Toronto Blue Jays moving Eric Lauer back to bullpen in starting rotation shuffle
The Toronto Blue Jays are making a change to their starting rotation as they enter the final month of the regular season.
After experimenting with a six-man rotation due to the addition of Shane Bieber on the active roster, Blue Jay manager John Schneider confirmed on Monday that the team would move back to a more traditional five-man rotation.
Schneider added that Eric Lauer would be moving back into the bullpen as a result.
“We’re transitioning back to a five-man, so Eric Lauer is going to be in the bullpen for now,” Schneider said. “Feedback from the players was big, internal discussions we had a ton of them throughout the last week, we think that keeping everyone fairly regular as a starter is really important.”
The Blue Jays starting rotation will now consist of Bieber, Max Scherzer, Chris Bassitt, Jose Berrios, and Kevin Gausman. This is how the starting assignments will look for Toronto over the next week, which includes two more games against the Cinncinati Reds and a pivotal weekend set against the New York Yankees:
- Tuesday vs. Reds: Berrios
- Wednesday vs. Reds: Bieber
- Friday vs. Yankees: Gausman
- Saturday vs. Yankees: Max Scherzer
- Sunday vs. Yankees: Bassitt
There was some surprise when the Jays announced the pitching rotation for this next week. Many thought that Toronto would save Bieber for their series opener against the Yankees. Schneider commented on that possibility, saying that the team did think about doing that.
“I know it’s very enticing to line him up against New York,” Schneider admitted. “We really don’t wanna look ahead to that. We want to win this series in [Cinncinati] and then do the next thing in New York.”
Moving Lauer into the bullpen also wasn’t an easy decision for the Blue Jays manager. The 30-year-old Ohio native has been a very nice surprise for Toronto this season, having managed an 8-2 record and 3.21 ERA. He did, however, struggle in his last outing, giving up 10 hits and six earned runs through 4.2 innings against the Minnesota Twins.
“He definitely didn’t pitch his way out of the rotation,” Schneider said of Lauer. “We view him as a starter and we just feel like this is the best for the team right now.”
Things are about to heat up and having Lauer move into the bullpen should help the team later in games. Only time will tell if this decision pays off for the Jays as they continue to fight for the top spot in the AL East.