The Toronto Blue Jays have outrighted Yariel Rodriguez off their 40-man roster, according to the colleague Francys Romero who had the news yesterday afternoon that Rodriguez was being designated for assignment, though the Rodriguez wasn’t DFA’ed, he has already cleared outright waivers without any team picking up the Cuban hurler.
It isn’t yet known if this is tied to any upcoming roster move due to the fact there are 38 men on the 40-man roster as of now. Another move might be looming for the Canadian squad in the not so distant future. His inclusion on Cuba’s World Baseball Classic roster might been the underlying cause of the move.
It’s a somewhat surprising move on paper, as Rodriguez had a 3.08 ERA over 73 innings out of Toronto’s bullpen in 2025, and he received some high-leverage work in a set-up role in the earlier part of the year. He was also included on the Blue Jays’ rosters for both the ALDS and ALCS, and he was charged with three earned runs over 2 2/3 innings of work before being left off the World Series roster.
The he performance was an improvement from the 4.47 ERA that Rodriguez posted over 86 2/3 innings as a starting pitcher in 2024 (his first season in the majors), now his 22.1% strikeout rate and 11.4% walk rate in 2025 were both a step backwards from his 2024 statistics. After posting a 4.46 SIERA that almost matched his ERA, there was a much larger gap between the righty’s 3.08 ERA and 4.27 SIERA in 2025, the flamethrowing righty had an above-average .228 BABIP and an 81.2% strand rate this past season.