Every year, the Blue Jays arrive in spring training boasting about their improved pitching depth, and every year it seems to only take a few weeks before they start running out of major-league-calibre arms.
Zach Thompson and Mitch White were supposed to provide insurance for the starting rotation two years ago. Last season, it was Paolo Espino and Yariel Rodriguez. All four failed to make an impact and the Jays eventually resorted to using bullpen days and skipping the fifth spot whenever possible.
This year is shaping up to be more of the same. The Jays were touting prospect Jake Bloss and Easton Lucas as potential cures to their previous woes a couple of months ago. The front office was confident enough in its group that it parted ways with versatile swingman Ryan Yarbrough at the end of spring training.
It has been barely a month since Yarbrough opted out of his minor-league deal and the Jays are already scrambling. Lucas had two strong starts before cratering as the replacement for injured starter Max Scherzer. Bloss has allowed just two earned runs over his last nine innings at Triple-A Buffalo, but he had surrendered 19 runs in three starts before that.
There isn’t much else in the system beyond those two, and the Jays were forced to call on left-hander Eric Lauer before Wednesday night’s 7-6 victory over the Boston Red Sox. The promotion was more out of necessity than merit, with the 29-year-old boasting a rather unimpressive 4.50 ERA in five starts for the Bisons.
The move backfired almost immediately. Rodriguez started and surrendered two runs in his winning of work. Lauer replaced him and allowed two more in the second before settling down. It appeared as though the Jays were going to get saddled with yet another loss until their 27th-ranked offence scored three in the sixth and three in the seventh and Alejandro Kirk hit a walk-off single in the 10th.
The Jays will welcome his gold-glove defence, and any power he can add to the lineup.
“I thought he was good,” Jays manager John Schneider said of Lauer after the win. “How we handle it going forward, we’ll see. I think that (he has) legitimate length at the major-league level and he knows how to pitch. I thought he did exactly what we needed him to do tonight.”
The lack of depth in the minors has been an issue for years and the Jays are fortunate to have not been left exposed more often. They had four pitchers who made at least 31 starts in 2023. Last year, they were on pace to have the same until Yusei Kikuchi was traded to Houston in July.
Most teams require at least 10 to 12 starters to get through a season. The Jays used just eight in 2023 and 10 last season, even with the trades in July. José BerrÃos, Kevin Gausman and Chris Bassitt have proven durable while Bowden Francis has yet to miss a start since replacing Kikuchi.
The fifth spot, however, was a problem throughout 2024 and remains one today despite Wednesday’s comeback victory. Lauer hopes to stick around and become the solution.
“I’m a pretty malleable guy,” Lauer said when asked about the vacancy in the Jays’ rotation. “I like starting, I feel like that’s where I have the most feel for the game. So, hopefully I can get back to that, but I’m here to help the team any way I can.”
The Jays initially believed Scherzer was the missing piece when they signed him for $15.5 million (U.S.). He was coming off a season in which he was limited to 43 1/3 innings because of thumb, shoulder and hamstring injuries. A year later, he still isn’t over the thumb issue, which caused him to leave a start on March 29. He hasn’t pitched in a game since.
In the Jays’ defence, they initially expected to have more pitching than this. Alek Manoah is out for the year because of Tommy John surgery. So are pitching prospects Ricky Tiedemann, Brandon Barriera and Landen Maroudis. But each of those three injuries occurred last year; the Jays had an entire off-season to increase their depth and were unable to do so.
Wednesday would have been the perfect time to roll out Yarbrough, who has spent his entire career switching back and forth from the rotation to the bullpen. He has a durable arm with an ability to eat up innings in a variety of roles, and yet the Jays decided in March they didn’t need him.
Instead of guaranteeing Yarbrough’s $2-million contract, the Jays used the last two spots in their bullpen on Richard Lovelady and Jacob Barnes. Lovelady’s stint lasted four days while Barnes stuck around for a few weeks.Â
Yarbrough signed with the New York Yankees and, after getting off to a rough start, he has a 1.98 ERA over his last 13 2/3 innings. He also would have been paid less than Lauer, whose contract the Jays purchased for $2.2 million.
The Jays’ strategy might have been fine if the starters stayed healthy, but it became a problem as soon as Scherzer went down. It will become an even bigger issue if BerrÃos, Gausman, Bassitt or even Francis get hurt before he returns.
Until Scherzer is back, the Jays’ plan once every five days will be, in the words of former manager Charlie Montoyo, “an opener and a guy.” The strategy turned out OK Wednesday but with a $244-million payroll that is fifth in the majors, and an entire off-season to plan ahead, the Jays should have higher standards.
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