Ex-Tampa Bay Rays Pitcher Has Chance to Make Final Roster With Toronto Blue Jays

The Jays added Richard Lovelady, signed to a minor league contract, to the 40-man roster.

Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Richard Lovelady (68) throws a pitch against the Houston Astros in the third inning during spring training at TD Ballpark in Dunedin, Fla., on March 10, 2025. / Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images

A left-hander trying to restart his major league career was added to the 40-man roster by the Toronto Blue Jays on Monday.

ROSTER MOVES:

🔹 LHP Richard Lovelady has been selected to the 40-man roster

🔹 RHP Alek Manoah has been placed on the 60-day IL pic.twitter.com/VJ1u3x3How

— Toronto Blue Jays (@BlueJays) March 17, 2025

The Blue Jays selected the contract of Richard Lovelady, who signed a minor league deal with the team in January. He appears to have taken full advantage of that invitation to spring training in Dunedin, Fla., with Jays manager John Schneider saying Lovelady is still in the mix for a spot on the 26-man roster, according to reporter Hazel Mae.

Richard Lovelady was added to the 40-man roster, continues to compete for a spot on the 26 per John Schneider

— Hazel Mae (@thehazelmae) March 17, 2025

This spring, he's appeared in six games, giving up three earned runs in six innings with eight strikeouts and one walk.

In a related move, the Blue Jays moved right-hander Alek Manoah, who had Tommy John surgery, to the 60-day injured list.

A Georgia native, Lovelady was a 10th-round pick of the Kansas City Royals in the 2016 MLB Draft. He spent three seasons with the Royals, then moved on to the Oakland Athletics in 2023. He split the 2024 season between the Chicago Cubs and Tampa Bay Rays.

Lovelady, 29, has a career record of 5-12 with a 4.98 ERA in 108 career relief appearances. He’s added three saves.

He had the best stretch of his career last summer with the Rays, who acquired him in a trade with the Cubs last May for lefty prospect Jeff Belge. Lovelady was 3-5 with a 3.77 ERA in 28 relief stints with two saves. In 28.2 innings, he struck out 20 and walked nine but has a K/9 ratio of 2.50 for his career.

The Rays, however, designated Lovelady for assignment in November, caught in a numbers crunch when they needed to use his roster spot to keep outfielder Jake Mangum from being exposed to the Rule 5 draft.

The Blue Jays staff is dealing with injuries to more than Manoah.

Reliever Erik Swanson has a nerve issue – technically called median nerve entrapment -- in his throwing arm, and starter Max Scherzer is experiencing lingering soreness in the thumb on his right pitching hand.

Swanson is a candidate to start the season on the injured list. It wasn’t clear Monday how much time Scherzer could miss in his first season in Toronto.