3:52 AM UTC
TORONTO — For two months, Alek Manoah has been careening everywhere in the highway, barely staying inside these white and yellow strains.
Monday evening at Rogers Centre, he might have lastly crashed.
Manoah recorded only one out, permitting six runs on seven hits together with a grand slam. The 11-4 loss to the Astros appeared like a blur from there, with the groups combining for 31 hits that you simply’ll barely keep in mind. Even with how Manoah’s 2023 season has gone, it should by no means really feel regular to see these items taking place.
Even the group needs to be blindsided by this. The coming days will deliver main choices, however for now, the Blue Jays are simply centered on supporting their Opening Day starter who might have time within the Minor Leagues simply two months later.
“We’ve got to continue to do what’s best for him to help him get better,” supervisor John Schneider stated. “That’s what we’re going to do, starting tonight and moving forward. That’s been our focus the whole time, so we’ll continue to do that.”
The hardest half, Manoah stated after watching his ERA balloon to six.36, was letting down his teammates.
“They reminded me that they all have my back, that we’re all in this together, that they love me and want me to do well,” Manoah said. “It’s very encouraging to hear that.”
The finish end result from one other lengthy evening — and maybe one other lengthy week — is asking what comes subsequent.
Toronto’s pitching depth provides no hero, no knight in shining armor to journey in and save the day. Only Manoah can try this, which is able to take work. Now, it’s a query of the place that work occurs.
“As of now, we’re not sitting here making plans for anything, but doing everything we can do for him means using every resource that we have, using the staff and using his teammates to help him through it,” Schneider stated. “When I say that everything is on the table, yeah, everything is. We’re just trying to help him get back to the caliber of pitcher that he was.”
Let’s get one factor out of the way in which: giving Manoah “the Roy Halladay treatment” is simpler stated than accomplished. It’s additionally much more sophisticated. Halladay was despatched to Single-A forward of the 2001 season to rebuild his supply, coming off a brutal ‘00 season after he’d had success the yr prior. We’re speaking about two completely different pitchers, although, to not point out two completely different individuals and two completely different eras of pitching growth. This is a transferring goal, too, because the Blue Jays scramble to remain aggressive, not a choice remodeled the course of an offseason and camp.
1. Option Manoah to Triple-A: This is clear and simple. Manoah can work on what ails him with decrease stakes and outdoors of the blazing highlight. Whether he wants two weeks or two months is as much as him.
2. An IL stint: If there may be any bodily situation going through Manoah that may, inside purpose, qualify him for an IL stint, now could possibly be the time. This permits him to slowly construct up with a rehab project when that point comes. For pitchers, a rehab project can final 30 days from when it formally begins.
3. A brand new-age “Halladay”: The Blue Jays have a pitching lab at their Dunedin advanced with extra computer systems than an Apple manufacturing unit. One instance of its worth was final season, when No. 1 prospect Ricky Tiedemann spent a month on the “Development List” whereas he labored with the group’s workers on the advanced. This would wish to occur alongside Manoah pitching in Single-A video games, however that is all to say: there’s extra to Dunedin than simply beginning each fifth day.
Three choices for the Blue Jays
1. Bowden Francis: The 27-year-old righty has been lined up with Manoah’s schedule not too long ago and threw 74 pitches his final day trip. Francis will not be on the 40-man roster, however ought to lead the dialog if the Blue Jays want a starter to cowl just a few outings.
2. Triple-A veterans: Drew Hutchison not too long ago opted out of his deal, leaving the Blue Jays with choices like Casey Lawrence (5.81 ERA) and Zach Thompson (6.89 ERA) in Triple-A. That doesn’t encourage a lot optimism.
3. The bulk barn: Mitch White is deep right into a rehab project and able to pitching a number of innings. Thomas Hatch and Trent Thornton, together with Thompson, are on the 40-man roster. Trevor Richards may give the Blue Jays two or three. A two or three-headed “starter” may work for 2 weeks, but it surely’s not a long-term resolution.
