Blue Jays Set To Make Big Move With Pitching Staff

After their Cinderella run through the month of July, the Toronto Blue Jays are starting to come back to earth, having gone 5-8 in their last 13 games, and even that mark is artificially inflated as three of those five wins came against the hapless Colorado Rockies.

Now the Jays have a huge decision to make with their starting rotation coming up, as newly-acquired Shane Bieber will soon be ready to return to major league duty after a year and a half off, recovering from Tommy John surgery.

With that, Sportsnet's Shi Davidi tells us that manager John Schneider could be set to make a big move, going to a six-man rotation once Bieber is ready.

It's a definite possibility that we do that (six-man rotation) for 10 days or two weeks. But haven't finalized it.

What makes it a tricky situation is that the Jays' five-man, since the return of Max Scherzer at the end of June, has been doing alright, with a combined 4.00 ERA. The extra day of rest often messes with a starter's routine, and results could be compromised.

But at this point, it simply doesn't make sense for any of Kevin Gausman, Jose Berrios, Chris Bassitt, Max Scherzer or Eric Lauer to be demoted to the bullpen. And it's highly unlikely that the Jays gave up their #5 prospect in a trade with Cleveland to bring in Bieber as a long reliever.

As Schneider said, it's a "good problem" to have, and everyone will just have to take it as it comes. The manager is trying to look on the bright side, hoping that the extra rest will help his veteran starters.

“(It could be helpful) for all of them, really at this time of the year,” Schneider told Davidi. “They've been really durable and they've thrown a lot of innings in a lot of consecutive years, knock on wood. But it's a fine line of having that extra rest and then trying to adjust your routine in between starts where you've got to do something a little bit different if it is six, seven days consistently.”

Bieber is thought to need just one more rehab start in the minors before joining the big club.

Toronto maintains a three-game lead atop the AL East Division, after the second-place Boston Red Sox came up short in 10 innings Saturday night in San Diego.