00:00I want to start with the Toronto Blue Jays, I guess, because the Blue Jays are maybe the story in
00:07Major League Baseball right now.
00:08The Toronto Blue Jays, after jumping out to an okay go against the Athletics in Toronto, have dropped five in
00:15a row.
00:15They lost a series to the Rockies.
00:18They got swept by the White Sox in Chicago.
00:21And then they just lost 14-2 on Monday night to the L.A. Dodgers.
00:26It's not just the record here.
00:29It's the flies dropping.
00:31It's unbelievable the number of injuries that they have sustained.
00:35And we talk about, you know, outset of the season, okay, the pitching was a little decimated.
00:39And, you know, Max Scherzer was a late re-entry into the rotation here.
00:43And Scherzer started yesterday.
00:44He only went two innings.
00:45But Barrios has a stress fracture in his elbow that he endured in March.
00:49Shane Bieber is on the shelf right now with elbow inflammation.
00:52Trey Yosavage is on the shelf right now with a shoulder impingement.
00:54And Cody Ponce, in his first start back in the big leagues, suffered a significant sprain in his knee.
00:59He's out for an extended period of time.
01:01Meanwhile, you've got the catcher Alejandro Kirk a couple of days ago going down with a thumb fracture.
01:06And then you've got Barger dealing with issues in both of his ankles.
01:09It's bilateral ankle discomfort.
01:12So that's two ankles.
01:14They're trying to brand it as day-to-day.
01:16I heard John Schneider say he's progressing, but IL could still be in play.
01:20There's no answer as of Tuesday morning.
01:22But it's just crazy the hand that Toronto has been dealt.
01:26I feel terrible for him at the outset.
01:28Yeah, I do too.
01:29And I think when you look at the Jays, I mean, you want to say they just need to weather
01:32the storm, which they do.
01:34But the American League East is going to be a gauntlet.
01:37At least that's what we expected, although some of these teams are off to a slow start.
01:42You imagine that some of the teams that are off to a slow start will get right, too.
01:46At the end of the day, I think the Blue Jays are in a decent spot, given that a lot
01:51of other teams with this many injuries, their starting nine would look far worse.
01:56You'd be pulling guys up from AAA that were not quite ready.
01:59You wouldn't be able to just plug in a Davis Schneider, plug in a Tyler Heinemann, even a Miles Straw.
02:06At least it's not great.
02:07But to be able to weather the storm for a few weeks here and continue to add guys back one
02:12at a time, it could be worse.
02:14I think the rotation side of things is a little bit more interesting and potentially concerning, depending on just how
02:21some of these guys rise to the occasion.
02:23But then again, you see how good Dylan C. took the first time out.
02:25I feel like they're okay.
02:27It really sucks that you have this series where all these things cave in on you, right?
02:33And the White Sox series obviously was an ugly one.
02:36Of course, the Rockies wasn't ideal.
02:38And you don't get to really come up for air because then you get this nationally branded World Series rematch
02:44that I'm sure the players don't look at it like that.
02:46And as you're just trying to get your footing again, you're getting a red-hot Dodgers team that is just
02:52going to kind of flow into what they did in game one and knock you around a little bit.
02:58Yeah, it seems like it, man.
03:00And I don't know.
03:01This is – John Schneider put it best, like, better it happened right now than in July and August when
03:07you're really trying to gear up to win a division.
03:09But, you know, we always talk about how you can lose a division in the month of April.
03:13I don't think the Blue Jays are doing that right now.
03:15I think the Red Sox are pushing to possibly do that, but we'll talk about them in segment four.
03:20I don't know, man.
03:21It's just I look at Toronto and I see a team that is being struck by Murphy's Law, and they
03:26were not the Murphy's Law team that I had pegged going into the season.
03:30Spring training was brutal for the Atlanta Braves, but Atlanta's pitching.
03:34Like, it's just Toronto that has been hit with the injury bug just so darn bad.
03:38Again, you look at that starting five on the IL for Toronto right now.
03:43Barrios, Bieber, Yosavage, Bowden, Francis, who's making his way back from Tommy John surgery, and then Cody Ponce as well.
03:49That's a heck of a lot better than the rotation they're running out right now.
03:52Now, the good news is Gaussman and Cease are still healthy.
03:55You've got those guys at the top of the rotation.
03:57Eric Lauer can give you good starts, but, I mean, at the end of the day, Toronto, they just need
04:02to survive for the next month and a half, two months.
04:04I have faith that they can survive for the next month and a half, two months, but that was a
04:09rude – not awakening,
04:12but I guess, like, dagger in the heart, that 14-2 loss to the Dodgers on Monday.
04:16Yeah, I think Miggy Rowe coming in, you know, up 13 and actually being able to throw an 18-pitch
04:21inning
04:22and get out of there with only one earned run I think is also just kind of a sign of
04:27just the chase,
04:27just feeling it right now, just being, let's start over tomorrow.
04:30Like, forget this.
04:31The Pat Corbin signing is interesting because, you know, like, look, they don't need Pat Corbin to be, you know,
04:37a low-3 ZRA.
04:39If Pat Corbin can go out there and just give them innings, look, they're going to still mash their way
04:44to winning ballgames.
04:45And as you mentioned and as, you know, Schneider mentioned, they do just need to weather the storm.
04:49I think the bullpen is built to be able to handle a little bit of the load as well.
04:52They have some guys that can go a little bit longer.
04:54So I think they're going to be fine.
04:56But, yeah, it is one of the more – and we're not even mentioning Santander in February, you know,
05:01with the torn labrum who – a guy now that they could probably use a little bit as well.
05:06It's just been one of the more unfortunate stretches I can remember for a team here.
05:11And like we said, like, it's a good thing it happened now.
05:14And I think by the time we get to June, I think the pieces will start to come back together
05:20for the Blue Jays here.
05:21And as long as they can even just hover around 500, I think they'll be just fine.
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