DUNEDIN, Fla. — Jose Berrios won’t be ready for Opening Day after being diagnosed with a stress fracture in his right elbow, manager John Schneider said Wednesday, removing one option, at least initially, from the Toronto Blue Jays’ crowded starting rotation mix.
The 31-year-old known as "La Makina," or "The Machine," for his remarkable durability received the news during a visit with specialist Dr. Keith Meister last week.
Schneider described the review as a “relatively good report” and added that Berrios “is still symptom-free.” The plan is for him to take a few days off from throwing to be cautious, “hopefully, that's not too long,” and “as long as he's feeling good, get back on the mound fairly soon,” the manager added.
That won’t happen soon enough to break with the team, which focuses the rotation down to opening-day starter Kevin Gausman, Dylan Cease, Cody Ponce, Max Scherzer and then one of Eric Lauer, slated to pitch in a minor-league game Wednesday, or Trey Yesavage, who has been built up in especially cautious fashion this spring.
The roll-out for the Jays' final four games of the spring hints at their rotation out of the gate, with Ponce starting Thursday against the visiting Yankees, Scherzer on Friday at the Minnesota Twins in Fort Myers, followed by Gausman on Saturday in Bradenton at the Pirates and Cease on Sunday versus the Rays.
Lauer would have the flexibility to slot in anywhere after Cease on the following turn and Schneider described him as “firmly in the mix to be in the rotation.” He also noted how “at the beginning of camp, when you say everyone is going to get stretched out, you never know when there are some bumps in the road or some off-ramps to take or something like that.”
Shane Bieber at the beginning of camp was one of those off-ramps, with Berrios — who finished last season on the injured list with elbow inflammation and this spring was denied World Baseball Classic insurance for the same reason — becoming another.
“In talking to Jose, there's no pain, so that's a good thing,” said Schneider. “Whether that's kind of been there or whether that isn't affecting him when he throws, that's a good thing. But we're definitely going to monitor it going forward.”
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