I was listening to Blair and Barker today on the radio, and I just learned for the first time that Jose Barrios is looking at elbow inflammation. And people were thinking how are we going to squeeze in seven starters? This is an important year for him heading into his opt out...
Philip
The Depth was needed! Its actually 8 starters if we include Lauer, and Lauer will probably be part of the 5 to start the season. Bieber is probably out for April, Berrios a ??. I don't think they plan on having Yesavage on the major league roster for the first few weeks of the season either... they delayed his spring ramp up as a means of controlling his innings this year. A luxury they have due to the depth (as of now)
As for Berrios. He was never going to be opting out of the remaining 2/48 at the end of this season -- whether healthy or not, he is not worth that as a 33/34 year old. The Jays and Berrios are stuck with each other until end of 2028 - let's hope he is healthy and is somewhat effective.
Look at the contracts that starters like Merrill Kelly, Chris Bassitt, Lucas Giolito got this offseason. Nowhere near 2/48, and they were all better than Berrios last year.