Official: Blue Jays to call up RHP Tepera, LHP Francis, LHP Loup, INF Kawasaki, and OF Pompey as rosters expand

The first word about the Blue Jays September call-ups has leaked out and it's pretty much who was expected. Relievers Ryan Tepera, Jeff Francis, and Aaron Loup have been promoted from Buffalo to give the team some additional depth in the bullpen, with one of the two lefties in Loup and Francis looking to become the next southpaw behind Brett Cecil on the depth chart. On the position player side of things, Munenori Kawasaki and Dalton Pompey will return to the team with likely very different roles. As noted earlier today, Pompey could play himself onto the postseason roster while Kawasaki will just be used as a infielder in blowout games.

With the rosters obviously expanded to the entire 40-man for September, the only transaction needed is clearing a space for Jeff Francis as he is currently not on the major league roster. There are a few candidates for a DFA so this won't be a particularly large hurdle to clear.

Ryan Tepera, considered underrated by some, rejoins the squad after being a victim of the trade deadline rosters moves as he was sent down to Buffalo after being mostly with the Jays since early May. He's had a fantastic season and has an outside chance to make the postseason roster if an injury or two were to occur in the bullpen. Over 57.2 innings in Toronto and Buffalo, the righty has allowed just 10 earned runs while striking out 53.

Jeff Francis was the most surprising call-up today, although he's pitched okay as mainly a starter in Buffalo. He was of course with Toronto for a month at the beginning of the season, but wasn't that good and was DFA'd after a number of shaky relief appearances.

Aaron Loup was with the big league squad all season until August 16 when he was optioned to Buffalo to bring the Blue Jays bullpen back down to seven guys. He hasn't been utilized all that effectively by John Gibbons and has faced way more right-handed hitters than he should EVER be allowed to. Hopefully the team has learned their lesson and Loup will fall into a LOOGY role once again. Just like Tepera, Loup has a chance to crack the postseason roster if he proves effective at getting left-handed hitters out.

Munenori Kawasaki is Munenori Kawasaki...He'll do things and get laughs and not play and that's about it.

Dalton Pompey has a whole post to himself today so there's not much more to say other than that he went down to the minors and earned his promotion today. It will be very interesting to see what he does during September and whether the Blue Jays even give him an opportunity to surprise them.

There are two more call-ups coming of course in Josh Thole who should arrive by the end of the week and Marcus Stroman who will start in Single-A Lansing tomorrow and then go from there. What our your thoughts on the September call-ups and who do you think received the biggest snub? My picks would be Steve Delabar and Matt Hague.

Update

The Blue Jays confirmed the moves that were reported and DFA'd Colt Hynes to make room for Jeff Francis. The move is a little surprising as many expected Hynes to be the third lefty that was called up to Toronto today.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">The <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/bluejays?src=hash">#bluejays</a> confirm the moves reported by <a href="https://twitter.com/ShiDavidi">@ShiDavidi</a> . Pompey, Loup. Tepera, Francis, Kawasaki. Also, Hynes DFA&#39;d</p>&mdash; Barry Davis (@SNBarryDavis) <a href="https://twitter.com/SNBarryDavis/status/638743482211954690">September 1, 2015</a></blockquote>

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