With Ryu Done For the Year, How Deep is the Blue Jays’ Rotation?
TORONTO — Very quickly, the Blue Jays now find themselves in the buyer’s market for starting pitching.
Hours before Tuesday’s 6-5 loss to the Orioles, Blue Jays general manager Ross Atkins broke the news that Hyun Jin Ryu would require season-ending surgery for an ulnar collateral ligament (UCL) injury.
"We were hopeful that there was the potential of a conservative route and weighed the pros and cons of that and ultimately decided that it was best to move forward with the procedure," Atkins said while the media gathered in the Blue Jays' dugout.
Long-term, this injury puts some serious doubt on whether Ryu will ever pitch again for the Blue Jays. Atkins said the Jays are evaluating whether Ryu needs a full UCL reconstruction (a.k.a Tommy John surgery) or a partial operation. The Jays’ front office is hopeful Ryu returns “at some point” during the 2023 season.
In the short term, the Jays’ rotation gets much shallower. Even the possibility of Ryu’s return offered a bit of hope. That’s off the table now. Thankfully, Ross Stripling’s been dandy as a back-end option, spinning a 2.81 ERA in 32 innings as a starting pitcher. Yusei Kikuchi, on the other hand, has had his moments this season, but hasn’t exactly instilled buckets of confidence as Toronto’s No. 4 starting option.
Kikuchi’s had excellent starts, like May 16 against the Mariners, and dreadful starts, like June 8 in Kansas City, where he pitched a career-low 0.2 innings. It’s been a Jekyll and Hyde show for Kikuchi all year. Tuesday was the latest freaky performance.
From the get-go, the left-hander had to battle. He got two quick outs to start the game, then a double and a walk threatened the inning.
Kikuchi tip-toed out of his first jam but allowed a two-run home run to Ryan Mountcastle in the third. Austin Hays would later take him deep in the fifth.
“I think the biggest challenge today was just allowing the two homers,” Kikuchi said through a translator.
It’s alright if Kikuchi allows a homer here and there; that’s just the way his stuff plays. The walks, however, make his high whiff, hard contact style incredibly unsustainable. Against Kikuchi, Baltimore picked up five hits and four walks through four innings. The final tally added up to four earned runs, a disappointing final line against a very beatable Orioles squad.
The Blue Jays did their best to battle back on offense. Matt Chapman ripped a two-run bomb, his eighth homer of the season, and rookie Gabriel Moreno went 3-for-4 with three singles and two RBIs. Still, it wasn’t enough to climb out of the hole the Jays started in.
For the most part, when Kikuchi is at his best, he keeps the walks below three per game. On Tuesday, the lefty issued two free passes to Orioles nine-hole hitter Richie Martin, as his walk rate has surged lately (12 walks in his last 18 innings). His 32 walks are now third-highest in all of baseball.
“[Kikuchi] needs to throw strikes,” Blue Jays manager Charlie Montoyo said. “It’s kind of tough to play from behind somebody. There’s too many non-competitive pitches.”
Ryu’s injury was always expected to be serious, but hearing his season-ending prognosis put into words was sobering. The safety net for players like Kikuchi and Stripling has vanished. However, the Blue Jays could (and most likely will) look to trade for pitching depth in the coming weeks.
Atkins wouldn’t specify if his club would go big-game hunting or bargain shopping, but he did leave room for several additions.
“We could think of it creatively and then, obviously, we have to consider deadline opportunities and just trade acquisitions that could bolster our depth,” Atkins said.
With each start in which Kikuchi stumbles, faith in the Jays’ rotation dwindles a little. That’s not to say that the current starting core isn’t capable; they are; it's just that it could be time to seek some starting pitching insurance.
Ethan Diamandas is a contributing writer who covers the Toronto Blue Jays for Sports Illustrated. He also writes for Yahoo Sports Canada and MLB.com. Follow Ethan on Twitter @EthanDiamandas