{"id":672757,"date":"2026-05-16T05:19:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-16T05:19:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/672757\/"},"modified":"2026-05-16T05:19:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-16T05:19:08","slug":"blue-jays-notes-berrios-kirk-barger","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/672757\/","title":{"rendered":"Blue Jays Notes: Berr\u00edos, Kirk, Barger"},"content":{"rendered":"

Among the many Blue Jays starters currently on the injured list, Jos\u00e9 Berr\u00edos<\/a>\u2018 health situation might be the most perplexing at the moment. Berr\u00edos suffered a stress fracture in his throwing elbow during intake physicals for the World Baseball Classic, and that injury flared up again during a minor league rehab stint. Although an update was expected yesterday on Berr\u00edos\u2019 condition, there was no clear answer on the current severity of the stress fracture.<\/p>\n

If anything, the picture is even murkier now. Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet<\/a> relays comments from manager John Schneider, who says that \u201csurgery is on the table\u201d for Berr\u00edos. Schneider doesn\u2019t believe there is any ligament damage, but there may be \u201cloose bodies\u201d in Berr\u00edos\u2019 elbow in addition to the stress fracture, according to Keegan Matheson of MLB.com<\/a>. The latter injury comes with a range of outcomes for recovery. The Braves\u2019 Spencer Schwellenbach<\/a> and Hurston Waldrep<\/a> both underwent surgery to remove loose bodies in the spring. Schwellenbach is on the 60-day injured list and hasn\u2019t thrown yet, while Waldrep avoided the 60-day IL. In the last month, Tarik Skubal<\/a> and Edwin D\u00edaz<\/a> have also undergone surgery for loose bodies, and they\u2019re expected to miss two to three months.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s difficult to predict a timeline for Berr\u00edos from that range of outcomes. Given his long layoff and the lingering stress fracture, the Jays will understandably proceed with caution. At the moment, that leaves a four-man rotation of Dylan Cease<\/a>, Trey Yesavage<\/a>, Kevin Gausman<\/a>, and Patrick Corbin<\/a>. That obviously won\u2019t hold up long-term, and it\u2019s further complicated by the Jays\u2019 hectic schedule in the next two weeks. The team does not have an off day until June 1st, with 17 games between now and then, including tonight. Schneider has said the club will use a spot starter tomorrow, leaving three additional turns through the rotation that need to be covered by a spot starter or bullpen games.<\/p>\n

As hectic as their rotation seems, the Jays\u2019 offense got some positive injury updates today. Alejandro Kirk<\/a> is progressing in his rehab and has responded well to catching, per Nicholson-Smith<\/a>. According to MLB.com\u2019s injury report<\/a>, Kirk will catch injured starter Shane Bieber<\/a>\u2018s next bullpen session. That bodes well for the health of Kirk\u2019s left thumb, which fractured on April 3rd on a foul tip and necessitated surgery a few days later. At the time, he was projected for a six-week recovery timeline. It remains to be seen how Kirk will fare against live pitching, but for now, the signs point to him being back within or not too far beyond that time frame.<\/p>\n

In Kirk\u2019s absence, Toronto\u2019s offense has been a bottom 10 unit in the Majors. Entering play today, the team ranks 23rd with a 93 wRC+. Kazuma Okamoto<\/a> and Vladimir Guerrero Jr.<\/a> are hitting 15-20% better than average by wRC+. However, Andr\u00e9s Gim\u00e9nez<\/a>, Davis Schneider<\/a>, and George Springer<\/a> are all hitting at least 11% below average. Meanwhile, Kirk has a 110 career wRC+ and an 11.5% career strikeout rate. His eventual return will add a tough out to the lineup and lengthen the group overall. If the Blue Jays elect to keep Brandon Valenzuela<\/a> on as Kirk\u2019s backup catcher, that could also benefit the offense by limiting playing time for the weak-hitting Tyler Heineman<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Nicholson-Smith also provides an update<\/a> on Addison Barger<\/a>. Schneider feels that Barger is \u201cdoing better\u201d and will ideally be hitting and throwing by next week. If all goes well, Barger could be back \u201cpretty soon\u201d after that. This current IL placement is Barger\u2019s second of the year, as he previously missed a month due to an ankle sprain. He played one game before injuring his elbow on May 11th and landing back on the IL.<\/p>\n

The Jays may understandably be concerned after that succession of injuries, though it\u2019s perhaps a good sign that Barger can be back pretty soon after hitting and throwing drills. Barger has only had 28 plate appearances this year, but he had a 107 wRC+ in 502 plate appearances last year. His underlying metrics suggest that performance is sustainable. Barger\u2019s average exit velocity and hard-hit rate were in the 86th and 91st percentiles, respectively. Assuming he stays healthy this time, Barger would add depth to Toronto\u2019s lineup, albeit not as impactfully as Kirk.<\/p>\n

Photo courtesy of Brian Fluharty, Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Among the many Blue Jays starters currently on the injured list, Jos\u00e9 Berr\u00edos\u2018 health situation might be the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":672758,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[25816,21029,49,48,14576,82],"class_list":["post-672757","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-addison-barger","tag-alejandro-kirk","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-jose-berrios","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/672757","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=672757"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/672757\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/672758"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=672757"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=672757"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=672757"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}