TORONTO – One day after a series of injuries created some unwelcome questions for the Toronto Blue Jays, a different kind of challenge awaited team decision makers.
At this point, there’s little to be done about Kirby Yates, who will likely miss the entire season recovering from Tommy John surgery. But injuries to George Springer (oblique strain) and Robbie Ray (bruised elbow) must be managed carefully in the eight days remaining before the season opener and there appears to be genuine interest in pursuing outside help, too.
On the field, the Blue Jays beat the Yankees 5-0 in a game started by Trent Thornton Wednesday. But behind the scenes, bigger questions loom for the team that spent more on free agents than any of its rivals over the winter. To answer them, coaches and club executives will spend the next week gathering information on various fronts.
Once the Blue Jays have answers to the questions below, their path forward will become much clearer.
Will Springer be ready for the opener?
First up for Springer: a few days of rest. Best-case scenario, that helps and he’s ready to go for opening day.
If not, though, the Blue Jays have a couple of options. One: roster Springer but ease him into action with a start at DH and an early day off. Or two: place him on the injured list.
It’s far from ideal, and certainly not what anyone envisioned when Springer landed the largest contract in franchise history, but that six-year, $150-million deal makes the 31-year-old a core player for this franchise. Pushing him to his physical limits in March of the first year of the deal isn’t exactly ideal, either.
If the Blue Jays were to open the season with Springer on the IL, he’d be able to come back after just six games. Teams can backdate 10-day IL stints to March 29 and the Blue Jays have an early-season off day, so Springer could be eligible as soon as the third series of the season if needed.
In that scenario, they’d have a more-than-capable starting outfield of Lourdes Gurriel Jr., Randal Grichuk and Teoscar Hernandez and might carry an additional outfielder like Jonathan Davis for depth. Alternatively, Breyvic Valera or Josh Palacios could get looks for that outfield role, but it all comes down to how Springer progresses.
Will Ray be ready for the first week?
If Ray progresses as expected, he'll be part of the Blue Jays' season-opening rotation. If not, manager Charlie Montoyo could ask Anthony Kay, T.J. Zeuch or Thornton to make a start, but of course that has a chance to impact the team’s big-league bullpen and minor-league depth.
Asked Wednesday whether he’d rather pitch out of the MLB bullpen or stretch out for a potential starting role without the benefit of a big-league roster spot, Thornton was clear.
"I want to pitch in the big-leagues," he said. "Without a doubt. No hesitation. Whatever the team needs, I just want to help the team win. Obviously, I'd love to be a starter, but I just want to pitch in the big leagues. It finally feels so good to get back out on the mound and compete, feel that adrenaline. So yeah, it's pretty easy to answer."
As the Blue Jays build their pitching staff, they’ll need capable big-league arms to help them through an early season stretch of 16 consecutive games. That likely means a nine-man bullpen at times. But some of those pitchers will have to be stretched out to ensure a layer of starting depth exists behind the big-league rotation.
What’s out there in trades?
Even before the injuries to Yates, Nate Pearson and Thomas Hatch, the Blue Jays’ pitching staff could have benefitted from addition depth. Now, that need is more pronounced and the Blue Jays will explore ways of raising the floor and ceiling of their pitching staff, according to GM Ross Atkins.
"(We) need to factor this in and consider if we need to be more aggressive as it relates to acquisitions before the trade deadline," Atkins said Tuesday. "We've been working on that. We'll revisit that in a more assertive way."
Many veteran pitchers have contract outs this time of year, and out-of-options players can be available in trades. Regardless of where it comes from, there’s certainly a need for reinforcements.
In the meantime, there’s opportunity for the likes of Anthony Castro, who pitched another scoreless inning Wednesday while improving his Grapefruit League strikeout to walk ratio to 13:1.
"He’s in the conversation," Montoyo said. "He’s been outstanding."
How do the Blue Jays manage their 40-man roster?
Lost in the injury news is the question of which catchers are on the Blue Jays roster. If Alejandro Kirk’s strong spring performance has earned him a spot on the team, that means exposing Reese McGuire to waivers. There’s some risk in that, but depending on the answers to the questions above, the Blue Jays may actually need to open multiple 40-man spots.
Here’s how it breaks down. At present, their 40-man is full, but they’ll free up one spot easily when they transfer Yates to the 60-day IL. Yet all of Joe Panik, Francisco Liriano, Tim Mayza and A.J. Cole would require roster spots if added, meaning countermoves would be needed.
Simply put, the more non-roster players the Blue Jays want to carry, the more room they have to make elsewhere.
