Former Washington Nationals Reliever Signs With Toronto Blue Jays
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A Washington Nationals reliever who made over 60 appearances with the team last season has found his next team.
The Toronto Blue Jays announced on Monday afternoon they signed right-handed pitcher Jacob Barnes to a minor league deal.
Barnes has become a journeyman who has been with nine teams over his nine-year career. It makes sense given that has been fairly unlucky when it comes to his metrics compared to his numbers.
His xERA and FIP traditionally show that he should be having better seasons than he actually has. Perhaps that is the reason why he still continues to get chances in MLB despite a five-year stretch with a 6.32 ERA.
The 34-year-old is coming off of his best season in a while, though, putting up a 4.36 ERA over 66 innings of work. He was actually among the middle of the road for the Washington bullpen last year.
This is also the eighth time in a row that Barnes has signed a minor league contract, but he always ends up being promoted at some point.
Barnes was a 14th-round selection of the Milwaukee Brewers back in 2011, and that is where he spent the first few years of his MLB career. He put together a couple of solid campaigns before stumbling out of the gate in 2018.
That's when he was traded to the Blue Jays for the first of what will now be two stints with the team.
Toronto has done a bit of work to their bullpen, but this will likely be the last change made before the season begins.
It was a group last year that ranked dead-last in WAR with -2.5 and second-to-last with a staff ERA of just 4.82.
If they finally want to make another postseason push, they will need their bullpen to come together.
The same could be said for the Nationals, which is why it is not surprising they did not rush to bring Barnes back. They have signed a few players, such as Jorge Lopez and Shinnosuke Ogasawara, and even selected Evan Reifert in the Rule 5 draft.
Their staff was also in the bottom half of the league last year, so some retooling was also needed.
With the two parties going their separate ways, both have the potential to improve.
It will be hard for Barnes to have as big of a role as he did in Washington, but a fast start with Toronto could earn him that opportunity.
