As recently as the start of this week, the Toronto Blue Jays had more major league-calibre starters than rotation spots available. It was considered, by far, the franchise’s biggest roster surplus. Now, just a week out from Opening Day, that’s no longer the case.

Season-opening IL stints for Shane Bieber (forearm), José Berríos (elbow), and Trey Yesavage (shoulder) have depleted the Blue Jays’ once superpowered rotation depth this spring. But it’s certainly not the time to start panicking. Not yet, at least.

Toronto’s starting staff remains in good hands with Kevin Gausman, Dylan Cease, Cody Ponce, Max Scherzer and Eric Lauer — who’ll be a starter once again after finishing last season in the bullpen. Most playoff contenders would take this mix in a heartbeat, even if asking your future Hall-of-Fame 41-year-old hurler to log meaningful innings right out of the gate wasn’t initially by design.

None of this, outside of Gausman, Cease and Ponce at the top, was part of the initial game plan. But adjusting on the fly is part of the job. Thus, the Blue Jays don’t have much choice but to ask a lot out of their starters, which, most importantly, now includes staying healthy until others return.

By exhausting this layer of big-league starter depth, any additional starting pitching injury from here would force this organization into scramble mode, leaving them without a clear-cut candidate to round out the rotation. And there may not be many, if any, solutions to offer down in Buffalo.

At this point of the spring, Toronto’s layer of organizational depth at Triple-A figures to include the likes of Canadian Adam Macko, Lazaro Estrada, Chad Dallas (returning from Tommy John surgery after missing all of ’25), Grant Rogers and CJ Van Eyk. Others will join that list of potential call-ups later this season. But for now, this is likely it.

Macko, who fired 2.1 scoreless innings, allowing three hits and one walk while striking out four with Team Canada at this year’s World Baseball Classic, certainly features the highest ceiling of the names listed above. However, he isn’t currently in a position to offer much assistance to the Blue Jays’ rotation if a need were to arise, as he’s only been stretched out for multi-inning situations.

The 25-year-old lefty’s long-term future likely remains in the rotation. But for now, his chances of helping this team in the short term appear to be much higher as a reliever than as a traditional starter.

That’ll, of course, further complicate the organization’s big-league rotation depth — or lack thereof — early on. Granted, they may not be without Berríos, as well as Yesavage, for very long. It’s possible both could return from the IL rather quickly, particularly Berríos, whose build-up was paused at 63 pitches and may only require a couple of weeks before reaching completion, barring any further setbacks.

If the Blue Jays had to dip into their Triple-A depth — which may benefit from an external addition either via trade or waiver claim — between now and then, there is a bit of certainty with Estrada, considering the 26-year-old righty made a pair of long relief appearances in the majors last season. The second of which didn’t go entirely well, as he surrendered six runs on eight hits (including two home runs) and a walk, but still punched out six over 3.1 innings.

But that’s obviously a less-than-ideal situation the Blue Jays would prefer to avoid. Hence, why they invested as many resources as they did over the off-season — signing Cease and Ponce, as well as bringing back Scherzer and Bieber — to prepare in case this exact scenario came to fruition.

So far, those efforts are already paying off even before the 2026 season begins.