Shane Bieber continues his rehab assignment for the @BuffaloBisons! The @BlueJays' right-hander whiffs 6 over 5 2/3 frames in his second appearance for his new organization.
How the Blue Jays could deploy their rotation when Shane Bieber is ready to go
Photo credit: Joe Camporeale-Imagn Images
Aug 11, 2025, 19:00 EDTUpdated: Aug 11, 2025, 18:28 EDT
In acquiring Shane Bieber, the Toronto Blue Jays landed arguably the best starter moved at this season’s trade deadline. They have also created a logjam in the rotation as a result, but that’s a good problem.
While the 2020 American League Cy Young winner has missed the last 16-plus months after undergoing Tommy John surgery, the deal was a gamble on the tantalizing upside he could provide at the top of Toronto’s rotation upon his return.
As that return draws near, the Blue Jays must decide how they will deploy Bieber in a pitching staff that already includes five established starters.
After throwing 78 pitches during the fifth outing of his current rehab assignment – a 5 2/3 inning, six-strikeout, two earned run affair – Bieber will reportedly get one more start at triple-A before making his Blue Jays debut.
Eric Lauer would have been the obvious option to replace in the rotation if he hadn’t rebounded from a turbulent 2024 that found him pitching in the KBO, posting a 2.82 ERA this season, the best of any Blue Jays starter. Future Hall of Famer Max Scherzer is both the most established veteran in the Blue Jays’ clubhouse and has turned it on as of late with a 2.84 ERA and 21 strikeouts over 19 innings in his last three starts.
Kevin Gausman, Chris Bassitt and Jose Berrios have been pillars of the rotation for years. Yet, all three have also been among the most taxed starters in baseball, each ranking in the top 10 in innings pitched since the start of 2021.
This is why an option that provides additional rest to the Blue Jays’ most fatigued arms – either a 15-day injured list rest stint or a six-man rotation – may be ideal.
Blue Jays manager John Schneider alluded to this as a possible configuration for their starters going forward on Saturday, telling Sportsnet’s Shi Davidi that they “haven’t really decided if it’s definitely going to be a six-man yet,” and that “it’s a definite possibility that we do that for 10 days or two weeks. But haven’t finalized it.”
The other option would be sending a starter to the 15-day injured list for a breather. Jose Berrios has had an alarming decline in fastball velocity throughout the season along with some concerning peripherals.
Berrios has also had the worst results of any Blue Jays starter since the start of July with a 5.71 ERA (backed by a 5.42 FIP). He’s thrown the most innings of Toronto’s trio of workhorses and trails only Logan Webb and Zach Wheeler over the last five seasons.
Given the information we have, giving the right-hander some time to rest and recover is a reasonable course of action. Yet with the number of days off the Blue Jays have coming up, the entire rotation will get extra time to recover either way, and moving to a six-man would provide arguably an excessive amount of rest.
I’ve mapped out both what the rotation would look like on turn with a hypothetical Berrios 15-day IL stint and as a six-man unit. In both scenarios, Bieber makes his Blue Jays debut on Aug. 19, with one additional day of rest after his final presumed rehab start.
The Blue Jays’ four off days in August will already provide ample rest for the rotation without moving to a six-man, with every start coming on an extra day of rest after Bieber’s projected addition to the group, except for three. In this hypothetical, Bassitt and Lauer would each make one start on two extra days of rest, and Lauer would make one on a normal turn.
Bassitt lining up to get an extra day also works out well, as he is second behind Berrios when it comes to needing a breather.
The six-man model has only Bieber and Scherzer making a start on one extra day of rest – directly after Bieber’s debut – then, after the Aug. 21 off day, each starter would make two starts apiece on two extra days of rest over the remainder of the month.
Starting pitchers are creatures of habit, and consistently adding two additional days of rest to their routines is a significant disruption. The Blue Jays must be wary of disturbing their starters’ rhythms and thread the needle between rest and regularity as they deploy their pitching staff. Toronto’s starter ERA and opponent OPS have both been better this season while on normal rest versus extra days off.
However, we are working with small samples here, and Gausman, Bassitt, and Lauer have all been best on two or more extra days of recovery.
Another aspect to consider is that if the Blue Jays moved to a six-man rotation for the rest of August, they would be down to seven arms in the bullpen. This would put additional stress on a bullpen that is ninth in MLB in innings pitched and on the starters to go deeper into games if there aren’t relief options available, potentially backfiring on the intention to give them extra rest.
Implementing a six-man rotation may be more viable come September when roster sizes expand to 28. However, the potential pitfall of too much time between starts would remain. The Blue Jays will have to delicately balance the need for both rest and consistent routine to get the most out of their starters down the stretch.