Have the Blue Jays mismanaged their pitching staff during season's biggest stretch?

The Toronto Blue Jays owe their unexpected success this season to a number of factors. This includes exceptional defence, timely hitting, late inning resiliency, key performances by just about every member of the pitching staff - and - good vibes. (All stats going into Thursday night's game)

Manager John Schneider and various players have lauded their approach to communication this season - insuring that everyone is involved and knows their role. When the likes of Joey Loperfido, Jonatan Clase, and even Buddy Kennedy have been called up, they've wound up in the starting lineup within a day or two.

While the team's success has been driven by that full roster approach, it's also led to the need for tough decisions to be made when there have been roster crunches - whether it's been the return of Daulton Varsho from injury, the insertion of Shane Bieber to the pitching staff, or, most recently, the long-awaited return of Anthony Santander.

Now, as the team stumbles its way towards the post season, it's worth re-examining some of those roster decisions, and exploring the impact they have had on the team's fortunes.

Have the Blue Jays mismanaged their pitching staff during season's biggest stretch?

Lauer to the Bullpen

It's hard to imagine where the Blue Jays would be this season if not for the emergence of Eric Lauer. With Max Scherzer on the shelf for the first half of the season, and with Bowden Francis unable to replicate his 2024 success, the journeyman lefty was called up at the end of April, and immediately provided relief to a beleaguered staff.

After six impressive bulk appearances out of the bullpen and a couple of spot starts, Lauer joined the rotation on June 11th, and over the course of 12 starts, pitched to a 6-1 record with a 3.05 ERA, 63 punch-outs, and just 16 walks.

By comparison, over that same stretch, Jose Berrios' numbers were headed in the opposite direction. After two strong starts to close out June, Berrios pitched to a 5.68 ERA across nine starts, averaging less than five innings per appearance.

Once the team acquired Shane Bieber at the deadline, they had a choice: use a six-man rotation, or move one of Berrios or Lauer to the bullpen. Ultimately, they chose to keep Berrios in the rotation, but did not define Lauer's role - skipping his scheduled start, before throwing him out on extended rest - which led to, by far, his worst start of the season.

Since then, Lauer has made just five appearances, pitching to a 4.70 ERA. Is he a long relief option or a situational lefty? With less than a week to go until the post-season, the team still doesn't seem entirely sure. As for Berrios, more on that later...

Fisher & Fluharty to the Minors

When Bieber was finally ready to take the mound for the big club after three weeks of rehab in Buffalo, Braydon Fisher wound up the initial odd-man out. It was a defensible move - both because he could be sent down without passing through waivers (unlike fellow pleasant surprise, Tommy Nance), and because he'd be back in a couple weeks once rosters expanded.

A few days later, Mason Fluharty was sent down in the wake of a 12-inning victory down in Miami, despite putting up impressive numbers following a late-July recall that included striking out Shohei Ohtani with the bases loaded en route to his first career save.

Already without Fisher, and with Lauer taking up a roster spot while being under-utilized, the Jays were forced to turn to the likes of Paxton Schultz, Justin Bruihl, Easton Lucas and Dillon Tate to eat up innings before Fisher was finally eligible to be recalled on September 5th. They also didn't bring Fluharty back for another two weeks, deciding instead to audition Ryan Borucki and use Brendon Little as much as humanly possible.

Since this stretch also included the struggles of Louis Varland, Yariel Rodriguez and Jeff Hoffman, one can't help but wonder if Fisher and Fluharty could have helped to stabilize the staff a little sooner.

Berrios to the Bullpen...Now?

Even though the Jays chose to keep Berrios in the rotation over Lauer during the first rotation crunch in mid-August, the team seemingly did him few favours as his stuff regressed and he struggled to finish off hitters in two-strike counts. Despite Berrios being known as a creature of routine, the team has not started him on normal rest once since Bieber joined the rotation.

In five starts since then, Berrios pitched to a 6.14 ERA with just 16 strikeouts in 22 innings, and an average of less than five innings per start. His last start, made the day after Trey Yesavage's debut, saw Berrios throw five innings against the Rays without a single strikeout.

Three days after that start, the team quietly announced that Berrios was moving to the bullpen. Less than 24 hours later, Chris Bassitt was placed on the IL. Berrios has since landed on the IL himself.

If the initial choice to demote Lauer over Berrios was made to protect the latter's feelings, this move clearly disregarded that concern - accented by Berrios' visible frustration on Wednesday during his first bullpen appearance since 2017. Suddenly, the stable of seven viable starters is down to four - and that doesn't include the team's decision to skip Shane Bieber on Thursday.

Manoah D'dFA

In a move that shocked just about everyone, the corresponding roster move made to make way for Anthony Santander's return was to effectively part ways with popular starting pitcher Alek Manoah.

The 27-year-old former first round pick put up decent numbers during his rehab assignment down in Buffalo, but as Ben Nicholson-Smith reported, the underlying factors included inconsistent mechanics and diminished fastball velocity, with Ross Atkins saying that he believes other players on the 40-man-roster have a better chance of contributing in the postseason than Manoah does.

If you believe in vibes, then you probably also believe in karma. And while moves along the fringes of the roster may seem insignificant in the grand scheme of things, it's easy to forget that human beings are involved in these decisions.

What's the message sent to Manoah, a pitcher that burst on the scene in 2021, made the All-Star game in 2022, started on Opening Day in 2023, overcame massive struggles, and then spent over a year rehabbing from Tommy John Surgery - to get removed from the team with a week to go in the regular season?

What's the message sent to the rest of the Blue Jays - many of whom have played with Manoah and were rooting for his return? How will they be handled if they, too, experience adversity or a lengthy injury recovery?

One can't help but wonder if each of these moves, made over the course of just over a month, have disrupted those good vibes to a point of no return.