Eric Lauer may have thrown his last pitch as a member of the Toronto Blue Jays. The 30-year-old left-hander has been Designated For Assignment by the Blue Jays. The news came in a few hours before their scheduled game against the Tampa Bay Rays on Monday (May 11) at Rogers Centre. After being worth 2.2 bWAR a year ago, and basically saving the Blue Jays' season when their pitching was in a flux, Lauer hasn't been able to find anywhere near the same success in 2026.
Through eight games, including six starts, Lauer was worth -0.5 bWAR, with an ERA at 6.69 and allowing a league high 11 home runs in 36.1 innings pitched, the Blue Jays felt it was best for them to move on. This felt like it was a move that was going to reach a boiling point after Lauer has been, what some would consider, a distraction to the team through the first seven weeks of the year.
From being vocal about not loving the idea of being a reliever, to stating he hated being used in a game after an opener, to dealing with a neck injury issue without informing the coaching staff, it's been an emotional roller coaster for Lauer in 2026 and the results haven't been worth the headaches.
With Eric Lauer gone, the Blue Jays will hope Yariel Rodriguez can rediscover his 2025 first half form
The Blue Jays had called up Yariel Rodriguez from Triple-A Buffalo on Sunday evening, but were going to need to clear a roster space to get him into a game. While they had 39 guys on the 40-man roster, the active roster was full, leading to Lauer's DFA. The Blue Jays are indicating they would rather try anything else at this point after Lauer has been used as a starter, a reliever, and a bulk inning guy, and none of those options have paid any dividends.
So they'll turn to Rodriguez, who signed a five-year, $32 million deal with the Blue Jays in 2023. The right-hander was extremely effective in the first half of the 2025 season, but tailed off dramatically in the second half and was left off the World Series roster. But he has bounced back in a big way in Buffalo in 2026. In 13.2 innings across 11 games, he has a 2.63 ERA with 25 strikeouts. Those outings included one start.
The Blue Jays, who have dealt with injuries to their pitching staff all season, have been trying to cobble together a starting five that can help get them back on track, and clearly Lauer was no longer part of that equation. The Blue Jays elected to use Spencer Miles as the opener in Sunday's finale (May 10).
The Rule 5 Draft pick ended up pitching three strong innings, giving up two hits while striking out two batters and allowing no walks. Combined with the promotion of Rodriguez, the Blue Jays now have a couple of internal options they can use in a fifth starters spot or in a "piggy-back" opener type of role where each guy goes two or three innings before turning things over to the high leverage, late inning bullpen arms.
The only issue is that the Blue Jays are then handcuffing themselves of having a limited use of two relievers during the rest of their games, but they had also only used Miles 11 times in the first 39 games of the season.
It's likely the Blue Jays will continue their search for a firmer option for the fifth starter role. But for the time being, they'll look to Rodriguez, who has been given the chance to earn a full-time starters role in the past. The message they are currently sending right now is clear, at 18-22, they can't afford to wait around for guys to "figure it out" any more. With a series against the division leading Tampa Bay Rays beginning tonight, the Blue Jays need to begin playing more like their 2025 version if they want 2026 to be anywhere near successful.