Bowden Francis has a long road back to the Blue Jays rotation this summer

The Toronto Blue Jays' signing of Dylan Cease shouldn't have much impact on anyone else in the rotation, save for perhaps José Berríos and his long-term contract. Cease is a true ace who doesn't overlap with anyone, even Kevin Gausman.

The same can't exactly be said for Cody Ponce, whom the Blue Jays signed to a three-year deal shortly after locking up Cease. Those two, alongside Gausman, Shane Bieber, and Trey Yesavage, should round out the team's rotation on Opening Day.

That's a mighty impressive starting five, especially if Berríos is retained as competition for Ponce (or if Ponce is used as a swingman out of the bullpen). With Jake Bloss (if healthy), Ricky Tiedemann, Angel Bastardo and others on the 40-man roster ready to step up in the event of injury, the Blue Jays should be set in terms of their depth chart on the starting pitcher side of things.

Unfortunately, that may mean Bowden Francis no longer have a place on the roster. Francis unfortunately missed the entirety of the second half of the 2025 season while dealing with a right shoulder impingement and subsequent setback in his rehab.

Bowden Francis' shoulder health could determine future with Blue Jays

After a breakout campaign in 2024 -- one in which Francis authored a 3.30 ERA in 103.2 innings pitched -- the right-hander never got on track this past season, surrendering 19 home runs in 64 innings while recording a 6.05 ERA and 6.85 FIP.

Some of that surely can be chalked up to the shoulder issue, but Francis' strikeout rate declined for a fourth straight campaign, bottoming out at just 18.5%. In conjunction with a career-worst 9.4% walk rate, the 29-year-old simply had no real means to get hitters out in 2025.

There's hope he can turn things around with an offseason to rest and recover, but approaching 30 and with limited major-league results on his track record, there's no guarantee Francis will ever rediscover his form from a year ago.

There's a few paths the Blue Jays could take here. One involves stashing Francis at Triple-A Buffalo until he's needed (and shakes off the rust), given that he's got one option year remaining. Another solution could be converting him to relief to see if he can handle a multi-inning role out of the bullpen.

The last resort is designating him for assignment, though that may become a necessary evil if the 40-man roster (which currently stands at 38 players) becomes full. It's unlikely the Blue Jays would be able to trade Francis given his underperformance and injury, though he also wouldn't be likely to pass through waivers thanks to that 2024 breakout. It's truly a break-glass-in-case-of-emergency option.

Either way, the most important thing right now if Francis' health. If his shoulder is right, we know the kind of pitcher he can be.