The Blue Jays added another piece to their pitching puzzle on Tuesday afternoon, but it was a depth signing instead of the major addition most people have been waiting for.

Toronto reached an agreement on a two-year contract with Japanese right-hander Shun Yamaguchi. The deal was first reported by the Japanese website Sanspo.com and has since been confirmed by the Star. Yamaguchi reportedly will earn $3 million per year (all dollars U.S.) and the move will not become official until he passes a physical.

The 32-year-old Yamaguchi spent the last 14 seasons in Japan, where he amassed a 65-58 record and a 3.33 ERA over 431 appearances. In 2019, Yamaguchi went 16-4 with a 2.78 ERA while striking out 194 vs. 64 walks across 181 innings.

If the spring training began today, Yamaguchi would be an early favourite to win a job in the starting rotation, but the Jays haven’t made any firm commitments on a specific role. In addition to starting, the forkballer remains an option as a swingman/backup starter type out of the bullpen to give Toronto some additional length.

The signing of Yamaguchi won’t take the Jays out of the running for any of the other starting pitchers they have been thinking about adding to the roster. Toronto is still interested in acquiring another starter, and while Yamaguchi gives the club a fallback option in case a move doesn’t materialize, he won’t get in the way of anything the club is trying to get done right now.

The Jays remain in the mix for free agent Hyun-Jin Ryu, but they are not one of the favourites to sign him. Instead, Toronto is considered a dark-horse candidate with the expectation that Ryu will end up with the Angels, Dodgers, Twins or possibly a mystery team. That could change with one phone call, but with The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal reporting the industry is predicting at least a four-year deal worth $80 million, that appears too rich for the Blue Jays’ liking.

If Ryu is eventually ruled out, that would leave Toronto scouring the rest of the free-agent market for rotation pieces. Lefty Dallas Keuchel is another mid-tier starter who remains available, but there appears to be limited interest from the Jays, unless he becomes available for a bargain. Toronto has yet to shore up its defence, particularly around the infield, and that would be key for a ground-ball pitcher like Keuchel.

That’s one of the biggest problems with the Jays’ off-season to date. There have been a lot of pitchers who piqued Toronto’s interest, but very few who came with an asking price the club deemed reasonable.

Right-hander Jake Odorizzi was there for the taking, but after multiple conversations with industry sources it’s believed signing him would have required a four-year commitment with an average of at least $17 million per. When Toronto — among other teams — declined to go that high, Odorizzi accepted a qualifying offer to return to the Twins for one year at $17.8 million.

Then there was right-hander Kyle Gibson, who signed a three-year deal worth $30 million with the Rangers. Toronto made a slightly higher offer but wasn’t given a chance to make a final counterproposal because Gibson was set on joining Texas. If the Rangers had only offered two years it might have been different, but it wasn’t.

With those options no longer available, one of the more realistic fits appears to be former Braves right-hander Julio Teheran, who went 10-11 with a 3.81 ERA over 33 starts last season. Other free-agent options include Alex Wood and Taijuan Walker, but the group continues to weaken by the day with starters continuously coming off the board. The latest example came Monday night when veteran lefty Wade Miley reached a two-year deal with the Reds.

There’s time to make moves, but expectations for the Blue Jays off-season have greatly diminished over the last few weeks. The vault may yet be opened, but it’s starting to feel more and more like a big spending spree is at least one more year away as the club prioritizes moving forward with its young core while maintaining the frequently mentioned “financial flexibility.”

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