Blue Jays' rotation very dicey beyond Bassitt, Berrios and Gausman
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Chris Bassitt, Jose Berrios and Kevin Gausman are a cornerstone of how the Toronto Blue Jays is built. They provide stability to an otherwise very dicey rotation.
Just ask Blue Jays manager John Schneider he leans on them a lot.
«They are competitive. They always want to pitch. They understand certain situations. They have answered the bell numerous times when we're kind of short in the rotation. And it's not easy to do,» he said.
Consider that the combined 273.1 innings logged by Berrios, Gausman and Bassitt rank second among American League trios, just behind the 275 from Tampa Bay's Ryan Pepiot, Zach Littell and Shane Baz and just ahead of the 272 from Max Fried, Carlos Rodon and Will Warren of the New York Yankees.
«We've asked a lot of them. They've got a lot of innings pitched, all of them. They're reliable. They keep you in ballgames. And I can't really speak to the luxury that it is because it's not really found in today's game this much, to have three guys that post but to have those three guys do what they do consistently, it makes you feel good and gives you a chance every single time.»
Of the Blue Jays' 389.1 rotation innings, which ranks 24th in the majors, 70 per cent of them have come from Berrios, Gausman and Bassitt. They've also logged 40 per cent of the club's total of 686.2 frames.
Pick your metaphor, but it's no exaggeration to call them the underpinning, the stability posts, the base for everything the Blue Jays do, with Scherzer's looming return Wednesday possibly strengthening the mix.
«Hopefully he's back with us the rest of the year,» added Bassitt. «And it just kind of solidifies our rotation a lot more, where the bullpen doesn't have to be as relied upon as it has been and it takes some pressure off Berrios, me and Gausy having to eat innings and things like that.»
At the same time, the uncertainty about Scherzer's status due to his thumb issues will linger.
Coming off a 75-pitch rehab outing with triple-A Buffalo on Wednesday, Scherzer said "I was able to recover, that's good.
But this issue is going to keep on going for me. It's just an ongoing issue, so I've got to figure out how to manage it and stay out there."
He later added that "there's nothing you can do, it's not like you can take more rehab starts and that's going to fix it.
Once you get to a major-league game, the intensity goes up, so how's that going to respond? You're never going to know until you actually do it.
So that's why I always say, I'm not going to consider myself over this until I'm in the majors making starts and not having to deal with this.»
Finding ways to deal with the thumb is something that Scherzer and the Blue Jays could only do thanks to the reliability Berrios, Gausman and Bassitt provide.
There are obviously no guarantees with Scherzer's health, one can only hope that Bowden Francis can find the form he had late in 2024 and then there is the immanent return of Alek Manoah in late August.
There are a lot of if and buts in that paragraph. The blue jays can only hope for a two out of three ian't bad type of scenario.
Do you think the Blue Jays need to trade for another starting pitcher before the MLB Trade deadline?
Tell us what you think in the poll below.
Source: Sportsnet
| POLL | ||
JUIN 22 | 276 ANSWERS Blue Jays' rotation very dicey beyond Bassitt, Berrios and Gausman Do you think the Blue Jays need to trade for another starting pitcher before the MLB Trade deadline? | ||
| Yes | 242 | 87.7 % |
| No | 22 | 8 % |
| Too early to tell | 12 | 4.3 % |
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