{"id":535642,"date":"2026-03-14T09:52:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-14T09:52:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/535642\/"},"modified":"2026-03-14T09:52:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-14T09:52:09","slug":"jose-berrios-visiting-specialist-due-to-elbow-inflammation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/535642\/","title":{"rendered":"Jos\u00e9 Berr\u00edos Visiting Specialist Due To Elbow Inflammation"},"content":{"rendered":"

Blue Jays righty Jos\u00e9 Berr\u00edos<\/a> was slated to join Puerto Rico for the quarterfinal round of the World Baseball Classic, but those plans were called off when his tournament physical revealed a bout of elbow inflammation (via MLB.com\u2019s Keegan Matheson<\/a>). An MRI did not reveal any structural damage, but the inflammation was still curious, given that Berr\u00edos hasn\u2019t experienced any discomfort. Still, in light of the unexpected diagnosis, he\u2019s headed for an in-person visit with Dr. Keith Meister to take a closer look, per Arden Zwelling of Sportsnet<\/a>. That visit will come next Tuesday. Berr\u00edos will not throw in the interim.<\/p>\n

At present, there\u2019s no indication that Berr\u00edos is dealing with a major injury \u2014 or even a minor one of all that much note. The 31-year-old veteran (32 in May) ostensibly hasn\u2019t experienced any pain, and it\u2019s possible a clean bill of health will have him back on the mound in short order.<\/p>\n

Toronto\u2019s offseason dealings have left the veteran Berr\u00edos in an uncertain state. He\u2019s been a starter every year of his major league career \u2014 one of the most durable and consistent of the past decade. Dating back to 2018, he leads Major League Baseball in both games started (234) and innings pitched (1367 2\/3). Berrios started a full slate of 12 games during the shortened 2020 season and has started 30 or more games in each other season dating back to 2018.<\/p>\n

Despite that durability, Berr\u00edos has largely been pushed out of the Jays\u2019 rotation. Shane Bieber<\/a> exercised his $16MM player option to begin the offseason. Toronto then signed Dylan Cease<\/a> to a seven-year contract and KBO returnee Cody Ponce<\/a> to a three-year deal. Max Scherzer<\/a> signed a one-year deal earlier this month.<\/p>\n

Toronto\u2019s rotation mix entering the season includes Cease, Kevin Gausman<\/a>, Trey Yesavage<\/a>, Bieber, Berr\u00edos, Ponce, Scherzer and Eric Lauer<\/a>. They\u2019re eight deep in terms of quality big leaguers, with only last year\u2019s breakout rookie and postseason hero, Yesavage, able to be optioned. Clearly, he\u2019s not going to be sent down anytime soon.<\/p>\n

Injuries tend to alleviate this sort of crunch in the short-term, but that isn\u2019t necessarily the case here. Bieber is behind schedule due to forearm fatigue but has been throwing recently. A season-opening stint on the 15-day IL still seems likely, but it probably won\u2019t keep him out long. Each of Cease, Gausman, Yesavage, Ponce, Lauer and Scherzer appears healthy. The Jays had suggested they\u2019d be deliberate in building Scherzer up slowly, but he tossed four sharp innings in his first spring start.<\/p>\n

However it shakes out, Berr\u00edos is in an odd spot. Barring a major injury, he\u2019ll be on a crowded pitching staff that doesn\u2019t have a clear rotation spot for him. He\u2019s coming off one of his weaker seasons but was still plenty serviceable last year. In 166 innings, he posted a 4.17 ERA, 19.8% strikeout rate and 8% walk rate. The right-hander\u2019s 93 mph average four-seamer was a career-low, and his 92.2 mph average sinker was the second-lowest of his career. That walk rate, while solid, was the second-highest of his career in a full season and a notable step up from the 6.7% he\u2019d logged from 2017-24.<\/p>\n

There was some thought that perhaps the Jays would look to trade Berr\u00edos this winter, but that\u2019s not an easy undertaking. He\u2019s entering the fifth season of a seven-year extension. Berr\u00edos is still owed $66MM over the next three years, which is surely more than he\u2019d have received in free agency this winter. His contract also contains an opt-out clause after the 2026 campaign, so even if a team believed Berrios to be a prominent bounceback candidate and was proven right with a vintage 2026 showing, he\u2019d likely then trigger the out clause and head back into free agency.<\/p>\n

Berr\u00edos\u2019 $131MM contract also includes a limited, eight-team no-trade clause. That clause will be rendered moot 128 days into the season, when he reaches 10 years of major league service and receives 10-and-5 rights. The 10-and-5 provision \u2014 10 years of major league service, the past five with the same team \u2014 grants any player full veto power over trade scenarios.<\/p>\n

For now, Berr\u00edos\u2019 status is in limbo because of his own health. If he requires an IL stint to begin the season, he\u2019ll (likely) join Bieber there. Toronto could open with a rotation headed by Cease, Gausman, Yesavage, Ponce and Scherzer, with Lauer in a swing role. It\u2019s possible that the Jays simply won\u2019t simultaneously have all eight starters healthy at any point this season. In that scenario, they\u2019d be glad to have the depth. But if Berr\u00edos and Bieber are cleared to return in early-to-mid April, Toronto is going to have some tougher choices ahead.<\/p>\n

Lauer has taken a team-first approach, praising the tightknit group of rotation options and saying he\u2019ll pitch in whatever role he\u2019s asked \u2014 but he\u2019s also conceded that he\u2019d prefer to start<\/a>, all else being equal. He\u2019s a free agent at season\u2019s end, after all, and working as a starter is his best path to maximizing his earning power. That situation, combined with forthcoming updates on Berr\u00edos and Bieber, make the Jays\u2019 rotation group a particularly interesting one to watch in the final couple weeks of camp.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Blue Jays righty Jos\u00e9 Berr\u00edos was slated to join Puerto Rico for the quarterfinal round of the World…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":535643,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[49,48,14576,82],"class_list":["post-535642","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-jose-berrios","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/535642","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=535642"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/535642\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/535643"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=535642"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=535642"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=535642"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}