In corresponding moves, the Jays added Joe Mantiply and Austin Voth to the roster.
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The writing was on the wall when it came with Brendon Little, the Blue Jays’ reliever who has earned the wrath of the club’s disgruntled fan base following countless futile appearances on the mound.
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Mercifully, the lefty has been optioned to the triple-A Buffalo Bisons where the hope is he regains his form.
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As hard as it is for fans to reconcile Little’s standing with the defending AL champions, he was good, at least until last year’s all-star break arrived.
He has since regressed to the point where no one has any confidence Little would record an out, let alone complete a clean inning.
His final appearance in the big leagues, at least for now, came Saturday when he gave up three runs off two dingers, while recording one out as the Jays lost their second game in a row to the host Chicago White Sox.
It would be unfair to pin the loss on Little because so much went wrong Saturday, so much has gone wrong eight games into a season, but he did become an unwitting talking point.
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Manager John Schneider shouldn’t be immune to criticism, either.
With only two left-handed relievers, the club decided to go with Mason Fluharty as the opener Saturday.
Limited lefties
The team’s front office must also be held accountable knowing how so few left-handed arms were available in the bullpen.
For obvious reasons, something needed to be done with Little and the Jays did something in the hours leading up to Sunday’s series finale.
Little has pitched 3.2 innings this season and has allowed 10 earned runs, while being tagged for two losses.
He’s only 29, but there is an urgency for Little to regain the form he showed for the first half of last season when he recorded 65 strikeouts in 44.1 innings, while posting a 2.03 ERA.
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Untenable best describes the situation Little placed the Jays, whose patience clearly wore out.
In addition, the Jays optioned Lazaro Estrada, who gave the Jays four scoreless innings Saturday when the club went with a bullpen day.
He threw 66 pitches.
In corresponding moves, the Jays added Joe Mantiply and Austin Voth to the roster.
In purely clerical moves, starting pitcher Cody Ponce and Anthony Santander were placed on the 60-day IL.
The Jays entered Sunday’s game with a 4-4 record.
They began the season by sweeping the Athletics in a three-game series, but have since lost four of five, losing a series to the visiting Colorado Rockies and entering Sunday in peril of getting swept by the Pale Hose.
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