The Toronto Blue Jays made a few pitching additions at the Major League Baseball trade deadline that included Seranthony DomÃnguez and Louis Varland for the bullpen, and starter Shane Bieber to help bolster the rotation.
That unfortunately means some players no longer have a spot on the roster. One of those players is Chad Green, who was Designated for Assignment by the Blue Jays before the trade deadline, and considering he’s a tenured MLB veteran, he chose not to be optioned to their minor league system.
Blue Jays Officially Release Chad Green
According to the Toronto Blue Jays transaction log, the team released Green, who had a 5.56 ERA in 43.2 innings. Green is now eligible to sign with any of the 30 MLB clubs, but it’s unknown at this point if there is any market for him, and retirement could certainly also be a possibility. Green had spent three seasons with the Blue Jays organization and had a solid season in 2024. Over 53.1 innings last season, he posted a 3.21 ERA with 46 strikeouts. He is not an overpowering pitcher and relies on a heavy dosage of offspeed pitches (mainly a changeup) to get hitters out.
Before the Blue Jays, Green had spent seven seasons with the New York Yankees. In those seven seasons, Green had a 3.17 ERA over 383 innings and also posted 494 strikeouts with New York and a WHIP of just 1.022. He had a very productive career for a reliever, and his best season as a pro came in 2017 when he had a 1.83 ERA over 69 innings and 103 strikeouts for the Yankees. His WHIP that season? A microscopic 0.793, which is almost unprecedented in today’s game. In 2024, Green had 17 saves, which was a career-high by 11 saves.
The problem with Green, and likely why he was released, was due to his strikeout rate, which has dipped considerably. He punched out 32.4% of batters in the 2023 season, but that number dropped to just 21.9% after the 2024 campaign. This season, he struck out 7.2 batters/nine innings for the Blue Jays, and that’s a slight drop from last season. He also gave up 14 home runs in his 43.2 innings this year.
What Is His Contract Situation?
The Toronto Blue Jays signed him to a three-year, $23 million deal a few years ago, but he was set to be a free agent anyway after this season.
MLBtraderumors.com’s Nick Deeds explained what the Blue Jays owe him from here:
“As for the Blue Jays, theyâll be on the hook for whatâs left of his $10.5MM salary for the 2025 campaign. If Green gets added to an MLB roster at some point this year, heâll be paid a prorated portion of the MLB minimum by his new club and that amount will be deducted from what Toronto owes him. With newly-added relievers Louis Varland and Seranthony Dominguez now in the fold, the Jays figure to do just fine without Green in their late-inning mix even if he does manage to turn things around with a new organization.”
Green does still have good stuff, but has had trouble getting guys to swing and miss, and maybe another organization can discover something the Blue Jays couldn’t.
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