Toronto Blue Jays relief pitcher elects free agency

The 33-year-old native of Dominican Republic signed a one-year contract with the Jays in May after a short stint with the New York Mets to start the season.

Over six appearances, including two starts, with Toronto, Urena recorded a 3.65 ERA and five strikeouts over 12.1 innings pitched.

With only a 9.6% strikeout rate in that brief stint with the Jays, Urena's ERA significantly outperformed his peripherals, so the club is apparently willing to risk losing Urena in order to get a fresh arm onto the pitching staff.

Urena is a veteran of 11 MLB season, posting a career 44-77 record alongside a 4.78 ERA over 239 games split between the Miami Marlins, Detroit Tigers, Milwaukee Brewers, Colorado Rockies, Chicago White Sox, Texas Rangers, Mets and Blue Jays.

The fifth spot in the Jays' rotation has been a revolving door since Max Scherzer went on the injured list after his first start of the season.

Recent signing Eric Lauer has started two of his six games in a Blue Jays uniform, and the recently-signed Spencer Turnbull may yet factor into the rotation picture before Scherzer is ready to return.

Fresh off a four game sweep of the last-place Athletics, the Blue Jays have won five games in a row and own a 31-28 record to sit 5.5 games behind the New York Yankees for the top spot in the American League East and 0.5 games behind the Minnesota Twins for the third and final Wild Card spot.

The Blue Jays welcome the Philadelphia Phillies to Toronto this week for a three game series beginning on Tuesday. That's followed by a nine-game road trip against the Twins, St. Louis Cardinals and Phillies.

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