MIAMI — On the morning of July 31, when the Toronto Blue Jays acquired Shane Bieber from the Guardians for pitching prospect Khal Stephen, Eric Lauer was at least a little surprised.
The Blue Jays already had five effective starting pitchers — and he was emerging as one of them. Adding a sixth starting pitcher to an already strong five-man rotation would change things, and everyone in that rotation knew it.
“I was not in the headspace of like, ‘Hey, we’re going to go after a starter,’” he recalled Sunday morning, in the visiting clubhouse at loanDepot Park. “But obviously you get a guy like Shane Bieber, I’m not going to be mad about that. That’s a damn good pitcher. When you have a staff that’s collectively doing well, it’s like, We don’t want to mess it up. We don’t want to throw a wrinkle into it, but like — Bieber’s a really good wrinkle.
“As far as wrinkles go, that’s pretty much as good of a wrinkle as you can get,” Lauer continued. “And I think we have the understanding and willingness to just help the team in any way we can. Any way that they play it, we really can’t go wrong. We’ve got six great starters.”
As expected, the acquisition of Bieber led to adjustments for the rest of the Toronto rotation. Lauer was the first one impacted, as he was briefly moved to the bullpen for the team’s series against the Marlins — though he didn’t actually pitch in relief. Soon, more adjustments will be required, and even though it’s not exactly clear who will be asked to do what yet, Lauer is ready to embrace what’s ahead.
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Not only did the Blue Jays have an off day last week, they have days off in each of the following three weeks. That scheduling quirk paired with Bieber’s return from Tommy John surgery nudged Lauer to the bullpen for the series opener in Miami, despite the fact that he’d pitched to a 2.76 ERA and done nothing to deserve a demotion.
On Friday afternoon, pitching coach Pete Walker and manager John Schneider discussed an A1 — or best-case — scenario with Lauer where Bieber would cover six innings, the Blue Jays would be leading big and Lauer would pitch the final three.
They nearly got there but the score was still close, so while Lauer warmed up, the team called on traditional relievers to lock down Bieber’s first win with the Blue Jays. But remember that Lauer is a starting pitcher used to warming up gradually, so by the time he was loose, he had gotten up multiple times and thrown at least 30 pitches already. Even if they weren’t max-effort offerings, it was starting to add up, so he added volume to simulate the workload of a light start.
“Once I got hot once or twice, I’m not accustomed to the reliever aspect of the game where I can get hot one day and also be hot the next day,” he said. “It’s not something I’ve really ever done.”
By that point, Lauer had thrown too much to be available Saturday or Sunday, and Schneider made the announcement that the left-hander would pitch Wednesday against the Twins. With Friday’s extended bullpen session serving as a pseudo start, he’ll continue preparing as usual with a bullpen session slated for Monday at Rogers Centre.
“Ten games between starts is a little bit rough, but it’s part of the game,” Lauer said. “Now, it’s more being on my five-day routine for Wednesday.”
It’s all part of the plan for the Blue Jays, who won’t be sticking rigidly to a traditional five-man rotation for the foreseeable future.
“It’s going to be a little bit flexible with a lot of guys,” Schneider said. “With the (upcoming) off days, guys are going to get extra rest. We’re going to do a little bit of mixing and matching.”
That added rest might prove to be a positive, considering Bieber is working his way back from significant arm surgery and the rest of the rotation has been logging innings since February. When the playoffs begin, there will be times to push harder, but the absolute best-case scenario for the Blue Jays over the next month or so likely involves clinching a first-round bye without overexerting their veteran rotation in the process.
“This time of the year, the age that I am, I think an off day is only going to help,” said 34-year-old Kevin Gausman. “I feel pretty confident that I’ll be able to do whatever they need me to do, whether that’s pitch on seven days or six days or five. That’s part of the nature of the beast and it’s a good thing because we have so many good pitchers, you know? But it’s also a weird thing because we have so many off days.”
As of now, it looks like Bieber, Jose Berrios and Gausman line up to start against the Brewers on six days’ rest this weekend, but with Schneider’s talk of being flexible, it’s clear that’s all a work in progress. Schneider spoke in Miami of managing the pitching staff in 48-hour increments — an indication the Blue Jays are ready to adjust on the fly depending on starter health, matchups and the state of the bullpen.
One way or another, more change is likely coming — and by the sounds of it, Lauer is ready for what’s ahead.
“Everybody wants to continue doing what they’re doing and staying on track,” he said. “But sometimes the game calls for other assignments.”
