Blue Jays Manager John Schneider Has Brutally Difficult Choice with Rotation
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The Toronto Blue Jays are rolling, with a 70-50 record, a healthy lead over the Boston Red Sox in the American League East and owners of the best record in the league.
They are back home after a successful 4-2 road trip that included some historic offensive performances at Coors Field against the Colorado Rockies before being humbled a little bit by the Los Angeles Dodgers, who won the first two games by a combined score of 14-2 before the Blue Jays pulled off a win in Game 3, 5-4.
With the team clicking on all cylinders, it would be easy for manager John Schneider to keep the status quo, leaving everything the same until a change is needed; as the old saying goes, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
Alas, things aren’t that simple all the time in baseball, and the Toronto head man is going to have an incredibly difficult decision to make in the near future when it comes to his team’s starting rotation.
The Blue Jays were on the lookout for starting pitching help ahead of the MLB trade deadline and came away with former AL Cy Young Award winner Shane Bieber, acquiring him from the Cleveland Guardians.
He has yet to make his debut with the team, continuing to ramp up his workload in the minor leagues as he recovers from last year’s Tommy John surgery. His performance in rehab has reportedly been going well and is nearing his highly anticipated return to the Major League mound.
Who will be bumped from Blue Jays rotation for Shane Bieber?
However, there lies the issue for Schneider. With Bieber’s 30-day rehab window coming to a close later this week, a decision has to be made with the Big League rotation, which is currently full and without a clear-cut candidate to be replaced.
There is a chance that he goes with a six-man rotation out of the gate with all of the starters performing well, but that isn’t a sustainable long-term plan because his bullpen would be left short-handed.
Also, starting pitchers are creatures of habit; putting them on a schedule that provides six or seven days of rest could throw them out of rhythm. As Mitch Bannon of The Athletic (subscription required) shared, Kevin Gausman, Eric Lauer and Jose Berrios have each made one start off seven days' rest in the last four years, and none of them recorded a quality start.
“If there gets to a point where you have an uncomfortable conversation with someone,” Schneider said, as shared by Bannon, “that’s where we’re at.”
Alas, there is no such thing as too much starting pitching. This is an issue some teams around the MLB would love to have heading into the dog days of summer.
It will be interesting to see how Schneider handles things because the rotation is going to have to be pared down at some point, whether it is upon Bieber’s return or in the postseason.
