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Inside The Blue Jays

What Blue Jays Cannot Do While Starting Rotation is Drowing with Injuries

It is a tough time in Toronto right now, but the team is not helping themselves any. One thing they cannot afford, is something that they continually keep doing.
Maddy Dickens|
Toronto Blue Jays manager John Schneider (14) looks on against Team Canada at TD Ballpark.
Toronto Blue Jays manager John Schneider (14) looks on against Team Canada at TD Ballpark. | Kim Klement Neitzel-Imagn Images

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Toronto Blue Jays

This offseason it looked like the Toronto Blue Jays took upgrading their starting rotation very seriously, but right now they are not able to reap most of those benefits as injuries are plaguing the rotation.

  • Jose Berrios: Stress Fracture
  • Trey Yesavage: Should Impingement
  • Shane Bieber: Elbow Inflammation/ Forearm Fatigue
  • Cody Ponce: ACL Spain (seeking another opinion)

The Blue Jays had assembled what was going to be a seven-headed monster of a rotation, but at this moment, it is Dylan Cease and Kevin Gausman who are trying to carry the staff alongside familiar veteran Max Scherzer.

Hopefully, both Bieber's and Yesavage's returns are not far off, but while the starting rotation continues to bleed, Toronto cannot waste starts from the core right now, specifically Cease and Gausman.

Unfortunately, the team is continuing to do so.

Gausman's second start of the year stings as the Colorado Rockies should not have held Toronto to one measly run in 10 innings. The Jays' starter held the Rockies scoreless through six innings, and he had another start with at least 10 K's.

Cease's last start was against the Chicago White Sox, where he threw over four innings and retired six batters. The Blue Jays dropped the game in another 10-inning showdown to a one-win team. The offense is not coming through right now.

Struggles at the Plate

George Springer sits holding a baseball bat in a long sleeve Blue Jays shir
Toronto Blue Jays right fielder George Springer (4) sits during batting practice before a game against the Athletics at Rogers Centre | Nick Turchiaro-Imagn Images

It isn't necessarily as a whole that the team is struggling. They are still in the top third in baseball in batting average, on-base percentage, and slugging percentage. But the order cannot figure out how to get guys back to home plate in close games.

In the finale against the Rockies (at Rogers Centre no less), the top of the order was up: George Springer, Nathan Lukes, and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. Springer was a quick pop out, and Nathan Lukes lost a 14-pitch battle with Jimmy Herget, but Andres Gimenez was able to advance to third.

So, the tying run was on third with Guerrero Jr. up to bat, who hadn't made contact all game, and he would fall short, again. There isn't much more the pitching staff could have done, because if the Blue Jays can't score more than once in a game, they won't win much.

Don't worry, they still have a winning record, for now. However, if the White Sox are giving them this much trouble, it is hard to imagine what the Los Angeles Dodgers are going to do after the weekend is over.

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Maddy Dickens
MADDY DICKENS

Maddy Dickens resides in Loveland, Colorado. She grew up with two older brothers, where their lives revolved around sports. She earned a master's degree in business management from Tarleton State University while simultaneously playing basketball and competing in rodeo at the collegiate level. She successfully parlayed a reserve national championship into a professional rodeo career and now stays involved in upper-level athletics by writing for On SI on several different MLB teams' pages, along with some NCAA sites.

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