ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — A repositioning of the Toronto Blue Jays’ roster, not just due to Thursday’s arrival of their four newcomers in Minneapolis, is imminent and will test the club’s work ahead of the Aug. 2 cut-off .
Ross Stripling’s placement on the injury list with a strained right buttock/hip just before Yusei Kikuchi’s final Jekyll and Hyde start in a 3-2 loss Wednesday afternoon to the Tampa Bay Rays put the rotation into exactly the kind of Flux deadline -Additives should prevent.
Mitch White, the 27-year-old right-hander acquired from the Los Angeles Dodgers as a swingman/sixth starter, “is among other options” to fill in for Stripling on Saturday, interim manager John Schneider said. “He definitely has the skills to jump right in when needed.”
That it is not an automatic yes could simply be a by-product of wanting to associate with white first before assigning it. There are also some procedural things to do as the Blue Jays switched him to Triple-A Buffalo since he was already an option with the Los Angeles Dodgers, so he will join the team in cab squad until recalled.
Still, situations like this are precisely why he was taken on, and even if Stripling’s absence doesn’t last long, White’s quick acclimatization and effective innings utilization will have an immediate impact on GM Ross Atkins’ work.
Finally, starting depth was an obvious necessity even without an injury, and with Stripling exacerbating the injury in his last start, the Blue Jays knew they were badly needed in the deadline before factoring in Kikuchi’s uncertainty.
By sacrificing Max Castillo as part of the return for Whit Merrifield, White became the final No. 6 and there is no clearly defined option beyond him. Right-hander Matt Peacock was recalled in a stop-gap move, and while there’s some internal belief there’s more there than his waiver wire profile suggests, he’s now a bulk-inning depth piece and nothing more.
Ideally, White would have immediately slipped into a swingman role and would have helped provide cover should the ongoing Kikuchi project falter, although it’s now clear how badly the Blue Jays need it to function.
“You never have enough pitching,” said Schneider. “We are confident that (Kikuchi) will progress. I think he would say the same. It’s just nice to have that in the back of your mind where you know, OK, this guy is going to go out and give us a chance every time.”
The confusing left-hander had a confusing outing and looked absolutely dominant in his first two innings before losing the zone during his next two frames. But by not letting the game unravel, the outing was a relative advance.
While his slider was in the zone and effective, both Kikuchi’s fastball and changeup were everywhere. A one-shot hit-by-pitch against Roman Quinn was followed by a single and a walk in the third, resulting in Isaac Paredes’ sacrificial fly, while two singles and a fielder choice by Taylor Walls in the fourth wiped out Teoscar Hernandez’s homer, who opened up a 2-1 lead in the top half.
“I’d say the feel for the slider has been pretty good all year,” Kikuchi said through interpreter Kevin Ando. “I missed it a little bit with the fastball, that third inning, but I felt like I could make the right adjustments and in the fourth inning it felt pretty good. I think I’m in a pretty good position right now.”
The Blue Jays only mustered Hernandez’s RBI double in the first and a solo shot in the fourth — the latter being his sixth career homer off club nemesis Ryan Yarborough, who conceded a run in four innings behind opener Jalen Beeks. Meanwhile, two of the Rays’ deadline adds teamed up for the go-ahead run in Adam Cimber’s sixth when an RBI single from David Peralta scored Jose Siri, who was a single and scorer to open the inning.
“The last few years I’ve had success (against Yarborough), but early in my career I got a lot of strikes against him,” Hernandez said. “Right now I’m more patient on the plate and can put down the pitches that go for balls and swing on shots. So I’ve had pretty good records against him.”
The Blue Jays certainly could have used Merrifield if George Springer missed a third straight game, though he sped up his baseball activities by hitting the high-speed machine before the game.
While Schneider said the star midfielder is “trending in the right direction” and the Blue Jays are still “taking it day in and day out”, pain in his right elbow has led to erratic availability lately. Atkins noted Tuesday that the Blue Jays “want to make sure he’s not pushing too hard and is being honest with himself,” and Schneider said there was no risk of Springer making the injury worse.
“If that were the case, we wouldn’t be comfortable with him doing what he’s doing now in terms of activities,” he said.
Merrifield will help cover him, although his vaccination status remains a question. He went blacklisted during Kansas City’s visit to Toronto last month and told the Kansas City media he was open to a vaccination if there were any post-season effects, and now there is.
Atkins said the matter was too fresh to discuss Tuesday and Wednesday mornings, Schneider adding there was “nothing new”.
“Obviously we know he wasn’t there in Toronto, but that’s entirely up to him,” he added. “I’m sure he’s had conversations with his family and other people. We leave that decision to him.”
Travelers arriving in Canada must be 14 days before their second dose of an accepted vaccine or single dose from Johnson & Johnson, so the clock is ticking. If Merrifield hasn’t already received the J&J vaccine, he doesn’t qualify for the August 12-17 homestand against Cleveland and Baltimore, but has enough runway to qualify for the August 26-31 homestand against the Angels and Cubs to be available.
If it’s a short-term hiccup, that’s manageable as the skills he brings certainly make a nice addition to a power-heavy Blue Jays lineup.
“A lot,” Hernandez said of the elements Merrifield is adding. “He will always be on base. He’s a fast runner. He takes good bats and knows how to steal bases. This is an advantage for us. Most of the time he will be on base trying to steal the second one. We will have more men in the goalscoring position so we can score more goals.”
While the pitching staff sorts out the oncoming river, more runs certainly won’t hurt.
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