From Shi Davidi:

Trey Yesavage threw a side today is slated to start Thursday, again with Dunedin.

Jose Berrios, Yimi Garcia and Shane Bieber all throwing sides tomorrow, as is Patrick Corbin. Blue Jays discussing with him where his next outing will be.

Was wondering re Ponce. Watched the game last week where he hurt himself.

Canadians kick off their home stand tomorrow, the first of the season.

A series win at home against the World Series champions would go a long way in helping fans forget the abysmal start.

The lineup looks terrible tonight, which means the Jays bats will probably smash the Dodgers pitching.

The Dodgers line up tilts left heavily.
It's not going to be easy.

Pages has been on fire.
That's the guy who was an automatic out against Toronto last year.

Now Scherzer is down?

John Schneider did say that a lot of the team is sick. Hopefully thats the story with Max.

Everybody getting sick like this is one of the effects of covid... if its not covid itself. New variant is pretty evasive

Ya Hoser!

Ugh. So many Americans took, and still take, COVID lightly. Thus making the USA a perfect incubator for new more dangerous strains. Up here we aren't a lot better, but I'd bet strongly more of us take the assorted shots than they do down there. I get a fresh shot every fall with my flu vaccine - my one daughter didn't and she regretted it when she got sick while me and my youngest (not given a choice on vaccines) were A-OK.

The Jays need to demand every player gets vaccinated from now on if they don't already. I suspect they can't with fresh free agents (like Scherzer) but coming up through the system you damn well better get those shots and free agents damn well should too - being healthy is everything.

For now I'd expect Buffalo to be having a LOT of guys pushed hard on the mound who aren't prospects. Might be real easy to sign a few free agents that are still hanging around given the churn right now. 8 starters down to 5 opening day, now 4 with 2 iffy (Lauer & Scherzer). 2026 is not off to a good start.

Like I said yesterday, just have to hope this is the worst stretch of the season because it’s gonna be a long rough summer otherwise. The whole team looks like they’re in a daze and considering the illness running through the team, you kinda hope that’s the explanation for all of this.

I was torn between the Jays/Dodgers and the National Championship Game. Easy choice now. The Jays have been a hard watch for the last week.

Hopefully this will pass like Torpedo bats in 2025.

This team is unwatchable now.

Unwatchable might be too kind. Good thing there’s a basketball game on.

Corbin's next start might be in the majors

I'm holding out hope that half the team has the flu and they just don't want to publicize it

Michigan's got this.

Now that Flemming's DFA is already typed out and ready to be transmitted to MLB what's next?

Chase Lee? Adam Macko? Chad Dallas? Some other disposable guy like Alcala?

It doesn’t really matter, all of the options are bad. The key is to get someone who can give them innings. They may well need innings in the next two days.

I'm holding out hope that half the team has the flu and they just don't want to publicize it

They have publicized it. Schneider literally said today it feels like the whole team is sick.

You know it has to be a bad bug if Scherzer (assuming that was the issue) is cool being taken out of a game. Dude strikes me as the type who’d wanna pitch through a hailstorm.

The timing of this is far from ideal. Naturally.

Forearm tendinitis for Max.

Swell.

When it rains it pours. The guy we all wanted back, but felt there wasn't room for - Bassitt - has a 14.21 ERA in 2 starts total of 6 1/3 IP. So he wouldn't have been the answer either. Framber Valdez was one that would've been nice - 0.75 ERA in 2 starts 12 IP. Ah well. What has happened, has happened. Next is the challenge of which kid/vet to call up. CJ Van Eyk has the most innings in AAA at 8 so no one has pitched much there. 3 guys at 6 1/3 (Chad Dallas, Devereaux Harrison, Grant Rogers). Macko and Alcala are the others at 5 IP. All depends on what the Jays are after. Corbin I'm sure will be up the minute they feel he is ready. Who knew they'd need 10+ starters in April for crying out loud.

This isn't great
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11651336/

Post-covid tenosyvitis (tendonitis).
The questions is whether it also makes stuff more likely post infection... amd how long.

The rotation that I am happy to see- Gausman, Cease, Yesavage, Bieber and Lauer- is still well within reach.  It's a matter of surviving until that happens.  The bats will need to take a step forward in the meantime- Guerrero Jr., Springer, Varsho and Barger.  

I am firmly in the camp of "pitching is strong, very good but the offense is missing a top 4 bat and the bullpen is missing an elite arm - for this team to be considered top of the American League.

gonna need a whole lot from Gaus and Cease the next couple times through.

It would be insane for the Jays to force young, healthy athletes to get an unnecessary medical treatment.

I think it’s unrealistic to expect Springer to be a key player this year. He ended the 2025 season banged up in all kinds of ways. He had a shortened offseason to recover, and he’ll be 37 in less than six months. I think we’ll see a 1-3 WAR season from him (3 being a good outcome).

Springer just looks like a low babip fluke so far tbh. His batted ball data is strong.

Springer had some very good looking swings yesterday.

Not sure what you're talking about here, but if it's a veiled covid reference, I'm not going to debate the issue.
There's 500,000 studies about how bad covid is (see lit covid). Vaccines ARE safe. The effects end careers and lives. 40-60% of infections are without symptoms. It's transmitted in the air so these last 2 points make for lots of infections unless you are cleaning and filtering the air and masking when someone is sick (evidence ALL viruses have long term effects, so far covid is the worst). Lots of
A callous but effective response would see this as an inefficiency in which to get an advantage over the rest of the league for keeping players healthy and producing over the lengths of their contracts.
Think river valley fever and that Arizona player whose career was ended. SAME DEAL but more extreme. And everywhere.
* I have no idea if the Jays are testing regularly, have air purifiers, disinfecting uvc, etc as greater protections than vaccinations.

Also June, you're now in a vulnerable population & I hope you learn about your options for greater protection than just vaccines.

"It would be insane for the Jays to force young, healthy athletes to get an unnecessary medical treatment."

Springer was definitely beat up last year, but he still beat the hell out of the ball down the stretch - 351/435/682 over the last 39 games, and then a very nice post-season.

I don't really know what to expect from Springer this year, but no one expected his 2025 season, either.

Fleming DFA, Corbin up

Barger to IL, Fitzgerald activated

Dunedin transaction page lists Patrick Corbin as recalled by the Jays. If that means what it seems to mean I'm guessing he'll get the Friday night game and either give both Lauer and Scherzer an extra day or Lauer 2

Ben Nicholson-Smith
@bnicholsonsmith
·
49s
Max Scherzer told John Schneider he’s feeling good. Yesterday hopefully just “a detour.” Normal bullpen on the sked & he’s expected to make his next start.

Ben Nicholson-Smith
@bnicholsonsmith
·
12m
Cody Ponce will have ACL surgery. Timeline is six months most likely ending his 2026 season

Ben Nicholson-Smith
@bnicholsonsmith
·
14m
Timeline for Kirk is six weeks. He had surgery including a screw put into his thumb.

Having had a similar surgery on my thumb the 6 weeks is surprising. Range of mobility probably returns in 6 weeks but full strength is likely double plus that timeline.

I'm with Nigel.  Six weeks before return to some form of baseball activity after surgery on the thumb with a screw installed is plausible.  Return to Kirk's role as a major league catcher in 6 weeks is not.  

They're being optimistic and this FO doesn't have the best communication reputation on injuries. Fitzgerald trade was probably made with the knowledge that Barger was injured...he's probably been injured all season and was trying to fight through it.

Injury List

SP Yesavage
SP Bieber
SP Ponce
SP Berrios
SP Francis

RP Garcia

C Kirk
RF Barger
LF Santander

They could have recalled Eloy Jimenez.
I presume Fitzgerald will be used in the outfield.

Fitzgerald in the majors (23-25, OPS+ of 109 overall) was a mega-utility guy with 75 games at 2B, 72 at SS, 17 CF, 4 LF, 3 RF, 3 P, 2 1B, 12 PR, 5 PH, 3 DH. Phew. 28-8 SB-CS in the majors lifetime.

He sounds like a guy who fits just what the Jays need on the bench. Hits RH. Played 3 games in AAA for SF this year (0-12, 1 walk, 5 K's) but hadn't played in the Jays system yet. Jays bought him from the Giants (pure cash transaction). Pre-arb until after 2027. Sounds a lot like our 2B (Clement). Guy who had skills but previous team couldn't figure out what to do with him. Lets hope.

For LF/RF I expect a mix of Sanchez-Schneider in LF, Lukes-Straw in RF, with Fitzgerald mixed in wherever needed. Given his ML time at SS I suspect he is stronger on defense in the infield than Schneider. We'll see I'm sure. A guy who can cover everything from running to fielding everywhere but C is useful, plus he has 3 games as an emergency pitcher which is a plus right now.

Eloy can only play DH so Springer would have to play OF regularly to have it make sense for him to be in majors. Very hard to see that happening.

Eloy's a lot of babip so far tbh.

28 PA, 5 K, 2 BB.  7 singles, 1 double, 1 HR.
Fitzgerald has a lot of Ks. 5 KS in 14 PAs in the PCL this year.
108 Ks in 341 PAs in 2024 with the Giants.
Last year, Barger had 121 over 502 PAs and people didn't exactly love that.

Is the runner being inside the baseline not a play you can challenge? Seemed clear on the botched bunt play by Gausman.

This is just domination. And that’s with Gausman pitching pretty well.

That was promising. That was Varsho’s best AB of the year. Laid off the high FBs.

why are we not pinch hitting for valenzuela here

I would have thought this was the perfect time to pinch-hit Fitzgerald.

Just tuned in to the game. Bases loaded, none out, down 3-1, Yamamoto knocked out of the game, and…shallow fly out by Gimenez, strikeout by Valenzuela, fly out by Springer. No runs scored.

OK then. Back to my other evening activities.

For Kirk I expect something in mid-June is more likely than mid-May. 6 weeks today is May 19th, but again I think June is more realistic.

heh pinch hit this time....with heineman.

ach.

Yeah, Jays are depressing right now. Sigh. At least things are going good for me personally - losing a CM a week on my waist (signed up for a health program for transgender women only) for 7 straight weeks. Down to my lowest weight since 2018. Now, if the Jays would just get their batting averages up over my weight then things would be a lot better - just because mine is going down doesn't mean theirs needs to as well. Their batting line is now 227/308/341 which is 23rd for OPS at 649. Could be worse, the Mariners are at 607. Seattle 4-8 Jays 4-7. Not a good start for the ALCS teams. Snail race this year (wild card leaders are Angels and Astros at 6-5, then KC at 5-6)

It's been hard to watch, but I always put it in NFL scale - we've played a number of games equivalent to playing Week 1 of the NFL season. It's a long, long season.

I think my partner is enjoying the games more than I am though, since she gets to point out multiple times per game how beautiful Clement's eyes are and how beefy Popkins is.

we are 1 for 17 with the bases loaded this year.

And Blue Jay opponents are 2-2 with the bases loaded (a double and a homer).  Ouch.

What was that Shakespeare quote: how fate loves a jest?

I wasn't the only one posting stuff like "opening day in 2 weeks" in the Leafs subreddit as they were imploding.. But my apologies for my part in that.

Weak first inning after Vladdy’s single. Two on, one out, 3-0 count on Sanchez…followed by a popup and a strikeout. No runs scored.

That Vlad swing on a 1-0 with a runner at second…. Are they trying NOT to score any runs? What is going on here…

Same thing on a 2-0 to Okamoto. I get that Ohtani has cartoon-ish level movement on his stuff but these swing decisions are absolutely brutal.

At least Sanchez on cue made me look somewhat foolish on my previous comment.

Blink and the lead is gone. The defence once again not looking crisp.

It's just hitters guessing incoming pitches instead of "not trying to do too much".

April baseball is like that.

On the positive side, Cease is really pitching his ‘tache off.

And that's some clutch relief by Varland too.


They absolutely have to get vladdy across the plate here now or it's game over.

that's terrible vladdy. dammit.

Vlad's baserunning is a major nightmare. No idea how to get it through his head when to run and when not to.

we have life!

but man why couldn't that ball have just gone two inches higher and over the fence.

1 for 19 with the bases loaded.

Guess the good news is that can't continue forever ... can it?

oh man this win would be big.

i have zero confidence tho.

Davis deserves more playing time in my humble opinion.

Now that is the 2025 Jays!

Thank christ.

Jays WIN - FINALLY!!!!!

Big win just not to keep sliding and giving team something to build on.

Thank goodness.

Hoffman pitched well to Ohtani (nice mix of splitters and FBs in good locations).

Schneider should be playing more often, and Okamoto should be playing less often.

Schneider should get more paying time. I am bullish on Okamoto. Varsho is looking less like a regular to me.

Forgot how good a win feels.

Myles Straw leads the team in xwOBA. Hilarious. Schneider definitely deserves more playing time, especially with Lukes struggling right now.

I was wondering why Straw and Schneider didn't start against Othani.
Then I saw that he has (small) reverse splits.

Shohei is a righty.

I think Okamoto’s K rate will come down over time.

He’s still well ahead of Bo in terms of overall performance in 2026.

Okamoto: 109 wRC+ and 0.2 fWAR in 51 PA

Bo: 46 wRC+ and -0.3 fWAR in 57 PA

I think Okamoto might have already adjusted after that golden sombrero game, which left him with just under a 50k% over his first 7gms.

In the 5gms since he's down to more reasonable and steady 25% rate.

Yeah he's got the eye, patience and bat speed to excel and he hasn't been put in the best position to succeed right away. His spot in the line up isn't ideal to start and he's playing a new position. Plus learning a new league and pitchers.

Okamoto played mostly 3B in Japan. He's going to have to hit, because his defense looks average at best thus far and he's very slow.

I agree he's made enough plays to look about average out there, but i'd say being an average defensive 3B actually gives him quite good defensive value. So he has to be a good hitter to be valuable, but not necessarily a great one.

Trey Yesavage came in to pitch for Dunedin today in a continued game. In one inning he gave up four singles, a walk and four runs. He struck out two. His velocity seemed fine, his location was off. The inning took 32 pitches, we will have to see if he comes out for a second inning. Presumably the Jays will want him to build up his pitch count.

Josh Fleming and Austin Voth both cleared waivers and both elected free agency.

Yesavage is back out for another inning.

Yesavage second inning...12 pitches, nine strikes, 3 balls, 3 strikeouts. And relax.

Yesavage struck out two more in his next inning before his night ended. In total he threw 52 pitches. He probably needs one more start before being ready.

Thanks, Gerry.  Yesavage's ETA is probably about April 21.  

For fun I had a comment on Facebook liked by Davis Schneider's official Facebook page. It was on a post where you can see Vlad & Teo slapping each other in fun. My comment was "Gotta love that - clearly they are each other's biggest fans, but will never let the other get away with anything. Best friends/brothers for life."

Now, was it really him or just the Jays social media team going through and clicking on stuff for him? Who knows? But fun none-the-less. Much like how I enjoy hearing my name on Wilner's podcasts (I submit simple questions often, about 90% of the time he reads them, including the one I sent when I came out as trans). Tiny touches of celebrity are fun. Had my share, but nothing reaches my dad playing hockey as a kid with guys who made the NHL (he grew up in Scarboro in the 1930's/1940's and was a top athlete but not good enough for pro-hockey, might have made it in golf but there wasn't enough money in it back in the early 60's when he was at his peak and he had my sister by then and a good job - family first, always).