Goins rejoins Blue Jays from Buffalo; Redmond designated

TORONTO -- The Blue Jays are down to seven relievers after right-hander Todd Redmond was designated for assignment on Thursday afternoon to make room for infielder Ryan Goins.

Goins, who in six games with Triple-A Buffalo was hitting .350 with a double and three RBIs, gives Toronto depth up the middle. The 27-year-old appeared in 67 games for the Blue Jays in 2014, posting a .188 average with one homer and 15 RBIs.

Toronto began the year with an eight-man bullpen, but stated all along that it was a short-term situation. The goal was to get down to the normal seven relievers with a four-man bench. But before that happened the club wanted to get a closer look at some of its relievers.

Redmond, who was the long reliever, was knocked around for four earned runs over 2 1/3 innings in the Blue Jays' 12-7 win over the Rays on Wednesday. In his only other appearance this season, he gave up four earned runs over two innings against Baltimore.

Right-hander Liam Hendriks has thrived in his new role out of the bullpen while Redmond struggled in a pair of appearances. There was a lot more to factor in than that small sample size, but Redmond does end up coming out on the short end while Hendriks' job appears safe.

"I think it's probably unfair to judge his year so far, he's had two outings," manager John Gibbons said of Redmond. "He wasn't particularly sharp in either one of them but everything wasn't necessarily based off of that.

"Red's done a great job for us in the year and a half that he has been here. I don't know if somebody is going to pick him up or not. I hope he passes through, but for career sake, he probably hopes he gets grabbed. There's a place for him."

As Gibbons stated, the organization's hope is that Redmond will clear waivers so he can be assigned to Buffalo. If that happens, the expectation is that Redmond would join the Bisons starting rotation and possibly become an option later in the year should a need arise.

It's not immediately clear how much interest in Redmond there will be across the league. But he is coming off a strong 2014 that saw him post a 3.24 ERA in 75 innings as a long reliever. His biggest issue in Toronto is that Hendriks, Marco Estrada and Roberto Osuna all have the ability to throw multiple innings, which made Redmond's skillset a little bit redundant.

"I think that will probably happen. To stretch him out a little bit, regular work," Gibbons said of potentially moving Redmond to the Triple-A rotation. "The thing about Red the last couple of years here, he might sit 10-12 days, then come in and throw strikes and be very effective with that. But I think, for his sake and for ours, get him on a little routine down there would do some good."