MRI Reveals New Elbow Inflammation for José Berríos

[Leo Morgenstern]

On Thursday, Blue Jays manager John Schneider revealed that Jose Berríos has been diagnosed with inflammation in his pitching elbow (per MLB.com's Keegan Matheson). Fortunately, no one seems overly concerned, and Berríos will not be shut down from baseball activities. 

"I've been feeling great and throwing the ball well," Berríos told reporters (including Sportsnet's David Singh). "But the MRI says something, so now we have to take care of that."

Indeed, both player and manager seem surprised by the results of the MRI. After all, just a few weeks ago, Berríos spoke about how healthy he was feeling: "Last year, at this time, I had doubt in my mind already. Today, I felt like nothing's on my mind. I'm clear."

Schneider was clear to note that it was "different inflammation" than anything Berríos dealt with last season. Whether that's good news or bad news is hard to say.

"We're kind of still in the information gathering stage," Schneider explained (per Singh).

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[mphenhef]

Are we sure they didn't mix up the scans from Jose's elbow this week and Santander's shoulder from early in the off-season that showed no damage?

[G-Snarls]

That sucks. Was hoping for a bounce back, not an extended IL stint to start the season. 

[Terminator]

Should be ready:

• Cease
• Gausman
• Ponce
• Scherzer
• Lauer

I guess he's going to be ready?

• Yesavage

Won't be ready:

• Bieber

Who knows?

• Berrios

I still think we are okay on pitching depth for now but it's something to keep an eye on.

[Brownie19]

This is a prime example of why Lauer should keep his f*cking mouth shut and do as he's told.

[Stangstag]

Dios mio

[Stangstag]

I guess its a good thing we didn’t trade any of our starting depth lol

[G-Snarls]

21 hours ago, Stangstag said:

I guess its a good thing we didn’t trade any of our starting depth lol

Yeah indeed 

And we may just get the most out of Scherzer early in the season instead of the other way around 

[jaysblue]

Still some FA arms available.

Shocked no team has signed Giolito yet. 

Corbin, Anderson, Montas, Nestor Cortes. Not much left. 

[jaysblue]

On 3/13/2026 at 12:41 PM, Terminator said:

Should be ready:

• Cease
• Gausman
• Ponce
• Scherzer
• Lauer

I guess he's going to be ready?

• Yesavage

Won't be ready:

• Bieber

Who knows?

• Berrios

I still think we are okay on pitching depth for now but it's something to keep an eye on.

I think the Jays should be fine if things stay the way they are with the current starting five. Plus Yesavage should be ready by some point soon.

Another injured arm, and things start to look a bit more worrisome.

[hanton]

20 minutes ago, jaysblue said:

I think the Jays should be fine if things stay the way they are with the current starting five. Plus Yesavage should be ready by some point soon.

Another injured arm, and things start to look a bit more worrisome.

wa?   what happened to Yesavage?

[jaysblue]

22 minutes ago, hanton said:

wa?   what happened to Yesavage?

Jays likely to monitor his workload early on. Jays are building up Yesavage slowly: just threw a 35-pitch simulation on March 11 and scheduled for more work on March 16. Hasn't appeared in any Grapefruit League games.

 

[hanton]

5 minutes ago, jaysblue said:

Jays likely to monitor his workload early on. Jays are building up Yesavage slowly: just threw a 35-pitch simulation on March 11 and scheduled for more work on March 16. Hasn't appeared in any Grapefruit League games.

 

right.  Seems a little strange this far into the spring but hopefully nothing is wrong and they're just bringing him along slowly.

[bronson44]

Don't we get an extra year of control with Yesavage if he is in AAA for the first month? I wonder if they are entertaining that at all.

[Ryu In My House]

On 3/14/2026 at 8:46 AM, G-Snarls said:

Yeah indeed 

And we may just get the most out of Scherzer early in the season instead of the other way around 

He is looking really sharp! I thought he would be a May or June SP, but he may be ready right out of the chute. Nice surprise.

[mphenhef]

20 hours ago, hanton said:

right.  Seems a little strange this far into the spring but hopefully nothing is wrong and they're just bringing him along slowly.

I wonder how much of this is to keep him away from opposing teams, scouts and statcast setups in the early season so there is less data on his delivery point.  I suppose pitching in the World Series means this is all out there anyway.

[jaysblue]

What would Yesavage be capped at for regular season + postseason innings? 160 innings?

[Spanky__99]

37 minutes ago, jaysblue said:

What would Yesavage be capped at for regular season + postseason innings? 160 innings?

He has no restrictions, they want him to be ready for the playoff push, similar plan as last year. So a 160-170 innings sounds right.

[Brownie19]

20 hours ago, bronson44 said:

Don't we get an extra year of control with Yesavage if he is in AAA for the first month? I wonder if they are entertaining that at all.

Can someone confirm this?  I don't believe that's correct, but I'm no expert.

[Spanky__99]

16 minutes ago, Brownie19 said:

Can someone confirm this?  I don't believe that's correct, but I'm no expert.

Sounds right, he has 14 days service time...

An MLB player is considered a rookie unless they have exceeded 130 at-bats, 50 innings pitched, or 45 total days on an active Major League roster (excluding time on the Injured List) in a previous season. These cumulative thresholds determine eligibility for awards like Rookie of the Year and prospect status.

So say they hold him back through Mar/April and reaches that mark of 45 days in June he'll avoid Super 2 and the Jays would gain a year of control. IIRC

[John_Havok]

20 hours ago, bronson44 said:

Don't we get an extra year of control with Yesavage if he is in AAA for the first month? I wonder if they are entertaining that at all.

Its possible, but if he finishes high in ROY voting he gets a full year of service time automatically. I'd say that's a pretty decent possibility.

So why not just break camp with him, hope he wins ROY and nets a draft pick as well to go along with being one of the best options the Jays have for their rotation?

 

[Laika]

So he has a STRESS FRACTURE in his elbow. 

It's pain free and only showed up on his physical when trying to get insured for playing for Puerto Rico. 

He will not make opening day. 

The nature of this kind of explains... a lot. A lot about the weirdness surrounding his injury and how it was handled, communicated, etc. This is not a standard elbow injury. 

[Stangstag]

Just now, Laika said:

So he has a STRESS FRACTURE in his elbow. 

It's pain free and only showed up on his physical when trying to get insured for playing for Puerto Rico. 

He will not make opening day. 

The nature of this kind of explains... a lot. A lot about the weirdness surrounding his injury and how it was handled, communicated, etc. This is not a standard elbow injury. 

Always frustrates me when they find these things 2-3 weeks out from opening day…

Like, Berrios/Santander couldn’t spend a few days seeing specialists in the offseason to find this stuff quicker?

[Laika]

I have no idea what this means going forward.

You'd almost prefer a TJS because that would come with the hope that he comes back in May of 2027 with an extra mph and some renewed effectiveness. 

My assumption with this thing is that it will just be some annoying tightrope walk until he breaks further. It will be in his head that he has this injury. If it doesn't hurt him he can pitch, but if there is inflammation in there it might be a technical detriment even if it doesn't hurt.

[BTS]

So rotation is basically set then? 

Gausman

Cease

Ponce

Scherzer

Lauer

 

With Yesavage hopefully stepping in for Lauer within a start or two? 

[John_Havok]

28 minutes ago, Laika said:

So he has a STRESS FRACTURE in his elbow. 

It's pain free and only showed up on his physical when trying to get insured for playing for Puerto Rico. 

He will not make opening day. 

The nature of this kind of explains... a lot. A lot about the weirdness surrounding his injury and how it was handled, communicated, etc. This is not a standard elbow injury. 

Its also very odd that he is pain and symptom free. That seems like it shouldn't be the case, and he has looked fine throwing in ST. 

Weird situation for sure

[Laika]

43 minutes ago, BTS said:

So rotation is basically set then? 

Gausman

Cease

Ponce

Scherzer

Lauer

 

With Yesavage hopefully stepping in for Lauer within a start or two? 

Yesavage might be on the roster day 1

Threw 35 P on Monday. Probably time for two more turns. One this weekend, whether that's in an actual grapefruit league game or not, and the another around March 26th, that's probably some simulated or minor league thing again. 

He would be stretched out to over 50 P at that point and in line to pitch March 31st at home against Colorado. Maybe he just takes his regular turn, but it's abbreviated piggy back stuff for a few weeks, with Lauer or Scherzer coming out of the pen? And then after the first 7 games there are 4 off days in April so lots of flexibility to do whatever, maybe skip him completely one time.

 

[Brownie19]

Tough break for Jose Berríos… though honestly, based on last season, I would’ve guessed he’d been pitching with a broken arm since May.

[The_DH]

5 hours ago, BTS said:

So rotation is basically set then? 

Gausman

Cease

Ponce

Scherzer

Lauer

 

With Yesavage hopefully stepping in for Lauer within a start or two? 

Isn't there something about if Yesavage gets ROY and he plays the 162 game season then we get a first rounder or something like that?  I'd imagine the team would be interested in this. 

[Spanky__99]

17 hours ago, Brownie19 said:

Tough break for Jose Berríos… though honestly, based on last season, I would’ve guessed he’d been pitching with a broken arm since May.

You mean July, that's when it got ugly. 😜