Blue Jays: 3 players who won't be on the roster by September 1

Blue Jays: 3 players who won’t be on the roster by September 1

NEW YORK, NY - JUNE 3: Manager John Schneider #14 of the Toronto Blue Jays argues with home plate umpire Charlie Ramos after being ejected from the game during the ninth inning against the New York Mets at Citi Field on June 3, 2023 in the Queens borough of New York City. (Photo by Adam Hunger/Getty Images) /

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Aug 7, 2023; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; Toronto Blue Jays starting pitcher Hyun Jin Ryu (99) delivers a pitch in the second inning against the Cleveland Guardians at Progressive Field. Mandatory Credit: David Richard-USA TODAY Sports /

The Blue Jays are going to need to option a few players down the stretch in order to make room for starters returning from the IL.

The Toronto Blue Jays may have survived a horrible scare last week. Their star shortstop, Bo Bichette was removed from a game after a non-contact knee injury, which is almost always a sign of a serious injury. However, a week later, Bichette has no reported symptoms and is able to move around fine, which is going to result in a return to the lineup here soon.

Besides just him, Kevin Kiermeier will be back this season as well. This is going to end up causing a bit of a roster crunch leading into September call-ups.

They’re going to need to option a few of their major league players down to Triple-A this month.

Blue Jays rumors: Hyun Jin Ryu may be the odd man out in the 6-man rotation

As of now, the Toronto Blue Jays depth chart shows a 6-man rotation consisting of Hyun Jin Ryu, Jose Berrios, Chris Bassitt, Alek Manoah, Kevin Gausman and Yusei Kikuchi. But down the stretch, Toronto is going to need to reduce back to a 5-man rotation in order to bulk their bullpen back up with returning contributors from the injured list. That’ll leave one of these 6 pitchers as the odd man out.

And that odd man out will likely be the veteran Hyun Jin Ryu. As of now, Ryu is questionable to appear in his next start after being hit with a comebacker during his last appearance. Their 6-man rotation gives them the flexibility to move starters around to allow Ryun time to heal, but they likely won’t stick to this 6-man rotation for too long. Especially with two of their better relievers, Jordan Romano and Trevor Richards on the IL, nearing a return.

The Blue Jays bullpen has a ton of talent and only so many spots in it, especially with a spot being taken up by a starter in the expanded rotation. The return of their two top bullpen arms will spell the end of the expanded rotation and one of the six will need to be DFA’d or optioned. Kikuchi and Manoah are the only two with options left. Ryu remains the odd man out, especially if he doesn’t bounce back quickly after his latest start.

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