Blue Jays relief pitcher expected to be the next roster crunch casualty

That is where Toronto's next roster squeeze may hit first. It might not come from the rotation at all. It could come from the bullpen.

The easy assumption is that a starter loses his place once Yesavage and Berrios are ready. But the Blue Jays have more room to shuffle starters than they do to carry a struggling middle reliever.

Patrick Corbin has helped himself with a decent early run, and Eric Lauer still offers swingman value even with his own uneven stretch. That makes Tommy Nance easier to target than either of them.

Nance's line has left little margin. ESPN's current stats show him with a 6.23 ERA and 1.62 WHIP over 8 2/3 innings, and his game log shows damage in multiple April outings.

The shape of the struggles matters, too. He gave up 4 earned runs in 1 1/3 innings against the Dodgers on April 6, then took a loss after allowing another run at Milwaukee on April 16.

That is a hard profile to protect when the roster starts tightening. Nance is 35, working in lower-leverage spots, and not carrying the kind of role that forces a club to wait this out.

This is why the Yesavage-Berrios angle matters so much. MLB.com reported this week that Berrios is expected back shortly after Yesavage, and Toronto is already discussing its next steps with both pitchers.

Once those arms are ready, the Blue Jays can move Lauer back toward relief or keep Corbin in the mix a little longer. That kind of flexibility puts more pressure on the back end of the bullpen than on the rotation.

Jeff Hoffman is staying because Toronto still sees him as a late-game weapon, even after pulling him from the closer role. Mason Fluharty also holds value as a left-handed option. Nance does not have that kind of built-in protection.

There is also no real upside case to hide behind right now. Statcast numbers show decent ground-ball results, but the swing-and-miss has not been strong enough to offset the traffic.

That makes him the cleanest roster casualty once the club needs a spot. Toronto can talk about rotation battles all it wants, but the simpler move may be cutting a bullpen arm that is already slipping.

Nance helped the Blue Jays last season, and that counts for something. But once Yesavage and Berrios are back, past value may not be enough.

If Toronto needs to make room in a hurry, Tommy Nance looks like the reliever most likely to pay for it.