Daulton Varsho's potential injury creates negative domino effect for the Blue Jays
Varsho's scare comes a few hours after Jordan Romano was shut down with elbow soreness.
The Blue Jays suffered their fifth-straight loss yesterday, losing 6-3 against the Cleveland Guardians, to go six games under .500. What made matters worse was Daulton Varsho having to exit from the game in the top of the 9th inning with lower back tightness.
Unfortunately, losing Varsho could mean more playing time for Kevin Kiermaier in center field, where he's a four-time Gold Glove winner and George Springer in right field, who is more than capable defensively. However, the pair of them have been poor offensively with batting averages under .200 and OPS' of under .600.
Davis Schneider would get the majority of playing time in left field, along with Addison Barger, but neither are defensively as solid as Varsho. With the Blue Jays currently on a 5-game losing streak and trying to avoid being swept again, they simply cannot afford to lose another key player to an IL stint.
They lost Yimi Garcia, arguably their best reliever earlier this week due to elbow soreness and a few hours before Varsho's injury scare, closer Jordan Romano suffered a setback in his recovery. With their playoff odds dwindling by the day, the Blue Jays will have to hope that Springer, Kiermaier and Schneider step up to the plate.
Varsho has been a bright spot both offensively and defensively in has been an underwhelming season for the Blue Jays so far, He leads the team in home runs with 11, RBI with 35, and he's tied for the lead in stolen bases. This is without mentioning that he leads all outfielders in defensive runs saved (13), whilst alternating between left and center field.
Last night, Mike Rodriguez reported that Toronto is calling up switch-hitting outfielder Steward Berroa, this would indicate an IL stint for Varsho. Berroa, has had a good season in Triple-A, batting .295, with 7 home runs, 32 RBI and 29 stolen bases therefore if the Blue Jays needed to pinch hit for someone, Berroa would be a good option. He is also capable of playing all three outfield positions, providing Toronto with more depth, having played 266 innings in center, 95 innings in left field and 73 innings in right.