A Long Winding Road Ends in Tommy John for José Berríos

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At least we have an answer.

Last September, the Blue Jays placed José Berríos on the injured list with elbow inflammation. I'll admit I was skeptical at the time. I thought it was a phantom IL stint. After all, Berríos was never hurt. Never. All of a sudden, shortly after the team moved him to the bullpen – a move he was openly upset about – a vague injury allowed the Jays to remove the struggling veteran from their active roster while preserving some of his dignity. It just felt a bit too convenient.

Then, when Ross Atkins revealed that Berríos chose not to be with the team during the World Series because "he was disappointed that he wasn’t in our rotation," I thought my suspicions were confirmed. This wasn't about an injury. It was personal. I didn't know what any doctors might have seen on the righty's scans, but clearly, Berríos himself thought he was healthy enough to pitch.

A couple of months later, we got another update. Berríos explained that he was pitching through discomfort throughout the entire 2025 season. Huh. I had to rethink my phantom IL conspiracy theory. Maybe the truth was somewhere in between an actual injury and my cynical speculation. My new hypothesis? Berríos really was hurt, but the Blue Jays let him pitch through the pain until it became a convenient reason to remove him from the roster.

Regardless, it seemed like we were done worrying about Berríos and his elbow. After his first spring start, the veteran told reporters that he felt "pretty healthy, pretty strong."

“Last year, at this time, I had doubt in my mind already,” he explained. “Today, I felt like nothing's on my mind. I'm clear.”

Unfortunately, while his mind may have been clear, his scans weren't.

When Berríos was first denied insurance coverage to pitch in his fourth World Baseball Classic, I was among the outraged. For all we knew at the time – from what the Blue Jays and Berríos had communicated – he was perfectly healthy. However, when he was denied a second time, it came with the news that an MRI had found more inflammation in his elbow.

Even so, Berríos maintained that he was "feeling great and throwing the ball well." Both he and the Jays were so unconcerned that he wasn't even shut down from throwing. It was puzzling, but it still didn't seem like a big deal. Or at least, the Blue Jays and Berríos weren't making it seem like a big deal.

A week later, the "big deal" alarms finally started to go off in my head. Berríos was diagnosed with a stress fracture in his elbow. He would miss Opening Day. Once again, he claimed he was still pain-free. John Schneider was confident Berríos wouldn't be out for long. My confidence, however, was starting to wane. How did the team miss a fractured elbow? How on earth was Berríos pain-free? Were we getting the full story?

To be fair, the stress fracture diagnosis really didn't keep Berríos down for long. He made his first rehab start on April 16. But the mixed messages continued. The Jays maintained that the right-hander was nearing his return, despite his struggles against minor league hitters. Even when he suffered a setback and went for another MRI, the messaging was that this wasn't a soft tissue injury. Until it was.

Yesterday, Berríos went under the knife. Afterwards, the team announced that he had undergone a full Tommy John procedure. He will miss the rest of the 2026 season and likely most of 2027 as well.

Eight months ago, "La Makina" was the most durable pitcher in baseball. Since then, his elbow has taken him on a roller coaster ride.

It's always a gut punch when a pitcher looks dominant one moment, then he exits a start early, and the next day you learn he'll be out for the next 12-18 months recovering from Tommy John. Yet, I think the long, drawn-out Berríos situation was even more frustrating.

The only good news is that it's finally over (for now). It may not be the answer anyone wanted, but at least we have an answer.

Leo Morgenstern is the managing editor of Jays Centre. You can read more of his writing here, and you can find him on Bluesky ‪@leomorgenstern.bsky.social‬

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