Blue Jays general manager Ross Atkins met with members of the media today, including Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet. “It’s probably starting pitching,” Atkins said, when asked about the area of the roster he saw as the biggest opportunity to improve ahead of the trade deadline. “But it’s not as easy as just deciding to do that, because we have five starters that we’re confident in. But you can just never have enough.” He went on to add that the club would ideally find optionable starting pitching but noted that acquiring that type of player would be challenging.
The Toronto rotation has been an issue all year. Once upon a time, it looked as though the Jays had eight viable options for five rotation spots. On paper, they had Kevin Gausman, Dylan Cease, Trey Yesavage, Cody Ponce, Shane Bieber, José Berríos, Max Scherzer and Eric Lauer. It quickly became clear that the Jays didn’t expect all eight to be healthy to start the year. Yesavage, Bieber and Berríos all started the season on the injured list, though that still left the Jays with five good options.
Things got worse once the season began. Ponce suffered an ACL sprain in his knee during his first start of the season, prompting the Jays to sign Patrick Corbin. Ponce required surgery and is likely done for the year. Scherzer spent over a month on the IL due to right forearm tendinitis and left ankle inflammation. He came back and made one start before back spasms put him back on the shelf. Cease missed a couple of weeks with a hamstring strain. Lauer struggled enough to get designated for assignment and flipped to the Dodgers.
Around all those issues, Gausman has been the only constant. As others have come and gone, the Jays have had to get creative. Rule 5 pick Spencer Miles was effectively in the rotation for a while, working bulk innings behind openers. Guys like Simeon Woods Richardson, Lázaro Estrada, Austin Voth, Josh Fleming and Chad Dallas have been called upon to provide spot starts or bulk work.
Despite all that injury trouble, the Jays have hung in the race, with some help from a weak American League field. Their 39-40 record isn’t amazing but they nonetheless hold the final A.L. Wild Card spot at the moment.
The rotation group has recently become stable for the first time in months. Yesavage was off the IL before the end of April. Cease and Bieber have now returned from their IL stints. Those three, along with Gausman and Corbin, give the Jays a relatively steady quintet. Miles and Woods Richardson are each in the bullpen. Scherzer could be back in the mix shortly if his back spasms have subsided.
With the group on less shaky ground, it sounds as though Atkins is more concerned about depth than adding a front-of-rotation, playoff-caliber starter. As mentioned, he brought up the idea of getting optionable rotation depth. That is hard to come by, at Atkins admitted, since all clubs want to have contingency plans in place for inevitable injury situations.
That is something the Jays aren’t flush with. Jake Bloss is an option but perhaps not right away. He underwent UCL surgery in May of last year and is still in the process of getting back into a normal starter’s routine. He started making appearances in the Complex League in May, then pitched in Single-A and Double-A. He finally made a Triple-A start last week and made his second today. The first one saw him allow two earned runs over four innings, throwing 65 pitches. Today, he allowed five runs in 3 1/3, throwing 65 pitches again.
Atkins was asked about Bloss this week but didn’t want to put a timeline on him being a factor for the big league club “because there’s two factors there,” Atkins said. “One would be his health and recovery, and the second one would be his development.” Atkins added that the focus for the short term will be Bloss maintaining his health. “It’s not a time to push, it’s a time to ensure that he’s taking the next safe step.”
Beyond Bloss, guys like Dallas, Estrada and Ricky Tiedemann are on the roster. Tiedemann missed most of 2024 and all of 2025 due to Tommy John surgery. He has been waylaid by continued arm troubles here in 2026. He only just started making single-inning appearances in the Complex League this month. Dallas also missed 2025 while recovering from surgery. He hasn’t gone longer than four innings in any outing yet this year, majors or minors. Estrada spent some time on the injured list and has mostly been working stints of two to three innings over the past month.
It’s understandable that the Jays would want someone reliable in Buffalo, waiting for the call. Miles can’t be sent down as a Rule 5 pick. Woods Richardson is out of options. Corbin was a huge help to the club when everyone else was hurt but he has an 8.22 ERA over his past four starts. Scherzer is a big wild card right now, as he has a 10.23 ERA around his injuries this season but was reasonably effective at times last year. Bieber’s first start off the IL wasn’t encouraging, as he allowed four earned runs in 3 2/3 innings with his fastball velocity below where it was last year.
Things change fast and more developments are surely forthcoming between now and the deadline. The Jays will have some time to evaluate how things progress with all the guys in this group. It’s currently unclear which pitchers from other teams will be available, as so few clubs are clearly out of contention. As noted by Atkins, it’s shaping up to be a seller’s market, with so many clubs looking for pitching but so few having some to market.
Photo courtesy of Nick Turchiaro, Imagn Images