DUNEDIN, Fla. – Attrition struck the Toronto Blue Jays on the eve of the first official workout for pitchers and catchers, with slugger Anthony Santander and Bowden Francis headed for major surgery and Shane Bieber due to miss the beginning of the regular season.
Manager John Schneider dropped the news Tuesday afternoon with spring training set to open, each an immediate test to the overall roster depth the defending American League champions sought to fortify over the winter.
“That’s obviously disappointing news,” GM Ross Atkins said of Santander, who will undergo a left shoulder labral repair after suffering a setback during his hitting progression last month. “But we have built the organization and team and planned for setbacks and planned for disappointments to overcome to make sure that we’re in a good position and feel that we can do so.”
Santander’s surgery on the shoulder he spent most of 2025 rehabbing is scheduled for Wednesday, as is that of Francis, who needs a UCL reconstruction in his right elbow after suffering what Atkins called “an acute injury” throwing a pitch during his recent ramp-up.
Bieber, who exercised his $16-million player option in November, foregoing a $4-million buyout and free agency, is experiencing right forearm fatigue and will “slow play” his build-up for the season, said Schneider.
Atkins said both the Blue Jays and Bieber himself expect the right-hander “to pitch a lot and have a significant impact on our entire season,” although he didn’t speculate how long he might miss.
The immediate consequence of his slower build-up is that a rotation fronted by Kevin Gausman, Dylan Cease, Trey Yesavage and Cody Ponce now also has room for Jose Berrios or Eric Lauer, as well. Francis’s loss, meanwhile, eats into the club’s starting depth, which includes top lefty pitching prospect Ricky Tiedemann, who is returning from his own elbow surgery and will have his workload managed because of limited volume preceding the injury.
“That’s one of the reasons we acquired Cody, really fortunate to have Eric Lauer in the position that he’s in here, obviously we acquired Dylan Cease and have two incredibly stable starting pitchers coming back in Gaus and Jose,” said Atkins. “Very confident that we’re going to see Shane contributing in a significant portion of our season and feel like our starting point is still in a very solid position.”
Santander’s loss, meanwhile, sets up Addison Barger to be used most often in right field with Nathan Lukes in left, with Davis Schneider and Myles Straw available as right-handed complements.
Kazuma Okamoto is slated to get the bulk of his work at third base, with Ernie Clement set to get the “lion’s share” of reps at second base, said Schneider.
Asked if Santander’s loss is changing how the Blue Jays are looking at external options for more outfield help, Atkins replied: “Not significantly. We’re always thinking about improving. We’re always thinking about getting better. We were at a position where acquisitions probably would have meant some level of subtraction, meaning we would have had to look to trade someone had we acquired another significant position player. And so we feel like we’re prepared to handle setbacks.”
Berrios is back: The situation around Jose Berrios’ decision to leave the Blue Jays ahead of the World Series “has been handled,” said John Schneider, who added that the right-hander put in a “pretty productive off-season” and that a throwing session Tuesday left him “very encouraged.”
Berrios was bumped from the rotation in mid-September after Trey Yesavage’s promotion, before right elbow inflammation forced him to the IL, and he had been rehabbing with the club through the ALCS before he left.
Schneider said he would leave it for Berrios to fully address the decision, but did say “it was probably heat-of-the-moment stuff.”
“He was obviously not pitching for us, he was on the IL,” the manager continued. “So, it was kind of circumstances that we didn’t really deal with at the time because we were trying to win the World Series. But I think that’s been handled. I think Jose realizes that it probably could have been handled a little bit differently — on everyone’s end, really. Looking back, I wish that we did things a little bit differently. I’m sure he does, as well. But he’s the normal Jose that’s coming in ready. He’s had conversations with guys that he needed to have conversations with. And we want to put that behind us.”
Short hops: Ricky Tiedemann, returning from reconstructive elbow surgery in July 2024, will have his workload managed month-to-month to begin the year to “make sure that he’s progressing and developing and able to impact us from a bulk standpoint,” said Ross Atkins. His role “could end up shortening,” the GM added, “but initially he will be stretched out so that he could have some impact either way.” Tiedemann has thrown only 79.1 innings over the past three years due to injury, which is why “it would obviously be very difficult for him to (start) and impact us late in the season,” said Atkins. “That’s why we want to stay open and a little bit more nimble to start the year.” … Kazuma Okamoto is expected to arrive at Blue Jays camp this weekend, once his work visa gets resolved. He’s due to play third base for Japan at the World Baseball Classic. … Yimi Garcia, recovering from surgery to clean up scar tissue in his right elbow last September, has been throwing for a few weeks, said John Schneider, and while there’s hope he’ll be ready for Opening Day, the Blue Jays will err on the side of caution with him. … Among the ailments George Springer played through last year was “some right wrist discomfort as the season went on, which made it a little difficult to throw,” said Schneider. Springer played 54 games in the outfield last year, only nine of them after July 30. He sounds ticketed primarily for DH work this year with sporadic outfield appearances.
