Berríos has stress fracture in elbow, but expected to pitch through it

DUNEDIN, Fla. -- The bad news is that José Berríos has a stress fracture in his right elbow. The good news? That might sound scarier than it actually is.

This diagnosis finally comes at the end of a frustrating process for Berríos, who only discovered there was inflammation in his elbow when he underwent a routine MRI for insurance purposes, hoping to play for Puerto Rico in the WBC. Berríos called that “weird” at the time, given that he felt strong -- and his performance in camp backed that up -- but the Blue Jays have gotten to the root of the problem now.

Manager John Schneider called this “relatively good news,” and it is. There’s no ligament involvement here, which is a great start, and while the word “fracture” tends to ring some alarm bells, Schneider believes that Berríos can pitch through this issue.

“As of now, yes,” Schneider said. “That was the goal of the in-person visit and that was what he agreed on with Dr. [Keith] Meister and our team, too. Just a couple of days down to be cautious, then keep throwing.”

Schneider is not a doctor, nor does he play one on TV, but he’s become well-versed in the work of Dr. Meister over the years, given how many Blue Jays pitchers have traveled to meet the specialist. Schneider says that this stress fracture could potentially be the cause of the inflammation that was discovered earlier this spring and even the inflammation that landed Berríos on the IL late last season for the first time in his big league career.

Either way, the Blue Jays need a plan, and if Berríos can truly pitch through this, then they’ll need to do that in a way which doesn’t make it worse.

“We’ll monitor it, for sure, and in talking to José, there’s no pain,” Schneider said. “That’s a good thing. Whether that’s been there or that just isn’t affecting him when he throws, that’s a good thing, but we’re definitely going to monitor it going forward.”

Berríos won’t be ready for the start of the season, so he’ll begin on the IL, which opens the door to more questions about this rotation. What once looked like an extreme excess of depth now makes more sense, given that Shane Bieber has yet to throw off a mound as he ramps up slowly from some forearm fatigue over the offseason.

This leaves a group of: Kevin Gausman, Dylan Cease, Max Scherzer, Trey Yesavage, Cody Ponce, Eric Lauer

Even from this group, there are variables. Yesavage has been built up slowly with the Blue Jays trying to manage his workload after an unexpected spike in his rookie season, up to 140 total innings. He’s reached just two innings and 35 pitches so far in his spring ramp-up, so if he opens the season in the rotation, it will be very limited.

It’s even possible the Blue Jays toy with a six-man rotation at times, but that feels clunky out of the gates, given that it would limit the bullpen. This all points to Lauer being more and more important, though. The left-hander has repeatedly stated his desire to start games, and that’s only gotten likelier by the day of late.

“At the beginning of camp, when you say everyone is going to get stretched out, you never know when there will be some bumps in the road or off-ramps to take,” Schneider said. “[Lauer] is firmly in the mix to be in the rotation.”

By the time the Blue Jays fly north for the season early next week, we should have a much clearer picture of the path forward for Berríos. For now, it’s another bump in the road for the Blue Jays, who have fortunately prepared themselves to handle a few more.