Yusei Kikuchi

The Blue Jays enter next week’s trade deadline as clear sellers, but virtually all of the focus thus far has been on the rental players they can offer to other teams. Left-hander Yusei Kikuchi, relievers Yimi Garcia and Trevor Richards, and catcher Danny Jansen are all free agents at season’s end and thus all candidates…

The Blue Jays enter next week’s trade deadline as clear sellers, but virtually all of the focus thus far has been on the rental players they can offer to other teams. Left-hander Yusei Kikuchi, relievers Yimi Garcia and Trevor Richards, and catcher Danny Jansen are all free agents at season’s end and thus all candidates…

What should we do with these struggling players? The post Patience or Panic: Matt Olson, Brice Turang, and Yusei Kikuchi appeared first on Pitcher List.

Kikuchi held the Tigers off the board through four innings until a base hit and a double brought a run in to score in the fifth. He loaded the bases with no outs in the sixth and was pulled before Jake Rogers cleared the bases with a grand slam. Kikuchi ended the day with eight strikeouts. The 33-year-old left-hander will take a 4.54 ERA, 1.31 WHIP, and a 125/28 K/BB ratio across 111 innings into a start against the Rangers in Toronto on Friday.

The pitching schedule prior to the All-Star break was set up for Gausman to start on Friday, Bassitt to take the ball on Saturday, and Jose Berrios to start on Sunday. Berrios will now be bumped to next week's series against the Rays, and Kikuchi will get two starts before the trade deadline as the Blue Jays try to showcase him for other teams.