Roark lands on the unwanted list
The $24-million (U.S.) man has been relegated to the bullpen and it’s going to take a lot more than one injury before he gets a shot at returning to his former role.
Right-hander Tanner Roark, who is the final year of a deal that will pay him $12 million in 2021, lost his job in the Blue Jays rotation earlier this year after just one start. When an injury to Ross Stripling created another opening on the staff prior to Thursday’s 7-5 loss to the Kansas City Royals, Roark was passed over for that spot, too.
It has been quite the fall from grace for the man who was signed by the front office in December 2019 to become a reliable innings eater at the back end of the rotation. To date, the only consistent thing about his outings has been a tendency to serve up home runs on a silver platter.
Roark surrendered the thirdmost homers in the major leagues last season with 14. In his season debut versus the lowly Texas Rangers, he gave up three more across three innings of five-run ball. That’s why, even when Stripling was placed on the injured list with a right forearm injury before the start of the Royals series, his outing went to rookie Anthony Kay instead of the high-priced veteran. The trust between these Roark and the Jays’ decision-makers has completely eroded.
The fact that Roark wasn’t picked to start against Kansas City speaks. With four off-days scheduled over the next two weeks, this was the only game the Jays were likely to require a fifth starter until at least May 4. Giving the ball to Roark and adding another man to the bullpen seemed like the obvious choice, but instead the club went in another direction, even for what might be a short-term fix.
“He was fine, he was fine when I told him he was going to the bullpen,” Jays manager Charlie Montoyo said before Roark allowed two unearned runs over 2 2⁄3 innings in relief of Kay. “He understood and he has been fine so far.”
There might be some truth in what Montoyo said, but it seems just as likely that Roark isn’t about to embrace his new role with open arms. This is the same pitcher who sounded off last year about how he was being used by the coaching staff and those complaints came at a time when he was still starting. Now think about how he must feel after being relegated to the bullpen for the first time in six years.
During a September outing last season, Roark was pulled after he allowed two runs on a pair of home runs over four innings in a game against the Yankees. Later that night, he was asked by a reporter for his thoughts on the Jays’ tendency to pull their starters early in games and the nine-year veteran did not hold back.
“I’m what you would call a Diesel engine,” Roark said then. “I start off slow, then get better as you go on throughout the game. Fourth inning, six or seven pitches, now I’ve got six days to sit on that, which doesn’t sit well with me, obviously.”
Roark’s overall performance hasn’t sat well with the Jays, either. Across 12 starts for Toronto, the native of Illinois has a 7.28 ERA while averaging almost two baserunners per inning. Forget about getting deep into games, the fourthhighest paid player on the team has yet to even record an out in the sixth inning since joining the team.
If a trade was possible, it’s safe to assume the Blue Jays front office would have made it already. Realistically, there isn’t another team out there that would take Roark off the Jays’ hands unless they paid out the remainder of his deal or took another bad contract in return.
The obvious question then is, why haven’t the Jays released him? Well, that could still happen, but teams don’t make a habit of paying players to go away until it’s absolutely necessary. For now, Toronto is attempting to find a compromise by allowing Roark to pitch out of the bullpen.
With long relievers such as Tommy Milone and Trent Thornton already on the roster, Roark isn’t of much use there either, but it buys time. Pitchers have been dropping like flies in recent days and the Blue Jays are already down seven arms just 13 games into the season.
That creates the need to keep Roark around for now and he was decent enough against the Royals. Despite giving up a lot of hard contact on foul balls, Roark got through his outing relatively unscathed and retired the final eight batters he faced.
The Jays were projected to open the year with a starting rotation of Hyun-Jin Ryu, Robbie Ray, Nate Pearson, Steven Matz and Roark. Ross Stripling, Thomas Hatch, T.J. Zeuch and Kay were the depth pieces to protect against injuries and now everyone on the list is either unavailable to pitch or currently on the staff.
Thornton and Milone will be considered for starting jobs if anyone else suffers a setback, but the backup options are starting to dwindle. Reinserting Roark back into the rotation might seem like a last resort, but it’s also one the team may eventually be forced into some time down the road.
So, for now, the Jays and Roark will continue this awkward marriage that neither side really wants to be a part of anymore. It’s far from ideal, but then again far from ideal has been the motto of this awkward relationship from the day it was formed.