TORONTO — A moment of perspective before we delve into the torrent of bad news from the Toronto Blue Jays – Robbie Ray was carrying one of his kids when he slipped on the stairs of his spring home and though he bruised his left elbow, he managed to protect his son in the fall.
“Part of the injury was making sure that was the priority,” GM Ross Atkins said Tuesday before the Blue Jays pounded the Philadelphia Phillies 9-3. “Bracing for that.”
The unusual incident a couple of days ago could certainly have ended in a far more troubling fashion for the Ray family, and that it didn’t should help reframe the grim bits of attrition revealed by Atkins.
Even on the worst end of the bad-news spectrum – word that closer Kirby Yates is “most likely” headed for season-ending Tommy John surgery – there’s no real calamity.
Another injury for the right-hander, who last August had bone chips removed from his right elbow, was always more than just a remote possibility, with Atkins acknowledging his $5.5-million, one-year deal “was very high risk with the potential of high reward.” The presence of Jordan Romano, Rafael Dolis, David Phelps and Tyler Chatwood in a bullpen deep with options gave the Blue Jays a chance to swing big and hope to connect.
Ray, meanwhile, might miss one spring start and still be ready for opening weekend against the New York Yankees, but even if he misses an outing or two, no biggie. And while the Grade 2 strain to George Springer’s left oblique is concerning, he’s played in seven games since abdominal tightness that Atkins said is connected to the current injury first forced him to sit March 9, and the Blue Jays are optimistic that the symptoms are milder than the diagnosis.
“The MRI revealed an injury that he’s able to play baseball with,” said Atkins. “He is extremely motivated and driven to be ready for opening day. I would imagine that it would have to be us taking that completely out of his hands in order for him not to be playing on opening day. We’ll stay open-minded to it and reassess it as we continue to get closer. But as I said and can’t reiterate it enough, our inability to recreate that pain or for him to feel a significant loss of strength or range of motion is extremely encouraging.”
That’s different than the usual calls for caution the Blue Jays attach to injuries. There were no signs that he was being hampered in recent days, added manager Charlie Montoyo.
“He was able to do everything, which was the weird thing about it,” he said.
Springer will rest for a bit and be re-evaluated in 4-5 days, said Atkins, but even if he misses opening day and needs a week or two beyond that, the Blue Jays’ roster surplus was amassed for just such situations.
“It’s hard when things like this happen, especially with George,” Lourdes Gurriel Jr. said through interpreter Hector Lebron. “But everyone on the roster is ready to go. We’re going to pick up any situation like this, Teoscar (Hernandez), Randal (Grichuk), myself, we’re going to be ready and hopefully George comes back really soon.”
The same goes on the pitching side, with the Blue Jays to decide next steps for Ray after he throws a bullpen in the next couple of days.
Nate Pearson, sidelined after re-aggravating a groin strain, is back throwing and will throw a side session “within days,” said Atkins. Thomas Hatch, who left a start last week with tightness in his right elbow, does not have any “UCL involvement” in the injury, the GM added, and “is not going to be missing significant time as long as he progresses and doesn’t have a setback.”
So, for the time being, the loss of Yates appears to be the only injury with long-term roster implications. He’d pitched in only two games this spring – March 11 and 20 – and his loss leads to a shuffling of roles, with Montoyo repeating that it’s closer by matchup to start.
That depth of arms led them to bet on Yates after top-tier free-agent targets Liam Hendriks and Brad Hand signed elsewhere. Whether the surgery last summer was a precursor for the current injury is unclear, although Atkins said, “our take is that he was healthy, he had no pain, no symptoms whatsoever.”
“It would be better to have a medical expert say chronic versus acute or acute on chronic,” he continued. “But this is part of it with someone that was coming off of a procedure. … Just part of it that didn’t work out for the Blue Jays this year.”
Intriguing is that when Atkins was asked about external adds, he began with the “confident in our depth” but always looking to add boilerplate, before adding they’d seek to get better “not just to raise the floor, but potentially even raising the ceiling.”
With Yates down, the Blue Jays “need to factor this in and consider if we need to be more aggressive as it relates to acquisitions before the trade deadline,” he added later. “We’ve been working on that. We’ll revisit that in a more assertive way.”
The trade deadline is the most obvious juncture but sellers may be more primed to act earlier than usual this summer to ease the financial fallout of the pandemic. Assuming the Blue Jays are able to assume more payroll, they should be well positioned to make adds as needed.
Nearly all their off-season adds came via free agency over the winter, leaving them with assets to make deals as needed. They’ll be able to build off trade talks from the off-season, and “it’s not specific to just relievers,” said Atkins. “We feel good about our relief depth and feel good about the options that we have there, even at the back of the ‘pen as well. We’ll revisit those and think about them as things sit today.”
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DEADLINE NEARS
Left-hander Francisco Liriano and infielder Joe Panik both have outs in their minor-league contracts Thursday while Tommy Milone, who allowed two solo shots over 4.1 innings of work of solid work against the Phillies, has one Saturday.
Given the recent injuries, it’s hard to envision Liriano not making the team along with right-hander A.J. Cole, who is also on a minor-league deal but doesn’t have an out until May 15. Panik appears to have a leg up on Brevic Valera for the final roster spot, while Milone is an experienced depth arm who will be of use at some point, for certain.
Either way, the Blue Jays will need to offer enough reassurance to keep them from exploring options elsewhere.
“We haven’t given anybody anything concrete,” said Ross Atkins. “It’s been more just talking to them about where things stand and how we’re thinking about it and then letting them know that we’ll give them clarity when we need to make that decision. And not because, really, we need more information. We just want to make sure we have all of the information to make something final. But based on how things have transpired, it’s not as much about competition at this point as it is about what position they’re in to start the season.”
LONGBALL FOR LOURDES
Lourdes Gurriel Jr., broke out of an 0-for-11 slide by crushing a 2-1 curveball from Zack Wheeler over the wall in left-centre for a two-run shot that opened the scoring in the first.
The left-fielder was also hit by a pitch and scored, grounded out and lined out in four plate appearances that left him pleased with the evening’s work. “I’m feeling very good right now,” he said. “I’ve been preparing myself the entire spring training for this and I’m just feeling good, ready to go.”
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ROMANO GOES BACK-TO-BACK
Canadian Jordan Romano became the first Blue Jays reliever to throw in back-to-back Grapefruit League games when he picked up two outs around a walk in relief of Tommy Milone.
Romano, whom the Blue Jays will lean on heavily in Kirby Yates’ absence, threw 11 pitches and while his average fastball velocity of 96 m.p.h. was a tick above the 95.5 he featured Monday, he didn’t get a single swing and miss, compared to six the previous night, five on his slider.
Roman Quinn did take two strikes on sliders before staring at a 96.1 m.p.h. fastball for strike three.
SHORT HOPS
Ross Atkins cleverly skirted questions about how the Blue Jays plan to construct their pitching staff in lieu of the recent injuries. One hint he did offer was this: “How the rest of the roster builds out as it relates to pitching specifically will depend upon the continued progress of our starters, how effective they are.” In other words, if they aren’t confident of getting consistent rotation innings, they may very well need more long relievers. … Trent Thornton could end up one of those arms. “He is certainly a very good option for us to be in our major-league bullpen,” said Atkins. “And if not, we’ll consider what other strategies we can take with him.” That would be stretching him out at the alternate site. And Atkins said long-term, the Blue Jays still want to give him a chance to start. … Ryan Borucki hasn’t pitched in a game since March 13, but Charlie Montoyo insisted that the left-hander is fine.
