The Blue Jays’ Pitching Depth and Hyun-Jin Ryu’s Return

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The Toronto Blue Jays are officially down a player in their starting rotation, what with Alek Manoah being assigned to the minors for a while. This produces a follow-up discussion on a topic broached last week, that being the lack of pitching depth on the Jays’ roster.

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Blue Jays a Victim of Their Own Management

While it’s completely understandable that when a player struggles as much as Manoah has, they need to be re-assigned to work on their game, ideally the major league club has a backup plan. That doesn’t appear to be the case in Toronto, who, despite the presence of fine pitchers like Jose Berrios, Chris Bassitt, and Kevin Gausman, lack depth. So how much blame should management shoulder?

The former manager defers to a familiar name in the Blue Jays fanbase, former team radio announcer Jerry Howard.

“I always heard him say that the separation between the teams is a battle between the GMs, like in the offseason and before the trade deadline.”

The notion isn’t far from the truth. Players play and coaches coach, but the general managers are the ones that have a big role in acquiring said players and coaches. Gibbons puts a bit of water in his wine, however.

“It isn’t always that easy. It’s tough acquiring a good pitcher because teams don’t want to give them up. That’s why things usually take a little bit longer.

“Gibby” emphasizes the point that the Blue Jays are still in a decent position given how well the rotation has performed despite early season doubts. But, as he elaborates, nothing ever goes exactly according to plan, hence the spot the Jays are in today.

Hyun-Jin Ryu to the Rescue?

Bastl brings up the point about Hyun-Jin Ryu returning this summer from an extended injury-induced absence. On the flip side, given the length of the absence – 60 days – how will he slide back into the roster?

“Usually when guys come back from Tommy John surgery they’re healthy now. You gotta ease them into the game, and structure everything they do. If it’s a situation where they’re desperate, they’ll probably throw him in there.”

It’s important to temper one’s expectations and be realistic. Hyun-Jin Ryu isn’t scheduled to be back for a couple of months. His status as a possible solution to the rotation issues shouldn’t be seriously considered for the time being.