Leo Morgenstern

José Berríos has been on the injured list all season with a stress fracture in his right elbow. He seemed to be nearing a return until he suffered a setback after four rehab starts. He has since gone for imaging and met with Dr. Keith Meister. Today, John Schneider told reporters, including Sportsnet's Ben Nicholson-Smith, that "surgery is on the table" for Berríos. Given all the confusing details surrounding the right-hander's elbow health, it's hard to guess what kind of surgery it would be. However, at this point in the year, it's very likely that any kind of surgery would end his season. Rotation depth continues to be an issue for the Blue Jays, with Shane Bieber, Cody Ponce, and Max Scherzer joining Berríos on the IL. Eric Lauer was designated for assignment earlier this week, leaving just four fixtures on Toronto's starting staff: Kevin Gausman, Dylan Cease, Trey Yesavage, and Patrick Corbin. While the team has survived to this point, losing Berríos for the year could be tough to overcome. View full rumor

On Thursday, I wrote about the nine errors that the Blue Jays' pitchers have made in 2026. Instead of discussing the individual plays, I focused on the high total and how unusual it is – especially when errors, on the whole, have never been less frequent. Personally, I'm a glutton for statistical oddities. I love to research obscure major league records, and I love to figure out how many records a team or player might break if they continue at their current pace, even if I know there's no chance that pace will continue. Yet, I know that most people watch baseball for, you know, the actual baseball. So, I figured you might like to see the individual defensive misplays that I wrote about in the aggregate. Here are all nine errors the Blue Jays' pitchers have made in 2026, along with a little bit of my commentary. Error No. 1: Worst Is First - Cody Ponce, March 30 Oftentimes, errors are annoying in the moment and funny in retrospect. This one just sucked. Cody Ponce suffered a season-ending ACL sprain on this play. Let's move on. Error No. 2: Should've Had Him - Tommy Nance, April 1 This one was impossible to find a good clip of online, but it's definitely worth watching, so I GIF'd it. (Apologies for the quality. It's a little better at this link.) The biggest mistake here is that the Blue Jays let Troy Johnston get as far as he did toward second base before they reacted, but Tommy Nance still had plenty of time to make a better throw on this play. Even Johnston thought they had him at first; he almost stopped to run back to first before he realized Andrés Giménez didn't have a good handle on the ball. Error No. 3: That's Why You Keep Your Eye on the Ball - Dylan Cease, April 3 You know how I said errors can be funny in hindsight? This is what I'm talking about. At the time, it was frustrating. It was even more frustrating a few days later. If Dylan Cease had just caught that ball, maybe the Blue Jays wouldn't have suffered an embarrassing sweep at the hands of the White Sox. Yet, you have to admit it's funny to watch Cease swat the ball away, step on first base anyway, and then look at his glove as if he can't believe isn't in there. Error No. 4: Fleming's Best Pitch? - Josh Fleming, April 6 Josh Fleming made one appearance for Toronto this year. Half of the 18 batters he faced reached base, and four came around to score. It wasn't great. That's why it isn't that much of an exaggeration to call this his best pitch of the season. The only problem? It wasn't a pitch. It was a throw to first base. Fleming absolutely let loose on this one and sent it hurtling past first base. All Vladimir Guerrero Jr. could do was get out of the way and watch it sail to the wall. Error No. 5: Calling Canada's Funniest Home Videos - Kevin Gausman, April 7 You can watch the rest of the errors if you want, but this is the best one. Hands down. No contest. I could watch this again, and again, and again. (And I already have.) I only wish I had the filmmaking skills to add in a "boi-oi-oing" sound effect as Kevin Gausman's throw ricochets off of Alex Freeland's helmet. Errors No. 6-8: Ernie Clement Stares Into Center Field, Episodes I, II, III Braydon Fisher, April 17 Braydon Fisher, April 22 Dylan Cease, April 27 Toronto's next three pitcher errors were all botched pickoff attempts at second base, so I've combined them into one highlight reel. None of the clips does a great job of capturing the errors, but all of them show an exasperated Ernie Clement watching the ball roll to the center fielder. Error No. 9: At Least He Didn't Hit Anyone in the head - Kevin Gausman, May 5 After bobbling this one twice, Gausman had no choice but to eat the ball and let the Rays load the bases. Is it possible that the Blue Jays would have won this game if Gausman had made the play? Sure. But at least he didn't throw it straight into Cedric Mullins's helmet. Let's watch that one again, shall we? View full article

Earlier this week, Jays Centre's Owen Hill wrote about the Blue Jays' defense. He pointed out that the Jays are one of the best teams in the league according to Baseball Savant's Fielding Run Value (FRV), despite ranking as one of the worst in errors and fielding percentage. After reading Owen's article, I went down a bit of a rabbit hole. I was watching clips of all the errors the Blue Jays have made this season when it occurred to me how many of them were on the pitchers. Toronto has made 27 errors in 2026, the fifth-most in MLB. Of those 27 errors, nine belong to the arms. My gut reaction? That's a lot of pitcher errors. My gut was right. Pitchers aren't usually the best fielders. That's not a dig. They just have other priorities. What's more, by nature of where they stand on the field, the batted balls they have to work with are often moving very slowly or very fast. In either case, those can be tough to deal with. However, pitchers are limited in the number of errors they can make because they don't handle the ball all that much. They make errors at a higher rate than players at any other position, but even so, they're typically only responsible for 12-13% of errors league-wide. That's why I was surprised that pitchers have made one-third of the Blue Jays' errors in 2026. This year's pitching staff has already compiled more errors than the team's pitchers have in 13 separate seasons of Blue Jays history. Three of those were shortened seasons (1981, 1994, and 2020), but the other 10 were full 162-game (or even 163-game) campaigns. In 1988 and again in '92, Toronto's pitchers made a full-season franchise-record-low five errors; this year, they passed that total 11 games into the schedule. As a more recent comparison, the 2022 and '23 staffs only made six errors each year. That's an average of one per month. This year's pitchers already had eight errors by the end of April. Looking around the league, there are almost always a handful of pitching staffs that don't top nine errors all year. The last time that every single team's pitchers made more than nine errors was in 1974, before the Blue Jays even existed. Let that sink in. It's not unusual for a team's pitchers to make nine or fewer errors all season. The Jays' arms have already hit that mark by mid-May. For more historical context, the Blue Jays' pitchers are on pace for 34 errors this season. That would surpass the franchise record, held by the inaugural 1977 team; their pitchers made 30 errors. In fact, it would be the highest number of errors by any pitching staff in the live ball era; the record (33) currently belongs to the pitchers of the 1976 San Francisco Giants. So, at the rate they're mishandling the ball, Toronto's pitchers have a chance to break records that have stood for 50 years. But that might be underselling it. You see, errors are less frequent than they used to be. As Owen mentioned in his piece, MLB's official scorers have been getting more lenient in recent years, classifying fewer and fewer plays as errors. The league's .986 fielding percentage in 2026 is the highest it's been at any point in major league history. We're on pace to see 2,370 errors by the end of this season. In contrast, MLB fielders made 3,458 errors in 1976 – when there were only 24 teams. Fifty years ago, teams averaged almost an error per game. In 2026, it's more like one every other game. The rate has nearly been cut in half. Here's another way to think about it. The Blue Jays' pitchers are on pace to make 34 errors this year, and their nine errors account for just under 1.5% of all errors in MLB. However, if they were making errors at the same rate compared to league average in 1976, they would be on pace for 50. Fifty! If their current pace holds – which, to be clear, is unlikely, but we're having fun here – the Blue Jays would also set a record for the highest "pitcher error-to-position player error ratio" in major league history. One in three of Toronto's errors this year was committed by a pitcher. Right now, the full-season record belongs to the 2024 New York Mets, whose pitchers were responsible for about one in four of the team's errors (23 out of 94). And in case you're interested, the record in the opposite direction belongs to the 2021 Washington Nationals. The team made 96 errors that year (third-most in the NL), but only one of those errors was by a pitcher. It bears repeating that I don't actually expect the Blue Jays' pitchers – or the rest of their fielders – to maintain their current error pace. Errors are always unpredictable, and a quarter of a season is a tiny sample. I'm only bringing up full-season paces and historical records to contextualize how unusual it is that we've already seen so many pitcher errors at this early point in the year. Indeed, the real story here is the high number of errors the Blue Jays' pitchers have made to this point in the year. So, please check back tomorrow morning, because I'm putting together a piece where you can watch all of those misplays in all of their glory. View full article

Addison Barger will have to wait at least one more day before he's back in the Blue Jays' lineup. The team originally planned to activate him from the 10-day injured list ahead of tonight's game against the Angels, but John Schneider told Sportsnet's Jeff Blair and Kevin Barker today that Barger is still in transit. He is not expected to rejoin the Blue Jays until Saturday. This gives the team a bit more time to decide how to make room for Barger on the active roster. For what it's worth, the Angels are sending the left-handed Reid Detmers to the mound this evening, which might explain why the Jays aren't rushing the lefty-batting Barger to town. Barger has been on the IL since April 6 with a sprained ankle. Prior to his injury, he was 1-for-19 with a double and six strikeouts. Only two of his 23 plate appearances came against left-handed pitching. He has hit .193 with a 55 wRC+ and just one home run in 128 career PA against southpaws. View full rumor

John Schneider pulled Tyler Heineman in the middle of the sixth inning on Sunday. With the bases loaded and the Blue Jays down by three, Heineman swung at the first pitch and sent a lazy fly ball to shallow left field, ending the top of the frame. When the game resumed, it was Brandon Valenzuela crouching behind the dish. Heineman is batting .136 with 13 strikeouts since Alejandro Kirk fractured his thumb on April 3. He has not drawn a walk or recorded an extra-base hit. He's only scored once in 16 games. It wouldn't be realistic to expect Heineman to repeat his 2025 performance. It wouldn't be fair to ask him to hit as well as Kirk. Still, even the most charitable evaluator would have to admit that Heineman has disappointed. Instead of taking the kind of disciplined approach one might hope to see from a soft-hitting veteran catcher, he's swinging more, chasing more, and whiffing more. Since April 4, he has seen an average of 3.29 pitches per plate appearance, one of the lowest rates in the league. Season(s) Swing Rate Chase Rate Whiff Rate Pitches per PA 2019-25 52.3% 33.3% 18.2% 3.59 2026 (total) 58.2% 45.4% 23.7% 3.44 2026 (since Apr. 4) 58.4% 46.1% 25.5% 3.29 Data via Baseball Savant. It isn't hard to understand why Schneider might have been fed up. Before the skipper sent him to the showers, Heineman had seen just eight pitches in three at-bats that day. When he stepped to the plate to face Taylor Rogers in the sixth, he had already seen Rogers twice in the series – including his at-bat in the previous inning. By that point, Rogers had faced 10 Blue Jays batters across two innings. Heineman needed to make him work. Instead, he took a bad hack at a pitch he was never going to do any damage against. It would have been frustrating regardless of the score or the base-out state. The fact that Heineman wasted an opportunity to get his team back in the game wasn't the heart of the problem, but it may have been the straw that broke the camel's back. Except we don't know any of this for sure. Speaking to reporters after the game, Schneider offered just two little words to explain why he took Heineman out of the game: "manager's decision." When pushed for details, he doubled down on his coy response. It was subtle, but it looked to me like he smirked both times he used the phrase. And that's it. That's all we know. Those two words have been swirling around my brain ever since. Manager's decision. The phrase is meaningless. Utterly meaningless. It's not an explanation at all. Every substitution is a manager's decision. All Schneider really told us was that Heineman wasn't injured, and even then, he didn't technically say that. And yet... Manager's decision. The words themselves are meaningless. But the fact that Schneider chose those specific words – and only those specific words – is layered with meaning. He didn't say it was "my decision." That would have been the more natural, off-the-cuff response. By using the third person instead of the first person, Schneider simultaneously took responsibility and distanced himself from the situation. All he was actually saying was that he didn't want to say anything, but he invented a phrase to legitimize his avoidance. To his credit, it worked. Look at this quotation from a Sportsnet article on Tuesday: "Elsewhere, Brandon Valenzuela will make a second straight start behind the dish in place of Tyler Heineman, who was removed from Sunday's game against the Minnesota Twins due to a manager's decision." The author cited "a manager's decision" as unquestioningly as if they were writing that Heineman was removed due to back spasms. We cannot allow this to become a phrase that's ever written without scare quotes! It's not a real thing! The other consequence of Schneider's intentional vagueness was a Streisand effect. The Streisand effect describes the phenomenon by which an effort to keep something under wraps can ultimately draw more attention to that thing than it otherwise would have received. In this case, Schneider was trying (or at least he can claim he was trying) to keep the details of whatever went down with Heineman in-house. Yet, he ended up turning the whole thing into a bigger deal than it would have been if he had simply offered a more detailed explanation. I'm only writing this article because "A Manager's Decision" sounds like the title of a Lifetime original movie, and I think that's funny. I wouldn't have any material if Schneider had just said, "I benched him for a bad at-bat. End of story." Indeed, for as much time as I can spend analyzing the phrase, the reason I can't stop thinking about Schneider's "manager's decision" is that it makes me laugh. Imagine anyone else responding to a similar question with a similar response. Reporter: Tyler, why did you swing at that pitch? Heineman: It was a batter's decision. Reporter: Leo, how did you 10 loonie dogs in a single inning? Me: It was an eater's decision. Of course, what isn't so funny is what this all might mean for Tyler Heineman. Alejandro Kirk will hopefully return later this month. When that happens, John Schneider (and Ross Atkins) will have to make a much more important decision. If Heineman fails to win back his manager's favour by then, it might be Brandon Valenzuela who sticks around as the backup. It's all speculation for now, but eventually, the decision will be real. View full article

Toronto Blue Jays team president Mark Shapiro sat down for an interview on BNN Bloomberg earlier this week. While introducing Shapiro, anchor Merella Fernandez mentioned that the team brought in a record $445 million of revenue in 2025. This is the first time I've heard that $445 million figure, although I later checked and found it lines up with the team's 2025 revenue estimate from Forbes. While Shapiro did not personally confirm the number, the framing of the interview ("Blue Jays CEO Mark Shapiro shares how the team brought in $445 million revenue") certainly makes it seem like the executive is endorsing its accuracy. I can't say I'm all that invested in the particulars of Rogers' financials, but every further detail about how much freaking money the team made last season is a good sign that ownership will continue to invest in the Blue Jays' roster – and I'm all for that. View full rumor

Speaking to reporters before Tuesday's game against the Tampa Bay Rays, Toronto Blue Jays manager John Schneider revealed that José Berríos is going for an MRI on his pitching elbow. The right-hander has been on the injured list all season with a stress fracture. Although he claimed to feel fully healthy entering the spring, Berríos was shut down after testing revealed the fracture in his elbow. He started a rehab assignment in mid-April. In four minor league outings, he has given up 17 runs in 14.1 innings, struggling with control and failing to miss bats. His velocity was noticeably down in his latest appearance. Presumably, the team will have more information to offer tomorrow. While we can only speculate what this means for Berríos until we learn the results of his MRI, it seems likely that the Jays will need Eric Lauer for at least one more turn through the rotation. View full rumor

The Toronto Blue Jays are one of the best defensive teams in the league. While they didn't claim a third straight Gold Glove Team Award last season, they led the majors in Baseball Savant's Fielding Run Value. Infielders Ernie Clement and Andrés Giménez turned tough plays into easy outs and impossible plays into highlight-reel moments. Outfielders Daulton Varsho and Myles Straw covered every inch of center field ground, and plenty of right and left for good measure. Catchers Alejandro Kirk and Tyler Heineman were in complete control behind the plate. The 2026 Blue Jays haven't looked quite as impenetrable. Catching remains their biggest strength, with rookie Brandon Valenzuela stepping up (or crouching down) admirably in place of an injured Kirk. Past home plate, the everyday defense hasn't been quite as spectacular as we've come to expect, whether you're judging by traditional stats, advanced metrics, or the eye test. However, that doesn't mean we haven't seen some darn good plays. I was hoping to have this piece finished sooner than five days into May, but life gets in the way, and I think that's okay. After all, there's never a bad time to re-watch diving catches, behind-the-back throws, and bang-bang plays. Five Stars for Barger Addison Barger is best known for his artillery arm, but he didn't need to use it here. The right fielder recorded the first out of this game with a spectacular catch. According to Statcast, the ball had a catch probability of just 25%, making this the Blue Jays' first (and so far only) "five-star" grab of the season. Lukes Gets the Credit, but Giménez Gets the Out The Blue Jays finished second in the majors with 31 outfield assists in 2025. So far in 2026, they only have two, and one of them deserves a big fat asterisk next to it – it started with one of the costliest errors of Toronto's season. The other assist was credited to right fielder Nathan Lukes, who also earned the Jays' only outfield throwing run of the year on the play. However, his throw was short, and if it weren't for a great read and an even better dive by Giménez, Geraldo Perdomo would have slid into second base safely. Well, It Looked Impressive The award for "play that technically should have been routine but turned into a diving catch" goes to this effort from Davis Schneider. While the ball shot off Jarren Duran's bat at 104.4 mph, Statcast tells us that Schneider was already so well-positioned that a better read and a faster jump could have prevented the dive that sent him sliding onto the warning track. While this catch didn't boost his metrics, it sure looked cool, and it earned him a nice ovation from the Blue Jays bullpen behind him. More Points for Style I'm not convinced Clement needed to flip this one behind his back, and the execution wasn't perfect. Still, the Jays got the out, and I do appreciate the effort, even if it wasn't as pretty in practice as it sounds in theory. Infield Superman It's usually outfielders who make Superman-style leaps. Typically, when an infielder jumps, he's either going straight up or moving laterally and staying close to the ground. Of course, if anyone knows how to be a superhero, it's Vladimir Guerrero Jr. The first baseman got some serious air on this tag play to retire a sprinting Joey Ortiz. Everything Working As It Should Andrés Giménez is so damn cool. On the first double-play ball to shortstop in his first full season at the position, Giménez looked like he's been doing this his whole career. He started a run-saving double play with a spin as smooth as butter in a game the Jays went on to win in extra innings. Talk about a pivotal play. The Okamoto Show Scouting reports were mixed on Kazuma Okamoto's third base defense before the season started, and the picture hasn't gotten much clearer. He's made a few costly errors, and Statcast suggests he's been a net negative in the field. Yet, no Blue Jay made more highlight-worthy plays in the first month of the season than Okamoto. He can run in, he can dive to either side, he can make tough throws, and, most importantly, he reacts with the kind of speed that the hot corner demands. I've put together a compilation of some of his best defensive moments from March/April. The final two clips in the compilation show him catching the two hardest-hit balls a Blue Jays infielder has had to handle this season. Any Blue Jays defensive moments from March and April that you think I missed? Please share them in the comments below! View full article

This is the second half of a two-part series about the players who have joined the Blue Jays' active roster since Opening Day. You can read part one here. I started with the pitchers because they've made more of an impact (and had more success) than the position players. However, a piece like this is probably more useful for the position players, who aren't as well known as Patrick Corbin and Joe Mantiply and haven't received as much media attention. Let's get into it. Brandon Valenzuela, C 2026 Hitting Stats: 14 G, 39 PA, 2 HR, 3 RBI, .189/.231/.351, 59 wRC+ 2026 Catching Stats: 98 innings, 4-for-9 CS, +2 CS Above Average, +2 Framing Runs (per Savant), 2 DRS, 3 FRV Recalled from Triple-A Buffalo after Alejandro Kirk fractured his thumb. Brandon Valenzuela has been thrust into a much bigger role than he was supposed to take on, and he deserves credit for stepping up. He also deserves props for how nicely he has settled in behind the plate. Despite the occasional mistake, it's clear he's a talented defender. While they wait for Alejandro Kirk to return, the Blue Jays could do worse than a part-time catcher who helps his pitchers by stealing strikes and controlling the running game. Just don't ask about Valenzuela's offense. After hitting his first home run against the Twins on April 10, the switch-hitter went 2-for-22 with two singles, one walk, and nine strikeouts in his next eight games. He finally recorded another extra-base hit yesterday against the Red Sox, while reaching base three times – a new personal best. Still, by and large, Valenzuela just hasn't looked up to the task of facing major league arms. To make matters worse, Tyler Heineman has also come crashing down to earth with more playing time; his batting line is even worse than Valenzuela's. Blue Jays catchers rank last in the AL in wRC+, and their defense only bumps them up to 23rd overall in FanGraphs WAR. Kirk can't come back soon enough. Lenyn Sosa, UTIL 2026 Stats (with Blue Jays): 10 G, 30 PA, 0 HR, 4 RBI, .214/.207/.286, 28 wRC+ Acquired via trade from the White Sox on April 13. Note: Sosa is reportedly nursing a minor leg injury. He has not played since Monday. Evidently, the Blue Jays decided that Lenyn Sosa was an upgrade over Tyler Fitzgerald (more on him later). Fitzgerald joined the active roster in place of an injured Addison Barger on April 7. A week later, Toronto sent minor league outfielder Jordan Rich to the White Sox for Sosa and swapped him in for Fitzgerald as the new righty-batting utility player on the bench. Whatever it is the Jays might have liked about Sosa, it hasn't shown up in-game yet. Outside of a big double against the Angels last week, he hasn't done much at the plate. He has yet to draw a walk or hit a home run in 30 trips to the plate, and his 28 wRC+ ranks second-last among hitters on the active roster, ahead of only Heineman. The lack of power is especially disappointing, considering Sosa hit 20 doubles and 22 home runs for the White Sox last season. Primarily a second baseman, Sosa has experience playing all around the infield. So far, he has seen the majority of his playing time at DH, with a few starts at first and second base. He's made one highlight-reel play already, though Vladimir Guerrero Jr.'s reactions in the clip are just as entertaining as Sosa's catch itself: Yohendrick Pinango, OF 2026 Stats: 3 G, 2-for-5 Selected after Nathan Lukes strained his hamstring. The newest of the new Jays, Yohendrick Pinango made his MLB debut over the weekend, starting in left field against the Guardians. The lefty batter earned the call after Nathan Lukes hit the injured list. Pinango was hitting .288 with seven doubles, three home runs, and a 126 wRC+ at Triple-A Buffalo. His job in the majors is only safe until Addison Barger returns from the IL. However, now that he's on the 40-man roster, this likely won't be the last we see of the young slugger. Pinango still has skills he needs to work on in the minors, namely converting more of his raw power into balls that fly over the fence. Fingers crossed we get to see some of that power while he's with the Jays, but it might be smart to temper your expectations for now. Pinango is Jays Centre's No. 9 prospect. Read his full prospect write-up here! *Eloy Jiménez, DH 2026 Stats: 12 G, 35 PA, 0 HR, 3 RBI, .290/.343/.290, 82 wRC+ Selected from Triple-A Buffalo after George Springer fractured his toe. *Note: I originally finished writing this article about six minutes before the news broke that Springer was returning and Jiménez was DFA'd. Jiménez isn't on Toronto's active roster anymore, but he was around for long enough that his time with the team is still worth a couple of paragraphs of attention. A strong spring (in which he took reps at first base) had fans wondering if Eloy Jiménez could somehow force his way onto the Opening Day roster. While that didn't end up happening, he did not have to wait long to join the Jays. George Springer fractured his big toe a couple of weeks into the season, and Jiménez got the call to DH in his place. For a brief, shining moment, we could all dream that David Popkins would help Jiménez rediscover the power that earned him a Silver Slugger in 2020. Soon, we were just counting the days until Springer could get back in the lineup. While Jiménez's .290 batting average might look impressive, it was all from singles. He had nine hits, but none of them went for extra bases. That's disappointing, but it's not surprising; with all the poor plate discipline and mediocre contact we saw from Jiménez, the Blue Jays are lucky he managed as many hits as he did. The Phantom Bench Bat 2026 Stats: 0 G, 0 PA, -/-/- Was Tyler Fitzgerald ever really a Blue Jay? Yes. I swear. The Jays acquired the utility man earlier this month, after he was designated for assignment by the Giants. However, although he spent a week on the active roster, he never made it into a game. The Jays DFA'd him last week and traded him to the Dodgers on Tuesday. His stint with the Blue Jays lives on in his transaction log, but it won't appear on the back of his next baseball card. View full article

I spent a lot of time this offseason thinking about the players who were supposed to make the Toronto Blue Jays' Opening Day roster. Here at Jays Centre, we put out roster predictions. We wrote about the rotation, the bullpen, the lineup, and the bench, considering projected performance, positional logjams, and possible platoons. We wrote about guys like Eric Lauer, Davis Schneider, and Nathan Lukes until there was absolutely nothing left to say. That's what the offseason is for. Then the season started, and, well... fans plan. The baseball gods laugh. You don't need to know much about baseball to know it takes more than 26 guys to get through a season. At least one player you'd never even heard of in March will have made an impact for your favourite team before October. Right now, the Blue Jays have six five (I started this before Eloy Jiménez was DFA'd) players on their active roster who weren't around on Opening Day, not including Trey Yesavage, who returned from the injured list on Tuesday. Since we didn't spend much, if any, time thinking about these players over the winter, I thought it would be a good idea to give them all a little attention right now. Starting with the pitchers (I'll get to the hitters tomorrow), let's take a quick look at what each of them has done for Toronto in 2026. Patrick Corbin, SP 2026 Stats: 4 GS, 19.1 IP, 3.72 ERA, 16 K, 6 BB, 2 HR Signed a one-year, $1 million contract with the Blue Jays on April 3, shortly after Cody Ponce tore his ACL. Recalled from the Dunedin Blue Jays on April 7. Patrick Corbin has been everything the Blue Jays could have hoped for (and more). The 36-year-old signed with Toronto on April 3, and despite missing spring training, he was already pitching for the major league team a week later. The rubber-armed veteran has since thrown 19.1 innings over four starts, and the team is 3-1 in his outings. The Jays signed Corbin out of desperation for innings, and so far, the lefty has delivered with quality on top of quantity. He's been so steady that Eric Lauer is now the likely candidate to move to the bullpen when José Berríos returns from the IL. None of this is to say Corbin will stick in Toronto's rotation all year. We're still talking about a guy with a 5.47 ERA and a 5.65 xERA from 2021-25 (and a 5.84 xERA in 2026). Ideally, he gets bumped out for a healthy Shane Bieber before long. However, that doesn't take away from what Corbin has done for the Jays to this point, and it's nice to know that for as long as they need him, he'll be there. Joe Mantiply, RP 2026 Stats: 9 G, 10.2 IP, 3.38 ERA, 15 K, 3 BB, 1 HR Re-signed with the Blue Jays on a minor league contract on March 3. Selected to the roster when Brendon Little was optioned to Triple-A. From 2021-24, Joe Mantiply made 236 appearances for the Diamondbacks with a 3.63 ERA, a 3.49 xERA, and 3.2 fWAR. Yet, amidst a disastrous 2025, he found himself left on the scrap heap, and the Blue Jays were able to pick him up for nothing. So far in 2026, the lefty looks like his old self. Wait, scratch that. He looks better. Yes, it's early – really early – but Mantiply's stuff looks great. He has struck out one-third of the batters he's faced and induced grounders on more than half the balls his opponents have hit into play. If he keeps pitching this well, he has a good case to stick around even if another lefty (i.e., Lauer or Corbin) eventually moves to the bullpen. That's the optimistic take. As much as I want to focus on the positives, I need to point out that John Schneider has largely limited Mantiply to lower-leverage opportunities as a lefty specialist. The realist in me knows that the 35-year-old soft-tosser will remain on the roster bubble until he proves he can hold his own against opposite-handed hitters with the game on the line. The Others These four pitchers weren't on the Blue Jays' Opening Day roster, nor are they currently on the team's active roster. They did, however, spend time with the big league club at some point this year. Lazaro Estrada: 1 G, 4.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 3 K (15-day IL, shoulder impingement) Josh Fleming: 1 G, 3.0 IP, 6 H, 4 R, 1 K (DFA'd, re-signed to new minor league deal, assigned to Triple-A Buffalo) Chase Lee: 1 G, 1.1 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 K (Optioned to Triple-A Buffalo) Austin Voth: 1 G, 2.2 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 K (DFA'd, re-signed to new minor league deal, assigned to Triple-A Buffalo) View full article

Another Blue Jay is on the shelf. Nathan Lukes exited early on Friday against the Guardians. Today, the Blue Jays placed him on the 10-day injured list with a left hamstring strain. Lukes joins fellow position players Alejandro Kirk, George Springer, Addison Barger, and Anthony Santander on the IL. To replace Lukes in Toronto, the Jays are promoting another lefty-batting outfielder: Yohendrick Pinango. Soon to be 24 years old, Pinango will be making his MLB debut the first time he gets in a game. He is batting .288 with an .857 OPS and a 128 wRC+ at Triple-A Buffalo this season. Pinango was not on the 40-man roster, so the Blue Jays transferred reliever Yimi García from the 15-day IL to the 60-day IL to open a space. García is now eligible to return no sooner than May 21. View full rumor

The Blue Jays acquired catcher Willie MacIver from the Rangers today in exchange for cash considerations. MacIver will report to Triple-A Buffalo; he has two minor league option years remaining. MacIver, 29, appeared in 33 games for the Athletics last season, including 31 behind the plate. He hit .186 with three home runs and a 58 wRC+. The rookie backstop earned negative grades in most defensive metrics in that small sample. With Alejandro Kirk on the injured list and Tyler Heineman having dealt with back spasms this year, it makes sense that the Blue Jays wanted to add a little more catching depth. To make room for MacIver on the 40-man roster, the Jays designated utility player Tyler Fitzgerald for assignment. They acquired Fitzgerald from the Giants earlier this month. While he spent some time on Toronto's active roster, he never made it into a game. In six games for Triple-A Buffalo, he went 3-for-20 with a double and two runs. View full rumor

Facing the team that drafted him 20 years earlier, Max Scherzer righted the ship after back-to-back short starts. His outings against the Dodgers and the Twins were enough to make me worry an IL stint was imminent, but Scherzer cruised through six innings on 74 pitches in Arizona, holding the Diamondbacks to a pair of runs. I breathed a sigh of relief after this one, even as the Blue Jays went on to lose 6-2. One thing that stood out to me from that start was Scherzer's strikeout. Yes, that's strikeout, singular. Of the 22 batters he faced, only one went down on strikes: old friend Lourdes Gurriel Jr. It's not so often these days that you see the same number in the "K" and "QS" columns on a pitcher's game log. Well, to be perfectly honest, it's actually more common than I thought. I ran a Statcast query for quality starts (at least 6.0 IP, three or fewer earned runs) in which the pitcher struck out one batter or fewer, and I was surprised to see there have already been five this season. There were 29 such starts in 2025. That's rare – it's the same as the number of complete games in 2025 – but it's not like Scherzer's start was some wild anomaly. Still, Scherzer's low strikeout rate this season is worth talking about. Through four starts, he's struck out 10 of 68 batters for a 14.7% K-rate. Once again, that's not shockingly low in context. Nineteen pitchers (min. 15 IP) have a lower strikeout rate this season. It is, however, unusually low for Scherzer. At his peak, he was striking out one-third of his opponents. Even as he entered his forties, he kept his K-rate around league average from 2024-25 (22.8%). Mad Max has made 299 quality starts in his storied career. The only other time he made a quality start with just one strikeout was in August 2011, before anyone else on this roster was even playing in the major leagues. Meanwhile, the last time he went five starts with a K-rate under 15% was 2010. He's in danger of doing that again – for the first time in 16 years – unless he has better strikeout stuff in his fifth start of the season today. Back in 2010, Scherzer had yet to become the legend we know him as today. More to the point, the leaguewide strikeout environment was completely different. The average K-rate for a starting pitcher was 17.6%, compared to 22.3% in 2026. So, relatively speaking, this may be the most Scherzer has ever struggled for strikeouts. That's not good. Even more concerning than Scherzer's 10 measly strikeouts are his 22 whiffs on 135 swings (16.3%). Out of 137 pitchers who have induced at least as many swings, only seven have a lower whiff rate. Missing bats isn't the only way to earn strikes, but no pitcher can live on called strikes and foul balls alone. If Scherzer is going to get more strikeouts, he'll have to start by generating more whiffs. This is especially important because Scherzer relies on strikeouts more than most pitchers. He has always been more of a power pitcher than a pitch-to-contact type. His career groundball rate is 18% below league average. Over the last two years, no starting pitcher has yielded grounders at a lower rate (26.7%). Accordingly, only a handful have given up barrels more often. Some pitchers can survive with a strikeout rate in the mid-teens. (Think late-career Zack Greinke, for example.) Yet, in order to do so, they need enough other tools in their belt. I'm not confident Scherzer has those tools. Now comes the time when I bring up small sample size. I know, I'm sorry. I'm sure you're tired of reading that phrase, but honestly, I deserve credit for waiting this long to bring it up. Scherzer has thrown fewer than 20 innings this season. That's nothing. One strong start tonight, and all of a sudden, this could be a non-issue. We also know he's been dealing with forearm tendinitis, even if it doesn't seem particularly serious. In other words, his lack of strikeouts is something to monitor, but not something to keep you up at night. If anyone has earned a little patience, it's the guy who had his first double-digit strikeout game before his youngest teammate was six years old. View full article