026-06-26T13:45:39","date_gmt":"2026-06-26T13:45:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/736084\/"},"modified":"2026-06-26T13:45:39","modified_gmt":"2026-06-26T13:45:39","slug":"former-blue-jays-6-year-mlb-veteran-signs-with-al-club","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/736084\/","title":{"rendered":"Former Blue Jays 6-Year MLB Veteran Signs With AL Club"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\t\t\t\t<img width=\"780\" height=\"440\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/GettyImages-2173199135-e1782479337262.jpg\" class=\"attachment-featured-image size-featured-image wp-post-image\" alt=\"Toronto Blue Jays\"   decoding=\"async\" fetchpriority=\"high\"\/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGetty\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>Former Blue Jays reliever signs with AL Club.<\/p>\n<p>The <a class=\"wpil_keyword_link\" href=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/sports\/mlb\/toronto-blue-jays\/\" title=\"Toronto Blue Jays\" data-wpil-keyword-link=\"linked\" data-wpil-monitor-id=\"314501\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Toronto Blue Jays<\/a> saw a former reliever sign with the Los Angeles Angels in an intriguing move.<\/p>\n<p>Dillon Tate agreed to a minor-league deal with the Angels, <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/AngelsPlayerDev\/status\/2070306642021998992\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener external nofollow\">the team announced<\/a> on June 25. The former first-round pick is expected to build up in rookie ball before presumably reporting to Triple-A Salt Lake.<\/p>\n<p>Tate has been a free agent since November 6, when Toronto outrighted the right-hander to the minors, but he elected free agency. The Blue Jays originally claimed Tate off waivers from the <a class=\"wpil_keyword_link\" href=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/sports\/mlb\/baltimore-orioles\/\" title=\"Baltimore Orioles\" data-wpil-keyword-link=\"linked\" data-wpil-monitor-id=\"314503\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Baltimore Orioles<\/a> in September of 2024, and he appeared in 4 games, going 0-0 with a 5.40 ERA in 3.1 innings.<\/p>\n<p>After spending the offseason as a free agent, Tate re-signed with the Blue Jays on a one-year, $1.4 million contract on March 12, 2025. However, he was optioned to Triple-A, but was recalled to Toronto, appeared in 5 games, pitching to a 5.06 ERA over 5.1 innings before being DFA\u2019d.<\/p>\n<p>Tate ended up clearing waivers and was sent outright to Buffalo on May 12. He was added back to the Blue Jays roster on September 1 and finished the regular season on the roster. Tate ended up <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlb.com\/player\/dillon-tate-622253\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener external nofollow\">appearing in 6 games, pitching to a 4.26 ERA<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The right-hander will add some depth to the Angels\u2019 system and could very well be back in the <a class=\"wpil_keyword_link\" href=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/sports\/mlb\/\" title=\"MLB\" data-wpil-keyword-link=\"linked\" data-wpil-monitor-id=\"314505\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">MLB<\/a> in the coming weeks. He was selected fourth overall by the <a class=\"wpil_keyword_link\" href=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/sports\/mlb\/texas-rangers\/\" title=\"Texas Rangers\" data-wpil-keyword-link=\"linked\" data-wpil-monitor-id=\"314504\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Texas Rangers<\/a> in the 2015 MLB Draft.<\/p>\n<p>Tate never appeared in a game for Texas, as he was traded to the <a class=\"wpil_keyword_link\" href=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/sports\/mlb\/new-york-yankees\/\" title=\"New York Yankees\" data-wpil-keyword-link=\"linked\" data-wpil-monitor-id=\"314502\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">New York Yankees<\/a> in 2016. The Yankees then dealt him to the Baltimore Orioles in 2018, where he made his debut in 2019. In his MLB career, Tate is 7-14 with a 4.09 ERA.<\/p>\n<p>Blue Jays Pitcher Struggling<\/p>\n<p>Toronto has struggled this season, and veteran right-hander Kevin Gausman hasn\u2019t pitched well as of late.<\/p>\n<p>The right-hander allowed six runs in the first three innings, as the Blue Jays lost 6-5 to the Texas Rangers in the series opener.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">\u201cLots of hits, 10 hits, three homers and one to start the game,\u201d Gausman <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlb.com\/bluejays\/news\/kevin-gausman-allows-six-runs-in-blue-jays-loss-to-rangers\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener external nofollow\">said<\/a> postgame. \u201cI don\u2019t think there\u2019s many positives you can take from giving up 10 hits and three homers. You\u2019re just not going to have success with those types of numbers. I just need to be better.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Although Gausman struggled, Blue Jays manager John Schneider was pleased that he was able to go into the sixth inning.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou\u2019re trying to do what\u2019s best for everyone, especially Kev, who\u2019s so important for us,\u201d Schneider said. \u201cHe\u2019s one of those guys you trust. That\u2019s big to save three outs from the bullpen.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Gausman is now 4-6 with a 4.36 ERA.<\/p>\n<p>Toronto Looking to Add Pitching<\/p>\n<p>Although the Blue Jays are under .500, the team is expected to be a buyer ahead of the trade deadline.<\/p>\n<p>Toronto is looking to add starting pitching depth, according to general manager Ross Atkins.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s probably starting pitching, but it\u2019s not as easy as just deciding to do that,\u201d Atkins <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlb.com\/news\/ross-atkins-blue-jays-trade-deadline-focus-2026\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener external nofollow\">said<\/a>, \u201cbecause we have five starters that we\u2019re confident in. You can just never have enough. We\u2019ve talked about that a lot over the years and over this year, specifically, as we started heavy in that category. We\u2019re just always looking to support that. In an ideal world, it would be optionable starting pitching, one of the hardest things to acquire in baseball.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Blue Jays are 39-42.<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/author\/coleshelton\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Cole Shelton<\/a> Cole Shelton covers the NHL, MLB, Buffalo Bills, Pittsburgh Steelers and Cleveland Browns for Heavy.com. He has covered pro and college sports since 2016, including bylines at BJ Penn, USA Today, SB Nation, Rotowire, Canadian Baseball Network and more.  <a href=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/author\/coleshelton\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">More about Cole Shelton<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty Former Blue Jays reliever signs with AL Club. The Toronto Blue Jays saw a former reliever sign&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":736085,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2390],"tags":[291,5,1165,446,3223,774,56,3224,3222,4],"class_list":["post-736084","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles-angels","tag-angels","tag-baseball","tag-la","tag-la-angels","tag-laangels","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-angels","tag-losangeles","tag-losangelesangels","tag-mlb"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116816716013894219","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/736084","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=736084"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/736084\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/736085"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=736084"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=736084"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=736084"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}