News goes from bad to worse for Blue Jays starter José Berrios

Toronto Blue Jays starter José Berrios is having a tough week. First, it looked like he was going to get his wish to represent his home nation in the World Baseball Classic. The native of Puerto Rico was denied insurance prior to the tournament starting but reapplied to get cleared for the second round.

The team's manager Yadier Molina said in an interview earlier this week that Berrios got the clearance and would join them for their quarterfinal game. A few hours later, the team's GM Carlos Beltran issued a statement saying that Berrios had in-face not gotten the insurance required to play. So not only is Berrios out of the running to play in the WBC, he may be out of the running to open the season in the Blue Jays rotation.

Will Berrios be ready for Opening Day?

Berrios has told reporters that he feels fine and that his arm strength is back to 100% after an issue last year that flared up in the spring and carried over to the end of the year. But now after the insurance debacle it seems like there is more to this story than what Berrios and the Blue Jays are letting on. An MRI was needed for Berrios to be cleared to obtain that insurance and there was something in that MRI that denied said clearance. Manager John Schneider said it's a unique situation while Berrios says it's a weird one.

Regardless of the verbiage, Berrios is heading to see Dr. Keith Meister in-person on Tuesday for further examination. He was scratched from his start against the Phillies on Thursday and the Blue Jays have said Berrios won't be throwing until that meeting happens as they are trying to be extra cautious in the event that it is something serious.

It's disappointing news, at the moment, for Berrios. He was looking to put 2025 behind him and compete for a spot in the rotation for the entire season. Last year, Berrios had a strong stretch for the first three months of the year. He pitched to a 2.88 ERA in 16 games, with 84 strikeouts in 97 innings pitched. But he fell apart in the second half, got demoted from the rotation to the bullpen in September and then hit the IL for the first time in his career. He also left the team and went home during their World Series run.

The Blue Jays, not really knowing what they might have in Berrios for 2026, built up their rotation depth from last year and there are a lot of pitchers looking for innings out of the gate. Dylan Cease and Kevin Gausman are locks to be in the rotation. Trey Yesavage, despite his slow build up to begin the year, should also be among the starting five. That leaves Berrios battling Eric Lauer, Cody Ponce and Max Scherzer for the remaining two spots, while Shane Bieber is also working his way back into those plans.

A negative assessment of his MRI could mean Berrios is on the outside of that group looking in, once Opening Day rolls around.