Blue Jays search for fifth starter continues
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The Toronto Blue Jays have a void to fill in the form of a fifth starter until Max Scherzer makes his return to the rotation.
Manager John Schneider said Sunday the current approach to filling the opening «is see what other people are doing in terms of starting, maybe rolling through it one more time and then sticking to four (starters for a stretch).»
«I know we do have a lot of off-days, but I think trying to avoid doing the four-man kind of regularly right now would be important,» he added. «So see what Easton Lucas is doing and see what Jake Bloss is doing, Eric Lauer, see how Wednesday goes and kind of go from there.»
None of that is ideal, as the Blue Jays are understandably wary of burdening their veteran workhorse trio of Jose Berrios, Kevin Gausman and Chris Bassitt.
Still, three off-days this month give the Blue Jays an opportunity to be creative in how they roll out the rotation and consider running a partial four-man that would eliminate one outing by the fifth spot through the end of May.
Here are two possible tracks:
Using a partial four-man would mean Berrios, Gausman, Bassitt and Bowden Francis each sacrifice two starts on an additional rest day during that span. Given the Blue Jays' limited depth, is it worth it, even for a stretch?
Here's the difference in the two tracks for each starter:
Whatever they decide, they need to settle on a starter for Wednesday.
Old friend Casey Lawrence, who made 10 appearances over two previous stints with the Blue Jays in 2017 and 2022, was claimed off waivers from the Mariners on Monday and is a new option.
The 37-year-old went five innings on April 25 against Miami, allowing eight runs but only two earned, while throwing 83 pitches, leaving him on turn for Wednesday.
Lauer is also on turn and he's coming off five shutout innings with five strikeouts for triple-A Buffalo against Rochester on Thursday.
While he isn't on the 40-man roster, the Blue Jays opened a spot Sunday when they transferred Ryan Burr to the 60-day IL, so no issue there.
Bloss, after three shaky starts to open the season, has had consecutive solid outings, following up a 4.2-shutout inning, seven-strikeout performance with 4.1 shutout innings and five strikeouts in Sunday's 2-0 win over Rochester.
Lucas, optioned after two electric starts followed by two rough ones for the Blue Jays while covering for Scherzer, walked four and allowed two runs in 5.1 innings in his first outing back with Buffalo last week.
Scherzer, meanwhile, got back up on a mound over the weekend in New York but cautioned that though his progress was positive, he'd only taken «baby steps» forward and is unsure what will happen as he begins to rebuild volume.
| POLL | ||
AVRIL 29 | 66 ANSWERS Blue Jays search for fifth starter continues Who should the Blue Jays bring up from AAA Buffalo to fill the void until Max Scherzer is back? | ||
| Jake Bloss | 21 | 31.8 % |
| Easton Lucas | 24 | 36.4 % |
| Eric Lauer | 10 | 15.2 % |
| Casey Lawrence | 11 | 16.7 % |
| List of polls | ||
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