Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Joe Mantiply has cleared waivers and elected free agency, closing out his time with the Blue Jays.

Toronto designated him for assignment on Sept. 21, right after his return from the IL didn't go as hoped.

He posted a 4.82 ERA over 9.1 innings in that final stretch back, a line that made the corresponding roster crunch an easy call for the front office.

That capped a genuinely up-and-down season for the left-hander, one that included a lengthy IL stint before he ever got back to consistent form.

Electing free agency rather than reporting to Triple-A gives Mantiply the freedom to sign with any organization immediately, rather than remaining tied to Toronto's system for the rest of this transaction period.

Why this move fits the season's larger bullpen story

Toronto's bullpen shuffled constantly all year, with Mantiply's journey, activation, IL stint, eventual DFA, mirroring a pattern that played out across several relievers throughout the season.

The Blue Jays leaned heavily on their healthier arms down the stretch, and Mantiply's rough final numbers simply didn't fit into that group by season's end.

For a reliever heading into free agency, this kind of finish makes for a challenging market, needing to rebuild value after a season that didn't go as planned.

Whether he catches on elsewhere on a minor-league deal or takes more time to figure out his next step is the open question now facing him.

For Toronto, this closes out one more storyline in a bullpen that cycled through a genuinely long list of arms across an entire injury-riddled season that did not go according to plan.