Blue Jays' Friday starting pitcher a cruel reminder of offseason quest

The Toronto Blue Jays have gone through their pitching depth so fast in 2026 that only three weeks into the season they need an opener. On Friday night in Arizona (Apr. 17) the Blue Jays have tabbed relief pitcher Braydon Fisher as the "starter" for the game. Fisher has one career start under his belt, and it didn't go well. Last season, the 24-year-old rookie was asked to start the game on May 31, against the Athletics. He lasted 1.1 innings, giving up five earned runs on four hits.

Those were the first runs Fisher had ever allowed to score against him in his brief MLB career, and fortunately for him, he was able to rebound. Fisher went back into the bullpen and was perfect over his next 14 appearances, striking out 20 hitters in 14 innings and allowing six hits, three walks an no runs. The first runs he allowed as a reliever that year came on Jul. 3, which ran an impressive streak of 21 games without allowing a run to begin his career (outside of that start).

So the Blue Jays are hoping he has a better outing this time around as the entire team is looking to get back in the win column after dropping the final two games of their series against the Milwaukee Brewers. But regardless of how Fisher fares, the fact he's starting at all brings up another issue for the Blue Jays - where did all that starting pitching depth go from this past offseason?

Injuries have ravaged Toronto's pitching depth

Fisher being used as an opener highlights the biggest challenge the Blue Jays have had come their way in 2026 - dealing with injuries. During the offseason the Blue Jays added pitching in spades. From Shane Bieber taking the option on his contract, to signing Dylan Cease and Cody Ponce, to even more minor moves such as signing Michael Plassmeyer or Josh Winkowski - the Blue Jays built up a bulk of pitching depth. But that depth was tested right out of the gate.

Bieber, Trey Yesavage and José Berrios didn't make it out of Spring Training healthy. Cody Ponce got hurt in his first start. Max Scherzer has been dealing with forearm tendinitis. All of that leading to an emergency signing of Patrick Corbin to a one-year, $1 million deal, but even that hasn't stemmed the tide of having to roll with the punches and figure out a plan on the fly. They used another reliever, Mason Fluharty, as an opener last week and they have to go back to that game plan again against the D-Backs.

The hope though is that this is just going to be a one time thing for Fisher. He is such an effective high leverage option in the bullpen that it almost feels like a waste to use him so early in the game - but you also don't mind having a guy that can get you off to a good start. And if Lauer is healthy, this could be a "test game" for him and what comes next.

That's because Yesavage is getting close to a return to Toronto. He had his third rehab start earlier this week and threw over 70 pitches with all of his stuff looking good and his velocity sitting in the 93-95 mph range. Yesavage could come off the Injured List and rejoin the Blue Jays in their starting rotation - but doing so in a limited capacity. The plan all along this season has been to monitor Yesavage's workload and it was beleived early on that Lauer would be the piggy back for Yesavage if he was only able to go three or four innings in the early part of the season.

That could be exactly what is happening here with the Blue Jays getting Lauer ready to fill that role for when Yesavage does come back. All told though, the rotation can't be completely blamed for the slow start to the 2026 season. In fact, the 7-11 Blue Jays have had some great performances from their starters in recent days.

Kevin Gausman and Cease continue to be exceptional at the top of the rotation, while Corbin pitched a gem into the sixth against the Brewers earlier this week. But with Scherzer laboring at the moment, and Lauer being inconsistent, getting Yesavage back couldn't come soon enough.

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