Blue Jays sign Seung-Hwan Oh to help bullpen

The Toronto Blue Jays were dormant during the offseason, but they have made a signing to boost the bullpen.

The Toronto Blue Jays are a veteran team prepared for a bounce-back season. They were underwhelming in 2017, and the front office is expecting a turnaround. The club wasn’t a huge competitor in the free agent trade market this winter. Also, Toronto is a team that needs bullpen help, and they have found some by signing 35-year-old Seung-Hwan Oh. He is a pitcher that has only been in the league for two seasons since moving from South Korea.

Oh brings another arm to the late-inning mix. His best year was in 2016, when he pitched to the tune of a 1.92 ERA in 79.2 innings. In 2017, the righty threw 59.1 innings with a bloated 4.10 ERA. His K/9 rate went down quite a bit from 11.64 to 8.19. That could have been from the MLB adjusting to him over time. With that said, Oh’s BB/9 rose a bit from 2.03 to 2.28, so there was a regression of control over the two seasons. This may be because he’s 35 years old.

The Blue Jays weren’t contenders for any top free agents, so a small signing was the way to go. Maybe the club could go for dominant closer Greg Holland? Toronto is a veteran club, so the front office should go all-in with this core. With that said, augmenting them with other veterans is a logical decision. The fans haven’t seen a winner in Rogers Centre in a long time, so the franchise should capitalize on their dwindling window of contention.

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Oh heavily relies on his four-seam fastball (61.9 percent), so his control of that pitch is crucial. His slider is his second most utilized pitch (28 percent), which is used to chase batters off the plate. Provided he finds some command of both pitches, expect the right-handed reliever to be a boost to the Blue Jays’ bullpen as they prepare to contend in the American League East.