Blue Jays Trade Young Left-Hander to Guardians for Cash in Offseason Swap

The Toronto Blue Jays have completed a trade with the Cleveland Guardians.

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The Toronto Blue Jays have completed a trade with the Cleveland Guardians which has resulted in them sending some bullpen depth over in exchange for cash considerations.

According to an announcement from the team, the Blue Jays traded left-hander Justin Bruihl, who they recently designated for assignment, to Cleveland for cash considerations.

OFFICIAL: We’ve traded LHP Justin Bruihl to the Guardians in exchange for cash considerations. pic.twitter.com/dX7NMGLRGa

— Toronto Blue Jays (@BlueJays) December 17, 2025

Toronto designated Bruihl to create a roster spot upon the news coming out that they had officially signed signed their new star reliever Tyler Rogers to a three-year contract. Though it was not all pretty for the southpaw during his time with the team this year, he did show some potential.

Bruihl Showed Flashes for Blue Jays this Season

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Toronto originally acquired Bruihl on a minor league deal prior to the 2025 season, and after an impressive start to the year with Triple-A Buffalo, his contract was selected by the big league squad for his team debut.

In 15 appearances before he was optioned back to Buffalo, Bruihl had an umimpressive looking 5.27 ERA and 1.902 WHIP as he struggled severely with command, but it was the strikeout numbers which impressed. Over 13.2 innings, he fanned 18 batters, good for an 11.9 K/9 rate.

Though this of course was a small sample size, had he kept the command under a bit more control, it's reasonable to assume he would have had some great numbers.

Blue Jays Could Wind Up Regretting Parting Ways with Bruihl

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Of course, you can't simply keep everyone and someone needed to go in order to make room for Rogers. With that being said, it was interesting that this decision wound up being a left-hander in a bullpen which struggled to get production from southpaws.

Clearly, Toronto felt confidence in Bruihl's command issues limiting his ceiling, otherwise the strikeout numbers from a lefty --he also racked up 49 K's in 42 Triple-A innings -- would have been enough to hold onto him.

Finding quality left-handers is not an easy thing, and though Bruihl may or may not wind up being that, he is still just 28 years old and has room to grow. Blue Jays fans will be watching what he does this year more importantly to see if the team made a mistake letting him go.

If those cash considerations are used to land a big name free agent though, it's hard to see anyone in Toronto being too broken up about the departure of Bruihl.