Blue Jays righty José Berríos was slated to join Puerto Rico for the quarterfinal round of the World Baseball Classic, but those plans were called off when his tournament physical revealed a bout of elbow inflammation (via MLB.com’s Keegan Matheson). An MRI did not reveal any structural damage, but the inflammation was still curious, given that Berríos hasn’t experienced any discomfort. Still, in light of the unexpected diagnosis, he’s headed for an in-person visit with Dr. Keith Meister to take a closer look, per Arden Zwelling of Sportsnet. That visit will come next Tuesday. Berríos will not throw in the interim.
At present, there’s no indication that Berríos is dealing with a major injury — or even a minor one of all that much note. The 31-year-old veteran (32 in May) ostensibly hasn’t experienced any pain, and it’s possible a clean bill of health will have him back on the mound in short order.
Toronto’s offseason dealings have left the veteran Berríos in an uncertain state. He’s been a starter every year of his major league career — one of the most durable and consistent of the past decade. Dating back to 2018, he leads Major League Baseball in both games started (234) and innings pitched (1367 2/3). Berrios started a full slate of 12 games during the shortened 2020 season and has started 30 or more games in each other season dating back to 2018.
Despite that durability, Berríos has largely been pushed out of the Jays’ rotation. Shane Bieber exercised his $16MM player option to begin the offseason. Toronto then signed Dylan Cease to a seven-year contract and KBO returnee Cody Ponce to a three-year deal. Max Scherzer signed a one-year deal earlier this month.
Toronto’s rotation mix entering the season includes Cease, Kevin Gausman, Trey Yesavage, Bieber, Berríos, Ponce, Scherzer and Eric Lauer. They’re eight deep in terms of quality big leaguers, with only last year’s breakout rookie and postseason hero, Yesavage, able to be optioned. Clearly, he’s not going to be sent down anytime soon.
Injuries tend to alleviate this sort of crunch in the short-term, but that isn’t necessarily the case here. Bieber is behind schedule due to forearm fatigue but has been throwing recently. A season-opening stint on the 15-day IL still seems likely, but it probably won’t keep him out long. Each of Cease, Gausman, Yesavage, Ponce, Lauer and Scherzer appears healthy. The Jays had suggested they’d be deliberate in building Scherzer up slowly, but he tossed four sharp innings in his first spring start.
However it shakes out, Berríos is in an odd spot. Barring a major injury, he’ll be on a crowded pitching staff that doesn’t have a clear rotation spot for him. He’s coming off one of his weaker seasons but was still plenty serviceable last year. In 166 innings, he posted a 4.17 ERA, 19.8% strikeout rate and 8% walk rate. The right-hander’s 93 mph average four-seamer was a career-low, and his 92.2 mph average sinker was the second-lowest of his career. That walk rate, while solid, was the second-highest of his career in a full season and a notable step up from the 6.7% he’d logged from 2017-24.
There was some thought that perhaps the Jays would look to trade Berríos this winter, but that’s not an easy undertaking. He’s entering the fifth season of a seven-year extension. Berríos is still owed $66MM over the next three years, which is surely more than he’d have received in free agency this winter. His contract also contains an opt-out clause after the 2026 campaign, so even if a team believed Berrios to be a prominent bounceback candidate and was proven right with a vintage 2026 showing, he’d likely then trigger the out clause and head back into free agency.
Berríos’ $131MM contract also includes a limited, eight-team no-trade clause. That clause will be rendered moot 128 days into the season, when he reaches 10 years of major league service and receives 10-and-5 rights. The 10-and-5 provision — 10 years of major league service, the past five with the same team — grants any player full veto power over trade scenarios.
For now, Berríos’ status is in limbo because of his own health. If he requires an IL stint to begin the season, he’ll (likely) join Bieber there. Toronto could open with a rotation headed by Cease, Gausman, Yesavage, Ponce and Scherzer, with Lauer in a swing role. It’s possible that the Jays simply won’t simultaneously have all eight starters healthy at any point this season. In that scenario, they’d be glad to have the depth. But if Berríos and Bieber are cleared to return in early-to-mid April, Toronto is going to have some tougher choices ahead.
Lauer has taken a team-first approach, praising the tightknit group of rotation options and saying he’ll pitch in whatever role he’s asked — but he’s also conceded that he’d prefer to start, all else being equal. He’s a free agent at season’s end, after all, and working as a starter is his best path to maximizing his earning power. That situation, combined with forthcoming updates on Berríos and Bieber, make the Jays’ rotation group a particularly interesting one to watch in the final couple weeks of camp.
twenty twenty eight
??
six seven
is the final year of his current contract
@SteveC
He has an option which if he exercises it at the end of the season will pay him 50M over the following 2 years.
Pretty easy call at this point, no?
@SteveC
Depends really. If this is a rest and recover thing, and he goes on to pitch amazingly, he could opt out looking for more as a FA.
If he’s out for a significant amount of time, he’ll opt in and take the money to the bank.
Have a look at Bieber. He opted in to get 16M (really 12M because the Jays would have to pay 4M if he left). Bieber and/or his team didn’t think he could get another team to sign him for 12M.
He’s been solid and reliable throughout most of his time in Toronto. I just wonder if the uncertainty of his injury late last year coupled with more elbow stuff now make $24m per till ‘28 an easy decision.
It’ll be a very easy decision for him to exercise his option.
someone doesn’t want to be there
Here is a medical fact: the MRI on a fresh injury will often miss the Injury: newly dead tissue looks like Live tissue… you get a lot of swelling, that the MRI doesn’t see well thru.. You need a minimum of 3 days before that dead tissue may show ( if not longer) . Now you know why your team’s doctors miss so many injuries and send the injured back into action… often leading to worse injuries from improper diagnosis. This has cost multiply ball players their careers.
That’s pretty presumptuous that you don’t think their hughly-paid agents aren’t aware of medical situations and don’t advocate for their clients’ long-term health.
show me that presumption… ask Glen Perkins why he was pitched after he originally tore his shoulder… and eventually it grew into a career ending injury.. ask Why the Twin played Sano with a broken leg, that after the season required surgery.. their diagnosis.. a ” bone Bruise”.. the reality: hairline fracture that required surgery.. The List is very long just for the Twins
You would think if this is such a well known error in the imaging process that even you know about it, then certainly these Major League teams spending millions of dollars on these guys arms should know about it ??? If you are truly the only guy who knows about this, please notify Major League Baseball forthwith.
I have seen a room full of neurologists make the same mistake costing my brother his ability to be independent… Why do people insist on trying to argue about something they know nothing about… Its funny.. watching a Game where John Smoltz was announcing and He and i shout out at the screen exactly the same thing about Glen Perkins injury ” get him out of there, he is injured”… and the Twins didn’t see it for multiple more pitches… If you can’t see it.. you don’t belong in the business..
I think it’s a combination of teams being too quick to scan for everything instead of waiting the extra day or two, and players stupidly saying they’re good to go when they’re clearly in pain.
@Ignorant It is very widely known that MRIs and other imaging are most effective 48-72 HRs after an injury. 48-72 HRs is also the peak of swelling which is why it can often blur images.
Berries is shut down and has a n appointment scheduled with a specialist. There is nothing in the article indicative of MLB team medical staffs not being aware that doing imaging prematurely can be a detriment.
So is he injured or not? Inflamed elbow but he’s not in pain and there’s no structural damage? Is this at all like the Sam Darnold oblique thing before the super bowl?
The oblique may have been a factor in the Big Game thus the reliance on K9. However the oblique was not so much hindering him during the NFC Champuonship Game as much. I think he was pumped full of Toradal and adrenaline and the 12’s energy so that was a help.
Shame if he has to miss any time. If he can get to 150 wins, he’s in the Cooperstown disscussion
He’s obviously nowhere near any Cooperstown discussion.
Very nice career, but nowhere near having a Hall of Fame career.
Good they got max because Berrios done for year
I wish Berrios all the best.
From the humanist perspective I hope this is a nothing-burger and he is able to pitch the year pain free. From the pessimistic perspective, if there is an injury, that option he has is as good as exercised.
Berrios is the one pitcher that has remained relatively healthy the last 10 years. Overwhelming majority of pitchers have had to go under the knife. He’s the very few that hasn’t up to now. It might be time (unfortunately).