Blue Jays Acquire Joel Kuhne Blue Jays Acquire Joel Kuhne

The Blue Jays have acquired right-hander from the Astros in exchange for cash considerations, per an announcement from both teams. Toronto optioned Kuhnel to Triple-A Buffalo following his addition. The Blue Jays had an open space on their 40-man roster for Kuhnel, who was earlier this week, and do not need to make a corresponding move to add him to the roster. Kuhnel, 29, has now changed teams via cash deal for the second time in as many seasons. An eleventh-round pick by the Reds in the 2016 draft, Kuhnel made his debut with the Reds back in 2019 and pitched to a decent 4.66 ERA (103 ERA+) with a 4.25 FIP in 9 2/3 innings of work. Despite that solid cup of coffee at the big league level, the right-hander wouldnt get regular playing time in the majors until the 2022 season, when he posted a brutal 6.36 ERA despite a much stronger 3.96 FIP. He remained with the Reds until he was traded to Houston in June of last year but has not received much run in the big leagues since, with Dakota Hudson Jersey a 7.20 ERA and 5.84 FIP in 15 innings of work acro s the past two seasons, including a spot start with the Astros earlier this year that saw him allow four runs in two innings of work. Overall, Kuhnel heads to Toronto with a career 6.30 ERA thats nearly 30% worse than league average but a much more manageable 4.53 FIP along with decent strikeout and walk rates of 19% and 6.3% respectively suggest he could still be a valuable depth piece for the clubs bullpen. That po sibility is further backed up by solid results at the Triple-A level with the Astros this year, as hes posted a 3.18 ERA in 11 1/3 innings as a multi-inning relief arm in the highly inflated offensive environment of the Pacific Coast League this year. The Blue Jays have struggled to a 16-18 record this season in part thanks to brutal production from their bullpen, which has a league-worst 5.28 FIP to go with a 5.11 ERA that sits in the bottom five among all major league relief corps. Kuhnel is unlikely to impact the back of the clubs bullpen alongside the likes of and , but its at least feasible to imagine him offering an alternative to a struggling arm such as . Tanner Gordon Jersey