The Toronto Blue Jays are navigating a barrage of injuries to begin the 2026 season, most notably in the starting rotation. Trey Yesavage, Bowden Francis, and Jose Berrios all started the year on the IL (Francis will be there all year long), and then Cody Ponce joined the group in what will be a season-long IL stint that really put a strain on the depth. Add in a delay to Ricky Tiedemann’s buildup, and the Jays were really looking for reinforcements.

This is how Patrick Corbin found himself donning a Jays uniform early into the 2026 campaign, with the organization inking the left-hander to a one-year deal worth $1 million. He needed just one start in the minors before the club called on his number, and the Jays have used him for three starts since then.

Corbin’s first outing against the Twins wasn’t anything spectacular, but it ended up being the best start of the series amongst the Jays’ rotation. The 36-year-old allowed four runs and six hits over four frames while striking out one in the eventual win, allowing two home runs while also hitting two batters. If the Jays had an arm like Yesavage or Berrios ready to go at the time, there’s a chance that Corbin likely would not have made another start for Toronto given that first audition, but manager John Schneider needed him again with nobody coming up the pipeline. With that opportunity, the left-hander has taken full advantage.

Over his next two starts, Corbin has allowed just six hits, three walks, and two earned runs across 10 2/3 innings while striking out nine. He’s kept the ball from jumping over the fence and has posted a 62.5% strike rate while facing 38 batters during that span. Schneider pulled Corbin after just 65 pitches against the Angels, with the club opting for a different arm instead of letting the veteran face the Angels a third time through the lineup, but it would have been interesting to see how Corbin would have fared against a less powerful Angels lineup that additional time through the order.

On top of his solid starts, Corbin’s slider has limited hitters to a .125 xBA with a 53.6% whiff rate, even with his 21.7% usage. His sinker is limiting opponents to a .235 SLG and a .288 wOBA, which is impressive considering it sits in the low 90s MPH range and doesn’t have a ton of movement compared to other big leaguers.

At the end of the day, Corbin isn’t a long-term solution in the rotation. Trey Yesavage has one or two more rehab starts in Buffalo before he likely heads North of the border, and Jose Berrios is just a couple of starts behind him. While the jury is still out on who goes where when the duo returns, as well as Yimi Garcia for the bullpen, Corbin is setting himself up for a longer run in the rotation compared to his counterpart, Eric Lauer.

Lauer has turned from a 2025 saviour into a villain arc in quick succession. While his first couple of starts can be attributed to a flu bug that zapped his energy, his last three outings have been less than impressive and a shade of his former self last season.

Just those three outings alone, Lauer has allowed 13 earned runs and 17 hits across 15 1/3 innings while walking eight and striking out just ten. He’s also allowed five home runs during that span and owns a 7.64 FIP for his efforts. Coinciding with these dreadful starts are some off-handed comments from the Jays southpaw that have soured his standing amongst the fans.

Lauer was critical of the Jays using an opener on this recent road trip, with Schneider having to put the left-hander in his place with a retort of his own, and the left-hander also had to field questions about the athletic tape he was wearing during yesterday’s outing, which also drew the ire of Schneider, considering the staff was not aware he was battling anything before his scheduled start.

There’s a communication gap between Lauer and his skipper, and for a team that boasts about clubhouse chemistry and the ‘power of friendship’, the Jays left-hander doesn’t appear to be gelling with the mentality; at least from the outside looking in. It might stem from the fact he lost his arbitration case this past winter, or the fact that Lauer is destined for the bullpen when the reinforcements arrive, which bothered the Ohio product during Spring Training.

Lauer is in a contract year, so it makes sense why he wants to start and boost his rep before the offseason rolls around. However, his play on the field has not warranted that opportunity he desires. Even factoring out the first two flu games (and maybe even the third start against the Twins), Lauer’s allowing a lot of contact and isn’t fooling many at the plate with his offerings on top of the comments off the field.

If Yesavage was to rejoin the rotation this weekend, there’s an easy argument to make that Eric Lauer is the one on the outside looking in compared to Corbin. The veteran arm is finding more success on the mound and isn’t outspoken over his role, and ultimately the Jays need the best arm on the mound to help them win, and right now that’s not Lauer.

Even when Jose Berrios returns, there’s a likely chance Corbin gets burned out as well, but that’s a problem the club will need to figure out in a week or two when he’s ready to go. The left-hander was never going to be a solution for the Jays across a full-season. But for now, he’s played his way into a bigger role in the rotation, and when Yesavage returns in the near future, he should continue making starts while Lauer heads back to the bullpen.

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