TORONTO – Max Scherzer’s right forearm isn’t responding to last week’s cortisone shot as quickly as he’d hoped. He received a second injection Monday, this one into his right thumb, after the troublesome digit flared up when he paused his keyboard work to protect the forearm, which is at the root of his troubles.
“I'm not able to get a throwing program going, that's what stinks,” he said Tuesday before the Toronto Blue Jays fell 7-6 in 10 innings to the Tampa Bay Rays, their third straight loss.
“I'm talking to so many different pitchers right now to figure out how to get through this, describing what my symptoms are. Because the craziest thing here is there's nothing, the MRI is clean, there are no strains. A few guys have had similar-type things like this, and how do you get out of this, what do you do in this situation to get through it. Trying to figure out what I've got to do.”
That applies to the Blue Jays and the rotation, as well, as they continue to sort through their options after designating Eric Lauer for assignment Monday. Manager John Schneider initially suggested that Spencer Miles, impressive as a three-inning opener ahead of Lauer on Sunday, could get some consideration but Tuesday said the club was “leaning” to using the off-day Thursday to push back the need for a fifth starter to May 19 at Yankee Stadium.
First things first, pitching coach Pete Walker was “gauging how (the other starters) are feeling and things like that,” said Schneider. “We're at the point now where guys are stretched out, they're getting into the routine of the season and things like that. You're going to you're going to do it over the course of the year and go case-by-case.”
Doing so would only be a temporary solution, of course, to a problem that isn’t necessarily a short-term issue.
Scherzer’s uncertainty, along with the concern about Jose Berrios – who visited with specialist Dr. Keith Meister in Texas on Tuesday – while Shane Bieber remains weeks away means the Blue Jays are trying to bridge over an unknown divide.
Schneider named triple-A Buffalo bulk arms Chad Dallas and CJ Van Eyk as a couple of internal possibilities, while Miles is intriguing but comes with the caveats of a minimal workload base due to injuries over the past three seasons and that the Rule 5 pick hadn’t pitched above A-ball before debuting.
That’s why another external add appears necessary, as the Blue Jays could, perhaps, get creative for a turn or two with Miles carrying bullpen days, or something along those lines. But worth remembering is that Patrick Corbin was signed in the aftermath of the Cody Ponce injury to be a temporary fill-in and has become a mainstay and while Bieber may be on the distant horizon, counting on that is perilous.
At the same time, barring a surprising trade so difficult to pull off at this point of the season, the Blue Jays will be hard-pressed to find another contributor as steadying as Corbin, who’s posted a 3.93 ERA in 34.1 innings over seven starts, including 4.1 innings of three-run ball against the Rays on Tuesday.
Simply replicating that would be an upgrade, which is needed with time of the essence given the hole in which the Blue Jays find themselves. They can’t simply wait for everyone to get healthy.
“You can think that, but there are also no guarantees in this sport,” said Scherzer. “You've got to go out there and take it. You've got to make your own luck. Guys right now have opportunities to go do that. You can say all the hurt guys are down, well, you have other guys with opportunities to go out there and succeed. This is an unforgiving sport, business and everybody every single day has an opportunity to win a ballgame.”
Mantra for what continues to be an unforgiving Blue Jays season thus far.
