The Toronto Blue Jays designated right-hander Simeon Woods Richardson for assignment on Friday, clearing a roster spot to recall pitcher C.J. Van Eyk from Triple-A Buffalo ahead of a series against the Seattle Mariners.
The move came one night after Woods Richardson was tagged for six earned runs in a single inning of relief during a 13-2 loss to the Kansas City Royals at Rogers Centre.
In 20 games this season between Minnesota and Toronto — 10 of them starts — the 25-year-old is 2-7 with a 6.68 ERA over 66 innings. Command has been the persistent problem: walks have piled up even in stretches when the runs stayed off the board.
It is the third time Woods Richardson has been designated for assignment in 2026. The Twins cut him loose in late May after a 7.74 ERA in 47 2/3 innings.
Toronto, which originally acquired him years earlier, brought him back for cash considerations on June 3. He threw 10 scoreless innings in his first Blue Jays stint of the year, but the underlying numbers were poor — more walks than strikeouts — and the club DFA’d him on June 26 to make room for Adam Macko.
Woods Richardson cleared waivers, was outrighted to Buffalo, and had his contract selected again on Aug. 10 before this latest removal.
The path is a reminder of how quickly prospect pedigrees can fray.
The New York Mets drafted Woods Richardson in the second round of the 2018 amateur draft, 48th overall, out of Kempner High School in Sugar Land, Texas, and signed him for $1.85 million.
Toronto obtained him and Anthony Kay from the Mets in the 2019 Marcus Stroman trade, then sent him to Minnesota with Austin Martin in the 2021 deal for José Berríos.
He carved out a role as a back-end starter for the Twins in 2024 and 2025, posting ERAs in the low 4.00s over more than 240 innings those two seasons. This year the stuff and the results both slipped.
Designation for assignment gives the Blue Jays seven days to trade him, release him, or place him on waivers. If he clears waivers again, Toronto can assign him outright to Buffalo, provided he does not have the service time to refuse the assignment and become a free agent.
At 25, with prior major-league starting experience, he is still young enough that another club could take a look — or that the Jays could keep him as organizational depth if no one claims him.
Van Eyk, a 2020 first-round pick of Toronto’s own, was 6-3 with a 3.79 ERA in 21 appearances at Buffalo this season.
The Blue Jays are shuffling arms in a crowded bullpen as they try to stay in the wild-card picture. For Woods Richardson, a second-rounder once viewed as part of the return for two mid-rotation starters, Friday’s DFA is another reset in a season that has offered little stability.
