Blue Jays Trade for Simeon Woods Richardson

[Leo Morgenstern]

The Blue Jays have acquired pitcher Simeon Woods Richardson in a trade with the Twins, according to Mitch Bannon of The Athletic. Minnesota will send cash considerations back to Toronto.

Woods Richardson, 25, was a prospect in the Blue Jays' system from 2019-21. Toronto acquired him from the Mets in the Marcus Stroman trade and later sent him to the Twins in the José Berríos deal.

The righty was designated for assignment over the weekend. He pitched well for the Twins from 2024-25, putting up a 4.11 ERA over 51 games (50 starts). However, he has struggled in 2026, with a 7.74 ERA in 47.2 innings. Jays Centre's Jim Scott recently wrote about Woods Richardson as a potential target for the Blue Jays.   

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[Jonn]

Love it. Was. hoping we would bring him back.  Hopefully Pete Walker can fix him.

[Joltin Joe]

Wood Richardson looked like decent starter last year. Probably be good behind an opener. 

[Terminator]

Can't believe the Twins of all teams couldn't find a way to keep him.

I do think we may have the same problem as we are due to get 3 pitchers back next week. Then Bieber and Yimi are due back later this month. 

Some injury stuff will most certainly happen but even so that's 5 pitchers plus SWR that need to be added. Here are the guys we can move:

• Dallas is an obvious option candidate
• Seabold is an obvious DFA candidate
• Macko can be optioned, though that leaves Fluharty as are only lefty
• Maybe we eat the 12+ mil on Yariel's final two years? I think he's got some potential if he can find his command but will we have the patience as a slow starting contender.
• Spencer Miles has barely thrown in pro ball and is blowing past his career high in innings so he could be due for a phantom injury?
• Maybe SWR proves he's a team player and suffers a phantom injury?
• A lot of guys have been worked really hard. Maybe some phantom injuries to lighten their workload would help.

[Jonn]

19 minutes ago, Terminator said:

Can't believe the Twins of all teams couldn't find a way to keep him.

I do think we may have the same problem as we are due to get 3 pitchers back next week. Then Bieber and Yimi are due back later this month. 

Some injury stuff will most certainly happen but even so that's 5 pitchers plus SWR that need to be added. Here are the guys we can move:

• Dallas is an obvious option candidate
• Seabold is an obvious DFA candidate
• Macko can be optioned, though that leaves Fluharty as are only lefty
• Maybe we eat the 12+ mil on Yariel's final two years? I think he's got some potential if he can find his command but will we have the patience as a slow starting contender.
• Spencer Miles has barely thrown in pro ball and is blowing past his career high in innings so he could be due for a phantom injury?
• Maybe SWR proves he's a team player and suffers a phantom injury?
• A lot of guys have been worked really hard. Maybe some phantom injuries to lighten their workload would help.

Yariel was DFA'd before he can DFA'd again. Nobody is going to claim him. He doesn't have enough service time to declare free agency.

Even with all the pitchers on the mend you can't expect everything to go smoothly. Could be more injuries before those guys are activated. They didn't get SWR to not give him every chance to return as a Starter. They just can't do it the easy way but sending him to Buffalo to figure it out. They have to figure it out in Toronto.

[Terminator]

7 minutes ago, Jonn said:

Yariel was DFA'd before he can DFA'd again. Nobody is going to claim him. He doesn't have enough service time to declare free agency.

Even with all the pitchers on the mend you can't expect everything to go smoothly. Could be more injuries before those guys are activated. They didn't get SWR to not give him every chance to return as a Starter. They just can't do it the easy way but sending him to Buffalo to figure it out. They have to figure it out in Toronto.

I'm almost positive that if we DFA Yariel again then he can select Free Agency since we already did it once.

Quote

 However, players with more than five years of Major League service time can reject an assignment to the Minor Leagues, and players with more than three years of Major League service time, or who have been previously outrighted, may reject the outright assignment in favor of free agency in lieu of the assignment.

https://www.mlb.com/glossary/transactions/designate-for-assignment

I agree on not everything going smoothly. Someone will get hurt, but even so we have 3 pitchers back next week and two more to follow. Add in SWR and that's 4 next week and 6 by the end of the month.

Seabold, Dallas and Macko are the obvious guys we can move, but after that it gets tricky.

[Jonn]

16 minutes ago, Terminator said:

I'm almost positive that if we DFA Yariel again then he can select Free Agency since we already did it once.

https://www.mlb.com/glossary/transactions/designate-for-assignment

I agree on not everything going smoothly. Someone will get hurt, but even so we have 3 pitchers back next week and two more to follow. Add in SWR and that's 4 next week and 6 by the end of the month.

Seabold, Dallas and Macko are the obvious guys we can move, but after that it gets tricky.

Even he did refuse the assignment. His contract is a sunk cost at this point anyway He's been very bad and they shouldn't justify keeping him because he still owed $12 million. I would rather set $12 million on fire over him being paid $12 million and actively hurt our chances to win. If he had shown any signs of improvement but that would be one thing. But in 8.2 IP he walked 6 only struck out 5 and has given up 2 Homeruns. His advanced metrics don't really paint a pretty picture for the future success either.

[bigblue]

On 6/3/2026 at 9:32 PM, Jonn said:

Love it. Was. hoping we would bring him back.  Hopefully Pete Walker can fix him.

He has a era north of 7. It is going to be up to Pete to see if he can find what made him so good last year. 

[glory]

Yeah Yariel is sunk cost and nothing more. If he's DFA'd and he goes elsewhere, or he's DFA'd and he's on the AAA team for the rest of his contract, neither scenario helps the Jays because he's such a fungible talent that hoping he "figures something out" is pointless. The roster spot he occupies means more than whatever he has left on his contract.