Toronto Blue Jays’ sole focus needs to be on adding pitching

With the Toronto Blue Jays on their all-star break, the team gets a chance to re-assess for the second half of the season including it’s need for pitching.

The Toronto Blue Jays are well represented at the 2021 MLB All-Star Game with Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Marcus Semien, Teoscar Hernandez and Bo Bichette taking part in the festivities in Denver.

It’s not surprising to see those players get the call considering how they have been able to produce this season. It should also be telling that a team with playoff aspirations didn’t have a single pitcher in consideration for the all-star game.

While it’s not the end of the world if the Blue Jays don’t have a pitcher in Denver, it should be the team’s goal to see if there is a way to get one or more players of that calibre to join them on the stretch run. If they don’t, Toronto will have wasted some great seasons from their young players.

Offensively, the Blue Jays have a lineup that should go toe-to-toe with the best in the league and George Springer is finally hitting his stride after an injury-riddled first half.

"“The offence did what we thought they were going to do,” manager Charlie Montoyo told reporters. “We swung the bats, of course. Our bullpen was really good at the beginning, and then guys got hurt. I don’t have to mention names. We lost a lot of guys. And then the bullpen struggled and that’s why our record’s not as good as it should be. Our starters for the most part gave us a chance and our defence needs to keep improving.“Overall, I think, we had a good half, but we need to keep improving.”"

Look no further than what the Tampa Bay Rays did against Toronto in the final series before the break. Over the three-game series, the Rays held the Blue Jays to six runs through three games while Toronto allowed a combined 13 runs over that span.

Before the Blue Jays can even look ahead to the Boston Red Sox who sit atop the AL East with 55 wins, they need to learn from their mistakes that have them eight games back. You can easily say that Toronto shouldn’t be that far back when you look at how many games they coughed up late because of their bullpen.

The starting rotation has been solid for the most part with the emergence of Alek Manoah and dominant stretch by Robbie Ray. While Hyun Jin Ryu and Steven Matz have had some tough stretches, they are still capable of providing quality innings.

Toronto Blue Jays: Acquiring power arms should be the focus in the bullpen

Over the past couple of weeks, the Blue Jays have tried to provide Montoyo options to call upon in the bullpen by acquiring Trevor Richards and Adam Cimber. Those great moves when you consider the desperate need the team currently has.

At the same time, Toronto needs to start considering beefing up their bullpen with players who can blow hitters away with some velocity. They had that with Julian Merryweather in the ninth before he suffered an oblique strain and Jordan Romano continues to be one of the few relievers that can get the job done in closing situations.

We have heard names like Craig Kimbrel, Richard Rodriguez, Taylor Rogers and Ian Kennedy get thrown out there and they all would be intriguing options to give Toronto something they desperately need. It also helps that they have enough to offer in a trade without depleting the team completely of their assets.

What do you think about the Blue Jays need to add pitching? Can they get a deal done before the deadline? Let us know in the comments below.