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The 33-year-old left-hander still has to make the team, but if he performs as expected this spring it won’t be difficult. Yarbrough served a valuable role for the Jays last season by putting up a 2.01 ERA in 31 1/3 innings and he’s in position to make a similar impact in 2025.

If everyone stays healthy, the Jays will open with a rotation of José Berríos, Kevin Gausman, Max Scherzer, Chris Bassitt and Bowden Francis. Yariel Rodríguez was projected for long relief, with Jake Bloss, Adam Macko and Adam Kloffenstein among the starting options in the minors. Macko and Kloffenstein have since gone down with injuries.

The addition of Yarbrough will affect Rodríguez the most. The 27-year-old Rodríguez is expected to continue to be stretched out to start this spring. If a member of the rotation isn’t ready to go for the opening week of games, he would become the natural choice to step in.

Where things get interesting is if the Jays begin the season with everyone available. One scenario could see Rodríguez optioned to the minors, where he would continue starting for Triple-A Buffalo. That would keep his arm built up and allow for an easy transition to the majors if a starter gets hurt later.

The other, more likely scenario would see Rodríguez open the season in the Jays bullpen. There are some within in the organization who believe his stuff plays better as a maximum-effort, one- or two-inning guy. It’s a role he embraced while pitching in Japan before joining the Jays, and it would give manager John Schneider another swing-and-miss arm to use late.

If Rodriguez lands in the ‘pen as a middle reliever, he would join a group that includes closer Jeff Hoffman, Yimi García, Chad Green and Nick Sandlin. Veteran Erik Swanson is expected to have a role, too, but has been slow to progress because of right forearm fatigue and it’s not immediately clear if he’ll be ready by opening day.

Assuming Swanson’s health improves, there would be two spots left for Brendon Little, Zach Pop and Yarbrough. Pop is out of options, which means he can’t be sent to the minors without clearing waivers. That leaves Little, who seemed like a lock to make the team a few weeks ago, at risk of being sent to Buffalo. Ryan Burr, Josh Walker and Easton Lucas are other options on the 40-man roster.

These are good problems to have.

Last year, when the Jays had injuries in the rotation and bullpen, there weren’t enough viable replacements. The minors still lack depth, but the presence of Rodríguez and Yarbrough at least alleviates some of those concerns in the short term.

It’s surprising that Yarbrough wasn’t able to land a big-league deal this off-season. The soft-tossing lefty is coming off a year in which he made $3.9 million (U.S.) while producing a career-best 3.19 ERA. He’s a natural fit on just about any roster, but couldn’t find a guaranteed role.

Instead, he returns to the Jays — who acquired him from the Los Angeles Dodgers at last year’s trade deadline — on a tryout. If the Jays decline to offer a roster spot, he could opt out of his deal five days before the start of the season. He also has opt-outs on May 1 and June 1.

The Jays would be wise to keep him around.

What Yarbrough lacks in velocity, he makes up for with deception and command. Despite averaging just 86 m.p.h. on his fastball last season, the former Tampa Bay Ray ranked in the 91st percentile for pitching run value. , he was also in the 97th percentile for limiting opponents’ exit velocity.

Yarbrough also has proven to be quite durable over the last few seasons. He had minor groin and oblique injuries with the Rays in 2022, and a freak head injury suffered on comebacker in 2023, but it has been years since his rubber arm experienced any issues.

There’s potential for the Jays to get a lot of value out of this deal, which isn’t something that can often be said about a minor-league signing. Yarbrough might not be a lock for opening day quite yet. But considering how much his arrival improves the club’s overall depth, he probably should be.