Jose Berrios' rehab start leaves brutal Blue Jays decision after Trey Yesavage return

The Toronto Blue Jays would love to get some bodies back. The amount of injuries that they have endured in the first few weeks of the season has been staggering and they could use some reinforcements sooner rather than later. But they only want those reinforcements if they are going to be actively contributing in a positive manner for the big league club and after José Berrios' first rehab outing, the Blue Jays may be forced into a decision that could be much more difficult to make.

Right now the Blue Jays have a starting five of Kevin Gausman, Dylan Cease, Eric Lauer, Max Scherzer and Patrick Corbin. One of them is going to be moving from their rotation spot once Trey Yesavage returns, which could be very soon after he made a start for the Triple-A Buffalo Bisons earlier this week.

Yesavage pitched 4.1 innings, throwing 71 pitches with his velocity sitting between 93-95 mph. While he allowed seven hits and three earned runs, he also induced 12 whiffs and had five strikeouts, which are the more encouraging numbers to look at. Reports indicated that Yesavage "looked like himself" during the outing and he could be on his way to the big leagues soon.

It's fare to suggest that Yesavage could take Lauer's spot in the rotation, sending Lauer to the bullpen, and giving that group another left-handed option that could eat up innings. Lauer has made three starts this season and in 12.2 innings pitched he's allowed 11 earned runs on 11 hits with 12 strikeouts and nine walks. His first start was excellent, with nine strikeouts and two earned runs on three hits in 5.1 innings. His next two outings haven't been great, although he was dealing with a sickness.

But he's the easiest one to move to the 'pen since he has been there before and he's been a valuable member of that group in the past. Last season, Lauer made 13 appearances out of the bullpen and threw 30.2 extremely effective innings, getting 28 strikeouts and walking eight, while allowing only six runs and one home run.

Who will be the odd man out when Berrios returns to the Blue Jays rotation?

With that bit of transaction out of the way, we turn our attention to Berrios who isn't ready just yet, but likely will be soon. Berrios was well on his way to making the team out of Spring Training, but was shut down after an awkward series of events that led to an MRI revealing he had a stress fracture. This only flared up because he was denied insurance to play in the World Baseball Classic and not something Blue Jays medical staff themselves knew about.

With that injury now behind him, the 31-year-old right-hander made his first rehab start on Thursday (Apr. 16) with the Single-A Dunedin Blue Jays and the results weren't great. He pitched 2.2 innings, allowed five hits, walked one, and struck out three on 47 pitches. However, according to Blue Jays beat reporter Keegan Matheson, the velocity was fine (sitting 93-95) and getting eight outs on 47 pitches is also encouraging, but Berrios labored through the first.

Four of those runs and hits and the walk, all came in the first inning, which took him 30 pitches to get through. It could have just been a case of Berrios just working on finding the zone and living in that area, which gave hitters way more opportunities for good pitches to hit, but if a pitcher is living in the zone, they would rather have guys swinging and missing.

The decision to bring back Berrios will be the difficult one for the Blue Jays to make. Do they remove Max Scherzer, who has struggled since his first start? He's been dealing with tendinitis in his forearm and after throwing six quality innings in his first start on March 31, he's thrown 4.1 innings and has allowed 10 earned runs on seven hits, with three walks, three home runs and five strikeouts. Maybe a Berrios returns allows Scherzer to rest up and go on an IL stint to deal with that forearm issue.

Then there's Corbin who has been exactly as advertised in his two starts since the Blue Jays called him up after signing an emergency one-year $1 million contract. Corbin has pitched 9.2 innings and has struck out nine hitters while allowing five earned runs on 10 hits. He's a prototypical number five starter at this point in his career. Some days you won't see him get past the fourth inning without allowing a few runs, while others he'll pitch into the sixth while almost keeping the opponents completely off the scoreboard.

The crux of the issue is, which of these two guys does Berrios replace? Maybe the answer will reveal itself with yet another injury since that seems to be the one thing the Blue Jays have been really consistent with this season. However, unless Berrios can show he's picked up his game over these next few rehab outings, this could be a difficult decision to make.

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