Loss of Dylan Cease puts further strain on Blue Jays' pitching resources

Dylan Cease was off to a great start. The 30-year-old right hander looked like the ace the Toronto Blue Jays were hoping he would be when they signed him to a club record seven-year, $210 million deal this past offseason.

Through his first ten games as a member of the Blue Jays Cease appeared to be getting better with every start. He had accumulated 84 strikeouts in 57.1 innings pitched, resulting in a 2.98 ERA and 2.29 FIP. Outside of his second outing of the season, Cease managed to complete at least five innings or more in all of his starts, including a stretch where he got through seven innings in three straight games, and allowed four runs while striking out 26 batters in those 21 innings.

But in the fifth inning of his start on Sunday against the Pittsburgh Pirates, Cease came out during the top of the fifth with what appeared to be a cramp in both of his legs. After the game, reports came in that he had undergone an MRI and there was no extensive damage, other than the leg cramps and manager John Schneider told reporters that Cease was already stating he would make his next start.

24 hours later, that all changed. Cease hit the 15-day Injured List with a mild left hamstring strain, although Schneider maintains that, "t doesn't look too terrible, knock on wood. Just trying to be smart and not have it get worse. Don't know the exact timeline yet ... hoping it's a minimal stay."

Cease hitting the IL another blow to the teams pitching depth

And so is every Blue Jays fan right now as the team has already been dealt a unfathomable amount of injuries that has completely depleted the teams pitching resources. They were already having to use a bullpen day as the team had not yet found a replacement for a fifth starter, and after the Cease injury they are down to Kevin Gausman, Trey Yesavage and Patrick Corbin as their main guys in the rotation.

What's happening is beyond sustainable and the Blue Jays are going to have to keep digging into their depth chart to find guys who can be stop gaps until the reinforcements are ready. The issue is, some of those reinforcements are also on the mend with no clear timeline.

José Berrios has recently undergone Tommy John Surgery meaning he's done for the season. Max Scherzer is slowly recovering from a multitude of issues affecting his throwing arm as well as his left ankle and his right thumb. Shane Bieber got into a rehab game with the Blue Jays Florida Complex League team this week, but the Blue Jays have to watch how he recovers from that outing before they can firmly say whether or not he is ready to move up to the next level of that recovery process.

The Blue Jays will likely have to bring someone up from Triple-A Buffalo to make their MLB debut. On Monday it was Tanner Andrews getting the call to join the teams' bullpen. There are also rumours that Chad Dallas, a Blue Jays fourth round pick from 2021, has been removed from his scheduled start on Tuesday evening. He was expected to get the ball for the Bisons in their game against Lehigh Valley.

As of this writing though, nothing has been confirmed. Regardless of who does come up, there will be giant shoes to fill in Cease's void. It's once again a case of the Blue Jays just having to ride out the storm in this instance and hoping they can build some momentum until their main roster pieces return.

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