Source: Toronto moves on for Yariel Rodriguez

Toronto has made an offer to seek the services of Cuban pitcher Yariel Rodriguez, who will make a decision soon.

The Toronto Blue Jays have taken the lead in the race for the services of Cuban pitcher Yariel RodriguezJoe is close to making a decision about his future in professional baseball, a source told ESPN Digital this Friday.

According to the source, Rodriguez has been evaluated by a dozen Major League organizations throughout 2023, when he was not in any professional league. The biggest interested parties include the Blue Jays, Boston Red Sox and Pittsburgh Pirates While they are evaluating him as a starter The Cincinnati Reds, San Diego Padres and New York Yankees see more of a future in him as a reliever.

People associated with Rodriguez said this The pitcher prefers a team that gives him a chance to start games.,

Rodriguez, who will turn 27 before the start of the next Major League season, He is an unrestricted free agent with no compensation charges., After Cuba’s participation in the last World Baseball Classic ended, the right-hander decided not to continue his contract with the Chunichi Dragons of Japan’s Central League.

The Camagüey native made his Cuban National Series debut at age 18 He had a 3.30 ERA in six seasons as a starting pitcher.While in Japan between 2020 and 2022, he had a 3.03 ERA in 175 innings, exclusively as a reliever.

In his last season with Chunichi he was 6–2 with a 1.15 ERA in 54.2 innings and 9.9 strikeouts per nine innings.

Rodríguez started two games for Cuba in the World Classic and allowed two runs with 10 strikeouts in 7.1 innings.