Swanson suffers setback prior to rehab outing

The Blue Jays setup man has been dealing with a medial nerve entrapment since the early days of Spring Training. As he had also been dealing with arm fatigue, everyone is being overly cautious.

There is never a good time for a setback but in Swanson's case it is particularly tough timing, who had been slowly building up his strength in anticipation of a return.

While Swanson had a rough first half last season, following a life-threatening injury to his young son, he recovered nicely in the latter half of the season. He has been a key cog in the Blue Jays over the last two seasons, going 6-4 with a 3.74 ERA and four saves.

Swanson would be a great addition this year too, giving John Schneider another option alongside Chad Green and Yimi Garcia in the bridge to closer Jeff Hoffman.

Swanson and the Blue Jays are maintaining positivity and all sides are hopeful that this setback proves to be a relatively minor one. Still, with depth relatively thin at Triple-A, Pete Walker and Dane Johnson will have to get creative in their bullpen usage.

With Green and Garcia in danger of being overworked too early in the season, look for pitcher Dillon Tate and Brendon Little to be used in higher leverage situations.