Yesavage, Jose Berrios and Shane Bieber are all slated to start the season on the injured list.<\/p>\n
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Published Mar 19, 2026 \u00a0\u2022\u00a0 Last updated 9\u00a0minutes ago \u00a0\u2022\u00a0 4 minute read<\/p>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n You can save this article by registering for free here<\/a>. Or sign-in<\/a> if you have an account.<\/p>\n DUNEDIN, Fla. \u2014 From rookie sensation to the injured list, a wounded Trey Yesavage is the latest blow to Blue Jays pitching plans.<\/p>\n Advertisement 2<\/p>\n This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.<\/p>\n THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY<\/p>\n Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada.<\/p>\n Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account.Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on.Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists.Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists.Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword.<\/p>\n SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES<\/p>\n Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada.<\/p>\n Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account.Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on.Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists.Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists.Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword.<\/p>\n REGISTER \/ SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES<\/p>\n Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience.<\/p>\n Access articles from across Canada with one account.Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments.Enjoy additional articles per month.Get email updates from your favourite authors.<\/p>\n THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK.<\/p>\n Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience.<\/p>\n Access articles from across Canada with one accountShare your thoughts and join the conversation in the commentsEnjoy additional articles per monthGet email updates from your favourite authors<\/p>\n Article content<\/p>\n And just like that, what was shaping up as an area of extreme depth for the reigning American League champions is suddenly thinned out considerably.<\/p>\n Article content<\/p>\n Article content<\/p>\n The grim news was revealed by Toronto manager John Schneider on Thursday as he announced that Yesavage will begin the season recovering from what the team is describing as right shoulder impingement.<\/p>\n The announcement isn\u2019t a huge surprise given some of the struggles and careful handling of Yesavage here at Spring Training, but a setback nonetheless. The development also exposes the team playing loose with the truth with the status of the prized rookie\u2019s health status over the past week.<\/p>\n Yesavage had been babied along this spring and had yet to throw in an official Grapefruit League contest. As well, at least two teammates had noted that the 22-year-old\u2019s velocity has been lagging. It was clear with Thursday\u2019s announcement, however, that there have been concerns about Yesavage\u2019s status for weeks given that he informed the team of his condition when he arrived here.<\/p>\n Your Midday Sun<\/p>\n Thanks for signing up!<\/p>\n Article content<\/p>\n Advertisement 3<\/p>\n This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.<\/p>\n Article content<\/p>\n \u201cObviously (the condition) led to his slow build up,\u201d Schneider said. \u201cHe\u2019s feeling good, so he\u2019ll be able to continue on the program he\u2019s on, but will open the season on the IL.<\/p>\n \u201cWe had a plan to kind of slow play it anyway after last year and then wanted to get over that hump initially and did.\u201d<\/p>\n Without Yesavage at his best, the Jays didn\u2019t want to force the issue and will back off, keeping off the mound until the middle of next week.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ll see how he progressed. He doesn\u2019t have to stop throwing or anything,\u201d Schneider said.<\/p>\n What is an impingement?<\/p>\n On yet another day when Schneider was asked to play doctor, he said the biggest difficulty with the injury is that it affects Yesavage\u2019s range of motion. Obviously that both limits his effectiveness and his velocity.<\/p>\n Advertisement 4<\/p>\n This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.<\/p>\n Article content<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not a strain or anything like that,\u201d Schneider said. \u201cJust not fully functional. So now that we\u2019ve kind of knocked that out, just continue to ramp up. That\u2019s behind him now. It\u2019s just about making sure he\u2019s in a good spot medically, physically, to be in the best spot he can be.<\/p>\n \u201cA lot of guys deal with this and when he reported (to camp) then it was \u2018okay, let\u2019s slow play this a little bit.’\u201d<\/p>\n Schneider said that the condition should heal with rest and treatment, which is why the team isn\u2019t worried that Yesavage will be sidelined for any length of time.<\/p>\n The team\u2019s revelation of the injury setback also explains some of our conversations with Yesavage over the previous week. While polite, the young right hander was uncharacteristically brief in his comments, several times saying he was approaching his status as \u201cday by day.\u201d<\/p>\n Advertisement 5<\/p>\n This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.<\/p>\n Article content<\/p>\n What were the signs of trouble?<\/p>\n From the start of camp there were certainly concerns, though from Schneider, to pitching coach Pete Walker to Yesavage himself, there were certainly some warning signs.<\/p>\n First off, the fact that he only pitched in a game last week \u2013 and even that was a simulated minor league contest in which he didn\u2019t finish either of the two innings he started and allowed a pair of home runs. Then there was the velocity concerns, from those who saw him in action.<\/p>\n \u201cIf he was throwing 95 or 96 (miles per hour) right now, I think we\u2019d be having a different conversation,\u201d told the Toronto Sun after Yesavage\u2019s most recent outing on Monday. \u201cBut the fact that he was not built up to that \u2026 he\u2019s a potential superstar so of course they\u2019re going to try to do every little thing to make sure he\u2019s able to perform at his best.\u201d<\/p>\n Advertisement 6<\/p>\n This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.<\/p>\n Article content<\/p>\n On Wednesday during an appearance on the Foul Territory podcast, fellow Jays starter Kevin Gausman noted that Yesavage\u2019s arm \u201cwasn\u2019t bouncing back the way he wanted.\u201d<\/p>\n What\u2019s next for the thinned out rotation?<\/p>\n Hello, Eric Lauer, basically.<\/p>\n With Yesavage, Jose Berrios and Shane Bieber all slated to start the season on the injured list, Lauer looks like a lock to handle the fifth spot in the rotation when the season gets under way next week.<\/p>\n The Jays were well aware that they would need starting pitching depth and the emergence of Max Scherzer\u2019s terrific work this spring may end up being a god send.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s why you kind of build up everyone that you have available for that rotation spot,\u201d Schneider said. \u201cA month ago we were talking about all the starter\u2019s we have and baseball has a way of working itself out.<\/p>\n \u201cYou just want to see who is the best fit for those times. But we\u2019re comfortable with all those guys as starters.\u201d<\/p>\n As it stands heading into the final weekend of spring training, the Jays rotation shapes up as: opening day starter Gausman followed by some combination of Dylan Cease, Max Scherzer, Cody Ponce and Lauer.<\/p>\n Article content<\/p>\n Share this article in your social network<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Breadcrumb Trail Links SportsBaseballMLBToronto Blue Jays Yesavage, Jose Berrios and Shane Bieber are all slated to start the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":547407,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,44,41,39,42,40],"class_list":{"0":"post-547406","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-top-news","11":"tag-top-stories","12":"tag-topnews","13":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/547406","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=547406"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/547406\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/547407"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=547406"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=547406"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=547406"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Toronto](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/bbo-blue-jays-yesavage_301568305-e1773764622787.jpg\")
Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Trey Yesavage talks about his pitches at Spring Training in Dunedin, Fla., Friday, Feb. 13, 2026. Photo by Frank Gunn \/THE CANADIAN PRESSArticle content<\/p>\n![\"Toronto](\"https:\/\/dcs-static.gprod.postmedia.digital\/20.8.1\/websites\/images\/identity\/logo-identity-tsun.svg\"){kind=logo}
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