Blue Jays wary of taking extra rest days from veteran starters

TORONTO — Amid the ongoing uncertainty about Max Scherzer’s troublesome right thumb and Easton Lucas’ sudden regression, the upcoming schedule presents the Toronto Blue Jays with an entirely new question: Can they safely ask more of their veteran starters?

Thanks to off-days Thursday and next Monday, the Blue Jays won’t need a fifth starter again until May 3 against Cleveland and given their current lack of alternatives, there’s certainly a case to be made for such a rollout. But doing so would force Kevin Gausman, Chris Bassitt, Jose Berrios and Bowden Francis to sacrifice a couple of starts with an extra day of rest, taking away an additional recovery day that could be beneficial down the road. 

The Blue Jays have made such asks before, notably in 2023 when a struggling Alek Manoah was optioned and they didn’t have anyone to backfill. But Bassitt, 36, Gausman, 34, and Berrios, 30, were all two years younger and had logged a couple hundred innings fewer back then, while Francis, 28, is yet to complete a full season in the majors and is coming off 123 total innings last year, his most since 132.2 in the minors in 2021. 

Keeping them healthy and optimized is an obvious strategic priority for the Blue Jays, who value getting their starters extra rest when the schedule allows and are wary of doing anything that might put additional strain on them.

“I don’t think we’re going to try to overwork some of our veteran pitchers,” manager John Schneider said, and later offered this reply when asked about the balance between that and a couple of turns without extra rest: “You want to keep everything moving in the right direction, especially for starters. They’re kind of creatures of habit and if you don’t foresee it being, a long-term thing, you want to keep them on schedule. Is there is there a way to do it with manoeuvring? Yeah, for sure. I think what we’ve done a really good job of is being in touch with those guys and those guys being honest with us. It’s early. We’re going to need to need more than just five starters. That’s just how the game works.”

With off-days May 5, 12 and 19, the schedule has already built in some starts on extra rest for the rotation, offering a period of catch-up. Later in the season, provided they have someone viable available, they can insert a sixth starter to break up one of their long stretches — they go 13 in a row May 20-June 1; 16 straight June 24-July 9; play 14 games in 13 days July 18-30; and 13 consecutive Sept. 9-21. 

Of course, wearing them out now could only exacerbate the wear-and-tear on the rotation by then, which is why Schneider certainly seemed to be making the case for letting Lucas figure out his issues with command and his secondary offerings with another start.

“When you show signs of doing it at this level,” he said, “there’s a belief that you can do it, and he’s got to get back to doing it.”

Still, Lucas’ spot comes up again next Sunday at Yankee Stadium against a New York team that entered Monday leading the majors with 38 home runs. The 28-year-old lefty followed a three-homer, eight-run, five-inning blitzing by Atlanta by giving up six runs on seven hits, two of them homers, and two walks in 1.2 innings Sunday against Seattle.

While five strikeouts and eight whiffs on 24 swings by the Mariners underlined his potential, Lucas called that “a really bad sign … because it means if you’re executing you can get outs, but every time I just managed to screw it up.”

Perhaps he can reset in time for Sunday, but there’s risk of counting on that and the outing unravelling early, wearing out the bullpen for the series at home against Boston that follows, even with an off-day in between.

Paxton Schultz, the 27-year-old righty who debuted with 4.1-shutout innings and eight strikeouts in relief of Lucas, was a saviour Sunday, but the Blue Jays must be mindful of their bullpen’s needs, too.

After all, Scherzer is aiming to resume throwing as soon as Monday in Houston after a second cortisone shot in his thumb. From there he’ll need to work up to side sessions, simulated games, perhaps even a short rehab assignment. 

In other words, the hole in their rotation isn’t going away any time soon.

Until Jake Bloss, who struck out seven with no walks and two unearned runs over 4.2 innings after three rough starts at triple-A Buffalo, or veteran lefty Eric Lauer, who’s carrying a 5.68 ERA through four starts for the Bisons, turn a corner, the Blue Jays have few other choices, fewer of them palatable ones. 

LIVING ON THE EDGE: Saturday’s 12-inning, 8-4 loss to the Seattle Mariners highlighted the tenuous nature of life on the fringes of a big-league bullpen. Had the Blue Jays capitalized on their chances to win the game in the ninth, 10^th or 11^th innings, Jacob Barnes doesn’t pitch the top half of the 12^th and Casey Lawrence the bottom half, perhaps negating the need for the teams to bring in arms to refresh their bullpens.

Instead, both were designated for assignment Sunday morning, with Paxton Schultz taking Barnes’ spot on both the 40- and 26-man rosters, while the Mariners selected Sauryn Lao at the expense of Lawrence, who made 10 appearances for the Blue Jays in 2017 and 2022.

Schultz, who certainly made the most of his debut, didn’t see his promotion coming, replying, “to be honest, not at all,” when asked if he sensed any upward momentum.

“I didn’t get a big-league camp invite,” he noted. “I talked to one of our mental performance guys and he pulled me aside, he knows how hard I’ve been working in the off-season and things like that, and he told me, ‘Delayed but not denied.’ I just kind of had that mentality. I knew if I did what I needed to do, take care of it, this opportunity would come and I’m glad it did.”

Schultz hasn’t started consistently since 2023, when he split the season between double-A New Hampshire and triple-A Buffalo. This year with the Bisons, the plan was for him to pitch in long relief, offering up anything from an inning up to four or five. 

On March 9, he threw 3.1 innings against Rochester and logged three against Durham on April 11. He threw 38 pitches April 15 before logging 64 against Seattle, while his eight strikeouts were one short of his total in four games with Buffalo. 

“I feel like they did a good job of still allowing me to get stretched out, be ready for a moment just like this,” said Schultz, who feels he could jump back into a rotation if needed. “If we did things smart and built up properly, I don’t think that’s out of the picture.”

CATCHERS ON GUARD: The exchange between Jose Berrios and Cal Raleigh on Saturday about potential pitch relaying by the Mariners backstop highlighted a subtle area that’s a high priority for catchers behind the plate.

“All the time,” Blue Jays catcher Tyler Heineman said of how often he keeps an eye on what runners at second base are doing. “I mean, it’s part of the game. They’re either picking up on some sort of tendency the pitcher has, looking into the glove, glove height, all these different things that they can pick up on. Or they’re picking up on me. Where you’re setting up, your glove target, certain mannerisms you do on certain pitches, things that are like little tells that we don’t even realize we have. We always have to be aware of it behind the plate and are just trying to kind of monitor that.”

Deciding what to do if he believes an opponent is relaying signs is more complicated, since it’s difficult to know with certainty what the opposition is keying on. Identifying the wrong thing, potentially distracting the pitcher with another element to focus on can be counterproductive.

That’s why “just going out to the mound sometimes when they know what they’re doing, can sometimes throw off a hitter as well, whether they still have (a tell) or not,” said Heineman. “The hitter might be less likely to trust in that situation, then you figure it out in the dugout. There aren’t really many things you can fix out there from a pitching perspective. I’m not going to be like, hey, they’re seeing something on your slider, hide it a little bit more when they’re trying to make a pitch in a big spot in the game.”

Catchers, ultimately, are in a unique position where “you’re the only guy that’s out there facing the opposite direction, seeing first-base coaches, third-base coaches, where your defence is set up,” added Heineman. “The No. 1 priority is preventing runs, getting your guys through the inning with no runs. That just goes in with all of it.”

EXIT SANDLIN: Nothing seemed amiss as Nick Sandlin threw a clean inning of relief with two strikeouts for the Blue Jays in Saturday’s loss. But the oft-used righty said he’d “been trying to work through” tightness in his right armpit area for “a week so.”

On the mound, the pain “was the worst it’s been … on release it’s been getting really sore and at this point we had to do something about it.”

That something was placement on the injured list for what he and the Blue Jays think will be a short stay. Sandlin, who’s pitched in 10 of the club’s 22 games so far, will be shut down for a few days to let the area calm down before next steps are determined. 

There’s no timeline for his return.

Dillon Tate was recalled from Buffalo to take his place and John Schneider said the plan will be to use him “a little bit where Nick was, really.”

“Don’t have any hesitation putting him in a high-leverage spot, he’s been there and done that, and his stuff has ticked up to where it has been in the past,” added Schneider. “Try to get him in against righties, of course, but like where his stuff is and trust him.”

Tate pitched in some mop-up work Sunday, surrendering a two-run homer to Rowdy Tellez in 1.1 innings with three strikeouts.

More from Sportsnet

Blue Jays loss raises questions about rotation, lack of homers

Bassitt, Blue Jays’ veterans talk changes within clubhouse