Blue Jays' bullpen housecleaning: Dermody, Breslow, Ramirez

Veteran reliever Craig Breslow was released by the Toronto Blue Jays on Saturday and then re-signed to a new minor league deal by the club. Photo Credit: Jay Blue

By Jay Blue

Blue Jays from Away

As we near the end of spring training, the Blue Jays have done a little bit of housekeeping on Saturday in order start the process of getting the roster down to 25 men for Opening Day on Thursday.

The Blue Jays announced on Saturday that lefty Matt Dermody, who had been designated for assignment when Sam Gaviglio was acquired, has cleared waivers and was sent outright to Buffalo. For Dermody, who is now off the 40-man roster, this means that he's going to be able to stay in the Toronto organization and will be a depth lefty coming out of the triple-A Buffalo Bisons' bullpen.

Another lefty, Craig Breslow, was released from his contract after the club had informed him that he wasn't going to make the team. However, he was quickly re-signed to a new minor league deal and will likely join Dermody in triple-A.

With Breslow and Dermody in the minors, it means that the Blue Jays are likely set on a seven-man bullpen of Roberto Osuna, Ryan Tepera, Danny Barnes, Aaron Loup, John Axford, Tyler Clippard and Seung-hwan Oh. With Clippard pitching well against lefties, it looks like the Blue Jays will option Tim Mayza (if he's not DFAed to make room on the 40-man roster for Clippard and Axford) to the minors.

Finally, the Blue Jays optioned Carlos Ramirez to triple-A Buffalo after he spent most of the spring injured. He gave up a massive home run to Giancarlo Stanton today but it was his first outing since February 27, so I wouldn't worry about that too much.

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