Jos\u00e9 Berr\u00edos, arguably one of the most durable starting pitchers of his era, will undergo surgery on his right elbow, Toronto Blue Jays manager John Schneider told reporters in Detroit on Saturday.<\/p>\n
The 31-year-old\u2019s surgery, which will repair the stress fracture in his right elbow and potentially more, underscores how shockingly thin Toronto\u2019s rotation depth has become.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere may be some ligament stuff going on,\u201d Schneider told reporters, including MLB.com\u2019s Keegan Matheson. \u201cThey\u2019re going to figure that out when they\u2019re in there.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Jays (19-25) entered spring training with a bevy of starting pitching options, hoping they were properly prepared for attrition after a lengthy 2025 campaign.<\/p>\n
Kevin Gausman, Dylan Cease, Trey Yesavage, Shane Bieber, Cody Ponce, Eric Lauer and Berr\u00edos were all set to shoulder innings if needed. Then, days into spring, the Jays added Max Scherzer, too.<\/p>\n
Now, after a slew of injuries, the Jays are down to just four healthy starters, even including the recently signed Patrick Corbin.<\/p>\n
Lauer was designated for assignment following early-season struggles. Ponce injured his ACL in his opening start, Scherzer is dealing with thumb and forearm issues, Bieber hasn\u2019t even begun rehab starts and Berr\u00edos is now out for an extended period.<\/p>\n
An exact timeline for Berr\u00edos\u2019 recovery will be provided after the surgery, set for Wednesday. A repair of Berr\u00edos\u2019 stress fracture and cleanup of any loose bodies would still keep Berr\u00edos out for months. A ligament repair would likely end Berr\u00edos\u2019 2026 season. In just 42 games, the Jays have gone from shored up to shallow in the rotation.<\/p>\n
The Jays, needing to fill Lauer\u2019s fifth rotation spot, will utilize a spot start on Saturday with Mason Fluharty opening and Spencer Miles expected to carry the bulk for a bullpen day. Miles, in Lauer\u2019s final outing, started the game with three shutout innings.<\/p>\n
In the long term, other depth options must emerge. Prospects CJ Van Eyk, Chad Dallas and Grant Rogers seem closest to the big leagues. Jake Bloss, who made his MLB debut with the Houston Astros in 2024 and underwent Tommy John surgery early last year, just started a rehab assignment and could factor into the depth starter conversation in a few weeks.<\/p>\n
With Scherzer\u2019s status up in the air, Bieber appears the most realistic option to stabilize the final rotation spot in the near future. However, he just began facing live hitters on Tuesday. Toronto could also seek help outside the organization via free agency or trade, but there aren\u2019t many flashy names on the open market in May.<\/p>\n
In recent years, the Jays avoided the sort of rotation injuries that plagued other teams with workhorses hauling innings.<\/p>\n
Gausman has made at least 31 starts every year since joining the Jays in 2021. Chris Bassitt, in three years with the Jays, made 95 starts and barely missed any time. Berr\u00edos, who earned the nickname \u201cLa Makina\u201d (The Machine) for his durability, made every start each season during his time with the Minnesota Twins and Toronto from 2018 through 2024.<\/p>\n
The Puerto Rican was removed from the Jays\u2019 rotation late last year and went on the injured list at the end of the regular season with an elbow issue he\u2019d pitched through. He returned home to rehab the injury and was absent from the Jays during their postseason run to the World Series.<\/p>\n
While Berr\u00edos declared himself \u201cback\u201d and \u201chealthy\u201d in spring training this year, an elbow stress fracture was revealed when the righty went for a physical to join his country at the World Baseball Classic.<\/p>\n
Berr\u00edos, who said he felt no symptoms related to the stress fracture, decided with the Jays to pitch through the ailment. He appeared close to his season debut earlier this month, but the righty\u2019s velocity plummeted in his final two rehab starts in Triple A. Now, after another MRI and another appointment with Dr. Keith Meister, Berr\u00edos\u2019 2026 season could be over before it even began.<\/p>\n
Berr\u00edos could become a free agent after this season, but with news of his surgery and the potential for the righty to opt in to two years and $48 million this winter, he will likely remain with the Jays and on the team\u2019s books.<\/p>\n
It doesn\u2019t make sense to test the open market coming off an injured season. Perhaps at some point, La Makina can regain its durability. But for a Jays team in need of rotation depth, Berr\u00edos won\u2019t be able to contribute any time soon.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jos\u00e9 Berr\u00edos, arguably one of the most durable starting pitchers of his era, will undergo surgery on his…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":675501,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[558],"tags":[64,63,11250,591,85,5161],"class_list":["post-675500","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-fantasy-baseball","tag-mlb","tag-sports","tag-toronto-blue-jays"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/675500","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=675500"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/675500\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/675501"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=675500"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=675500"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=675500"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}