Addison Barger’s health, fifth rotation spot emerge as questions for Jays

TORONTO — After an encouraging start to the weekend, Sunday’s loss to the Angels raised at least two significant questions for the Toronto Blue Jays.

The health of their right fielder is now in doubt, and they continue to seek answers in their fifth rotation spot. With those challenges looming large, the Blue Jays must now navigate a three-game series against a Tampa Bay Rays team that swept them just last week.

As the Blue Jays prepare to host the Rays on Monday (Sportsnet, Sportsnet+, 6:30 p.m. ET / 3:30 p.m. PT) for three games at Rogers Centre, let’s take a closer look at a few of the bigger questions they’re now facing:

What’s Barger’s status?

Two hours before first pitch Sunday afternoon, the Blue Jays announced that Addison Barger would miss the game due to right elbow soreness. The 26-year-old woke up with reduced range of motion leading to an MRI Sunday afternoon.

“With how important he is to us, we wanted to be careful,” manager John Schneider said. 

The absence impacts the team on a couple fronts. First, Barger can really slug, as we saw last year when he hit 21 home runs and 32 doubles. That power is needed within a lineup that ranks 21st in home runs among the 30 MLB teams.

And second, Barger’s throwing arm was a welcome addition to the outfield defence Saturday as he prevented Jorge Soler from scoring with a throw clocked at 101.2 m.p.h. His arm — and even the threat of his arm — changes the way opposing teams run the bases, and no one else on the Blue Jays’ roster offers comparable outfield arm strength.

If this was clearly a day-to-day issue, there would be no reason to send Barger for an MRI, but evidently other possibilities are in play. Either way, the Blue Jays will know more Monday.

Hustling toward an identity?

Elsewhere on the position player front, Daulton Varsho scored the Blue Jays’ lone run of the game Sunday after reaching on an infield hit in the first inning.

Without a full effort-run, he wouldn’t have reached base, but his hustle allowed him to reach and score. Later, in the eighth, Myles Straw and Varsho both reached on infield hits and while neither scored and Varsho jammed his heel a bit at first, the baserunning helped load the bases for Vladimir Guerrero Jr.

This is the kind of effort Schneider wants to see every day and he made a point of saying as much this weekend. It’ll be telling which players take the hint.

How to proceed with Lauer and Miles?

Along with Barger’s health, the other big question to emerge from the weekend was what the future holds for Eric Lauer, Spencer Miles and the fifth spot in the Blue Jays’ rotation. 

Starting in the major leagues for the first time ever, Miles pitched three scoreless innings Sunday while allowing two hits and striking out two. His fastball averaged 96.5 m.p.h. as he built his way up to 38 pitches, his most since April 11.

Lauer, on the other hand, allowed six runs, including three home runs, in five innings, while striking out four. He threw 80 pitches — nearly a starter’s workload — while averaging 90.7 m.p.h. with his fastball.

Afterward, he acknowledged he has work to do, regardless of what role he fills from here.

“I don’t think by any means I’m a shoo-in for a rotation spot, that’s for sure,” Lauer said. “I know I want to help the team in the best way I possibly can.”

So, how to proceed? While Lauer was an essential part of the 2025 team, his velocity’s down by about 1 m.p.h. and his home run rate has spiked to 2.7 per nine innings. With an ERA of 6.69 after eight turns in the rotation, he’s been given a fair chance and it’s not working the way anyone would have hoped.

If Max Scherzer or Jose Berrios were healthy, they’d be in that spot. Under the current circumstances, the conversation remains open-ended — and must now include Miles.

Schneider said he believes Miles has some important building blocks needed for starting pitchers — that is, the pitch mix, quality of stuff and command needed to work through a lineup more than once. And when the manager told Miles about his assignment ahead of Sunday’s outing, he was careful with his wording.

“I told him he would start,” Schneider recalled. “I didn’t say he would open, (I said) he would start. We just wanted to see how he went.”

Even so, that doesn’t mean it’d be simple to turn the Rule 5 pick into a starting pitcher. His season high in pitches is 43. His career high in innings is 21 — as in the 21 he’s pitched this season. Ramping him up recklessly can’t be the answer here after two significant surgeries but he’s open to the idea of building his pitch count further.

Asked about starting, he said: “I definitely think I can still do it down the road.”

How far down the road? A week from now? A year? Miles sounds open-minded. 

“I’m totally capable,” he said. “I mean, I’m just here to do whatever they ask. I’m a Blue Jay.”

There are no guarantees here, but a cautious, deliberate ramp-up is an intriguing possibility for a team with many injured starters.