TORONTO — The Toronto Blue Jays tried to piece together a pitching plan on Tuesday against the Baltimore Orioles. It didn’t work. They dropped their second straight game against their AL East rivals, losing 10-1 at the Rogers Centre.
Without Alek Manoah, who is on the 15-day injured list with a right UCL sprain, the Blue Jays turned to Trevor Richards as their opener. That part went as planned, as the right-handed reliever pitched two scoreless innings with four strikeouts. But it was within the five relievers who followed where things fell apart.
Blue Jays manager John Schneider praised Richards, calling his performance “outstanding,” but said several relievers behind him didn’t execute their pitches after giving up three home runs to the Orioles, including two from Ryan Mountcastle, who continues his torment of the Blue Jays. In 24 career games at Rogers Centre, Mountcastle has gone 29-for-91 (.319) with seven doubles, eight home runs, 26 RBI and a 1.044 OPS.
“You have to execute your pitches and if you’re throwing s—t in the middle of the zone hoping for a good result, it’s probably not going to happen against Ryan Mountcastle or against me if I’m hitting there,” Schneider said. “We feel good about the plan going in, and it’s up to the players to go out there and execute the pitches. And if you don’t, that’s what happens.”
Ryan Mountcastle crushes his second HR of the night 443 feet. 😳 pic.twitter.com/9xKd6mIvPy
— MLB (@MLB) June 5, 2024
Now, the best the Blue Jays can hope for a split against the Orioles during this all-important four-game series. But more concerning than this single loss is the looming question: What will the Blue Jays do to fill out their rotation if Manoah misses significant time?
Manoah is scheduled to meet with orthopedic surgeon Dr. Keith Meister on Thursday in Dallas. The Blue Jays are waiting for this second opinion to determine a timeline for Manoah. But considering that the injury is concerned with his UCL, at best, Manoah is looking at four-to-six weeks without throwing. At worst, he will need Tommy John surgery and will be done for the season.
Those are two vastly different outcomes, but the common denominator is the Blue Jays still need to fill the void left by Manoah. Their first crack at it didn’t go so well — and there aren’t many better options to turn to now.
Big picture, the Blue Jays simply do not have enough starting pitching depth and this is a problem of their creation after they did not adequately supplement their organization with more depth starters during the offseason.
Yes, the Blue Jays had a rotation that ranked third in MLB in ERA a year ago, a group led by Kevin Gausman, Chris Bassitt, José Berríos and Yusei Kikuchi. All four of those starters returned this season and have a solid track record of health and workload. It was reasonable to bank on a consistent performance from that quad again. For the most part, they’ve delivered.
But, it’s also true that there were serious questions about Manoah after his career-worst season in 2023 when he was twice demoted to the minor leagues. The Blue Jays were optimistic he would bounce back and that’s fair enough. It’s the sort of faith an organization ought to have in a homegrown, former Cy Young finalist. But they still had to account for the possibility Manoah wouldn’t perform to his previous level and build out depth behind him. Or account for the chance that one of their starters got injured and needed to miss time.
Instead, the only significant free-agent pitcher the Blue Jays added this winter was Yariel Rodríguez, who came with plenty of questions after only ever pitching in Cuba and Japan, mostly in relief. He also sat out most of the 2023 season. Within the organization, their depth consisted of Bowden Francis, who made the club out of spring as the fifth starter after Manoah was injured during spring training, and top prospect Ricky Tiedemann, who while possessing an electric arm, has oft been injured and needed more seasoning at Triple A.
Now, we’re into the season. Manoah is missing time, not due to his performance, but because of injury. Where is the depth behind him?
Rodríguez is hurt and continues to make rehab outings to build up his pitch count. (He is scheduled to pitch in relief on Wednesday for Triple-A Buffalo.)
Tiedemann is also hurt after only pitching eight innings in Triple A. He is scheduled to throw a live batting practice session in Florida later this week and then make a rehab start.
Francis was activated from the IL on Tuesday, but he surrendered four earned runs on five hits — including two home runs — over 3 1/3 innings against the Orioles. Granted, this outing came fresh off his IL stint, and he admitted to feeling rust. It’s also a tall order to jump right back in against the Orioles, but his season ERA is 9.00.
It’s not as though a lack of starting depth is a new problem either. The Blue Jays had to turn to Richards in a similar scenario last season when Manoah was sent down to the Florida Complex League, amid his struggles. Toronto used Richards as an opener when the schedule required them to insert a fifth starter. Eventually — and luckily for Toronto — Hyun Jin Ryu returned from the IL after recovering from Tommy John and the Blue Jays used him as their fifth starter to finish out the season.
The fact that a year later, the Blue Jays find themselves in a situation where every fifth day a plan needs to be cobbled together is not ideal and, more importantly, should have been avoided.
So what can the Blue Jays do?
They could go back to Richards and continue to use him as an opener, or even attempt to stretch him out enough that he can go deeper than two innings. After the game, Schneider wasn’t looking to get too ahead of himself but he did say using Richards as an opener is a strategy they would try again in the future.
Rodríguez could return and the Blue Jays could use him as a starter, albeit one whose workload they’ll need to be mindful of. He at least showed good promise in his handful of starts earlier this season.
The team could continue to try and get more out of Francis since he’s built up to about 70 pitches, he said. At least the next time that spot comes up, the Blue Jays will be facing the Oakland A’s.
After that? Paolo Espino remains on the 40-man roster but has a 4.57 ERA in nine starts with Buffalo. Left-handed prospect Adam Macko, who is on the 40-man roster, is having a solid season for Double-A New Hampshire with a 3.86 ERA in 10 starts, but he’s yet to pitch above that level.
The trade deadline is still more than a month away, so that’s not a viable option yet. And by the time July 30 rolls around, the Blue Jays may be in the position of seller, not buyer, if the season continues on this trajectory.
There are a lot of issues affecting the Blue Jays right now — a struggling offence, a hurt and floundering bullpen, and a steep climb up the standings. Now add fixing the hole in their rotation to the list.
(Photo of the Blue Jays making a pitching change on Tuesday: Mark Blinch / Getty Images)
