Josh Fleming is out after John Schneider's Blue Jays released the left-hander from Triple-A Buffalo on Friday.
That move ends a short Toronto run that never really settled. Fleming bounced between the Blue Jays and Buffalo before the organization finally cleared the roster spot.
The transaction page tells the story fast. Toronto signed Fleming to a minor league deal on February 7, assigned him to Buffalo, selected his contract on April 6, then designated him for assignment the next day.
He cleared outright waivers on April 9, elected free agency that same day, then re-signed with the Blue Jays on April 12 and went back to Buffalo.
That is a lot of movement for a pitcher who never grabbed a stable lane in the organization. It usually means a club likes the depth well enough to keep circling back but not enough to lock in a bigger role.
Fleming did make one major league appearance for Toronto this season, and it was a rough one. His recent-game line on the MiLB page shows 3.0 innings, 6 hits, 4 earned runs, 2 walks, and 1 strikeout in that outing on April 6.
The broader résumé still has some weight. Fleming owns 81 MLB appearances with a 4.86 ERA across 257.2 innings, so this was not some anonymous minor league arm sitting in Buffalo.
Why Toronto finally made the call
This feels like a roster-choice move more than a surprise baseball judgment. Fleming had already been placed on the temporarily inactive list on June 6 and was activated on June 12, so the fit clearly was not getting cleaner as the season moved along.
Buffalo finally released him on July 4. Once that happened, the Blue Jays were saying the depth value no longer outweighed the need for flexibility.
There is also a simple truth here. Fleming is 30, throws left-handed, and has enough major league time that another organization could still see him as useful Triple-A coverage or a quick bullpen option.
That is what makes this a real baseball transaction instead of a throwaway minor league note. Veterans with 257.2 MLB innings do not get released for nothing; they get released because the club has decided the roster lane matters more.
For Toronto, the move clears one more spot in Buffalo and ends a stop-start relationship that never turned into real help for the major league staff. Fleming came in as experienced depth and leaves as a pitcher the Blue Jays could not quite make fit.
So the final takeaway is simple. Josh Fleming gave Toronto a little coverage, a lot of transaction traffic, and not enough reason to keep the spot open any longer.
Did the Blue Jays make the right call by releasing Josh Fleming?
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