August was a month of bad injury news for the Blue Jays, with several of their top players hitting the IL, but September is off to a much better start.

Prior to Friday’s doubleheader against the Red Sox at Fenway Park, manager Charlie Montoyo shared some positive news about shortstop Bo Bichette, who’s been out with a sprained right knee but ramped up his rehab work recently.

“He’s doing a lot better than we thought he was going to be at this time,” Montoyo said. “He was running the bases yesterday and hit BP, then tomorrow we’re going to have a simulated game for him.”

Bichette’s been upping the intensity over the past few days and, even though he’s been seen wearing a brace on that right knee, he appears to be moving freely in sprints and fielding drills. At this point in his recovery, he’ll also start to overlap with closer Ken Giles, who is working back from forearm tightness after he left a game in the first series of the season in St. Petersburg.

That simulated game on Saturday will include Giles facing Bichette at Fenway Park. This will be Giles’ second session facing live hitters and, while the Blue Jays are hesitant to put a hard timeline on his return, it’s possible that the club considers activating him in the days following if he comes out of it feeling strong. Montoyo has said recently that Giles wants to return at full strength, not needing multiple days off in between, so that will be a factor in the decision, too.

Toronto’s bullpen has been fantastic, thanks in large part to the contributions they’ve gotten from their young, multi-inning arms like Thomas Hatch, Anthony Kay, Julian Merryweather and Ryan Borucki. The success extends to the back end even in the absence of Giles and Jordan Romano, with Rafael Dolis quietly lowering his ERA (1.96) every time out. Getting Giles back would be a significant boost, though, and the veteran right-hander should be fresh.

Along with those names, Shun Yamaguchi has performed well of late, Anthony Bass has handled things on the back end and A.J. Cole might be one of the most underrated relievers in baseball right now. When everyone slides down one spot to make room for Giles in the ninth again, that should only make life easier on Montoyo and pitching coach Pete Walker.

Bichette’s return should have a similar domino effect on the roster, moving Jonathan Villar into a more flexible role while opening up the possibility of even more creativity with second baseman Cavan Biggio, who can play anywhere. Prior to going down with the injury, Bichette was the club’s hottest hitter with a .361 average and 1.063 OPS.

Bichette does sound a bit further off than Giles at this point, for the sake of comparison, but there isn’t much left in his rehab process. He will stay with the Blue Jays through this weekend’s series in Boston, then it’s possible that he gets in some final work as the club’s alternate training site in Rochester, N.Y., but that hasn’t been finalized just yet.

Nothing can be forced for the sake of a schedule here, but the Blue Jays do begin a stretch of 10 games against the Yankees in 19 days on Monday, with series against the Mets and Phillies mixed in. The Blue Jays are clinging to the final playoff spot in the American League entering play on Friday, but they’re just as close to leapfrogging some teams ahead of them in a very tight race.

Reid-Foley added for doubleheader
The Blue Jays added right-hander Sean Reid-Foley as their 29th man for Friday’s games in Boston, and he’s an interesting name to keep in mind going forward if the Blue Jays run into any further injuries.

Shortened up into a relief role, Reid-Foley has looked more aggressive and repeated his delivery with far greater consistency, which was an issue for him at times as a starter. He’s pitched three scoreless innings with two strikeouts over a pair of appearances and his fastball has averaged 94.3 mph, according to Statcast, up from 92.5 mph in 2019.

Still just 25, the Blue Jays are facing a decision with Reid-Foley’s future, and the bullpen potential has long been worth exploring. There’s a handful of great blueprints down there, too, with the young starters who are succeeding in multi-inning roles.