This Red Sox's injury is another example of why the Blue Jays' rotation is a strength

You can never have enough pitching.

It's a cliché that's as ingrained to baseball as the curveball or the seeing-eye single. And if the spring is any indicaton, it's a mantra that could end up working in the Blue Jays' favor this season.

While Toronto's starting rotation doesn't have the bonafide ace that some other American League teams do, it's a deep, veteran rotation filled with guys who aren't afraid to go out and get the ball every fifth day.

And, right now, that seems like it could be enough to make some noise in the American League East.

Lucas Giolito's injury shows strength of Toronto's rotation

On Thursday, Red Sox' manager Alex Cora announced that right-handed starter Lucas Giolito will begin the year on the 15-day injured list due tightness in his hamstring. Giolito then spoke to reporters, where he added that it was a low-grade hamstring strain.

While Giolito won't be shut down from throwing (and has already said that he doesn't think the injured list stint is necessary), his injury is another blow to a Boston rotation that's already without Brayan Bello and Kutter Crawford.

And they're not the only AL East team dealing with injuries, as the Yankees lost Gerrit Cole for the entire year and Luis Gil for at least three months. Go a bit south and you'll find an Orioles team that's preparing to open the season without Grayson Rodriguez.

And then there's Toronto. While it takes only one injury to change things (quick, go run and find the nearest wooden surface to knock on), the Blue Jays' seem poised to open the season with their rotation at full strength.

And yes, Toronto's rotation doesn't have an ace like Cole or the Rays' Shane McClanahan. But they do have an abundance of starters who are reliable and, most importantly, healthy.

As of now, the biggest injury in Jays' rotation is Max Scherzer's sore thumb, which the team is slow-playing due to Scherzer's age and injury history.

The Blue Jays seem set to break camp with a rotation that consists of José Berríos, Kevin Gausman, Chris Bassitt, Scherzer and Bowden Francis, all of whom are solid and durable pitchers.

Berríos, Gausman and Bassitt all made 31+ starts last year, while Francis has made 30+ apperances in each of the past three years across MLB and the minors.

Bassitt and Gausman are both popular bounce-back picks, while Berríos is coming off a season where he had a solid 3.60 ERA in 192 1/3 innings.

And even though Scherzer is coming off a year where he only made nine starts due to injury, he's as durable as any 40-year-old pitcher can be.

While pitching injuries can sometimes been sudden, Cole and Giolito's injuries shouldn't have snuck up on anyone.

Cole missed the first three months of 2024 due to right elbow inflammation, while Giolito missed all of last season after suffering a partial tear of the ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow in spring training.

But it would be foolish to assume that there won't be any injuries to Toronto's rotation this year, as evidenced by the Blue Jays having 10 pitchers start a game last year.

And that's where the depth comes in. Yariel Rodríguez and Jake Bloss are waiting in the wings and could easily be inserted into the lineup if something were to happen to any of the five starters listed above. While neither of them are complete pitchers, they could get the job done in a pinch.

Cole's injury resulted in the Blue Jays leapfrogging the Yankees in Baseball Prospectus' PECOTA projections.

For Toronto to do that in real life, they'll need their rotation to be at its best — and stay healthy.