How does Ryu's injury impact pitching staff?

TORONTO -- Another injury to Hyun Jin Ryu has the Blue Jays back in a familiar place.

This happened in April, too, the first time that the left-hander hit the injured list with left forearm inflammation. Toronto slid Ross Stripling into the rotation just like the club will do again, an easy fix afforded by the luxury of depth.

Even one of MLB’s deepest rotations can be hurt by a single injury, though, and this leaves the Blue Jays, who took a 9-3 loss to the Twins on Friday night at Rogers Centre, in a spot where they’re one more sore elbow or cold streak away from needing to reach further down the ladder for help. Besides, that depth picture and the spillover into Toronto’s bullpen looks different than it did six weeks ago.

It might be more important this time, too.

Prior to Friday’s series-opening defeat, which ended an eight-game winning streak, the Blue Jays announced that Ryu’s MRI revealed both a forearm strain and elbow inflammation. He’s dealt with both issues all season, a worrying trend as “elbow” and “forearm” are the two last words a pitcher wants to hear.

Add in a velocity drop in Ryu’s last outing that saw him throwing his fastball just 87 mph, and there are some arrows pointing in a worrying direction. For now, the club says that Ryu will be out for “multiple weeks.” Like any team, they’ll prepare for much longer than that.

The immediate impact
Stripling pitched in a bulk role before it was cool. From his time with the Dodgers through to his stint with the Blue Jays, one of Stripling’s greatest strengths has been his ability to be whichever pitcher his team needs on any given day. He embraces it fully.

“The mental side of this is knowing that I’m a huge asset in that I can go get outs in any situation,” Stripling said in April. “The other one is knowing that’s how I’m going to stay [here]. I’m not necessarily [Mets ace] Jacob deGrom, and I’m not necessarily Jordan Romano. I’m somewhere in between as a guy that can get nine outs any time and then fill in and go five or six innings as a starter. I take pride in that role and want to be successful, because I know it’s valuable.”

Stripling has opened the season with a 4.22 ERA, making five starts and eight relief appearances. Blue Jays manager Charlie Montoyo has heaped praise upon the veteran for the variety of roles he’s filled, and as the new No. 5, the club can feel comfortable for the time being. All along, Stripling has been the backup No. 5.

In the bullpen, Jeremy Beasley and Trent Thornton become important arms as the Blue Jays search for who will step up next in a bulk role.

“Everybody does,” Montoyo said following the loss to Minnesota. “Guys like Trent, all of them need to step up. They’re going to get their chance.”

Who’s next in line?
Welcome to where it gets interesting.

Few teams survive a season using just six or seven starters, so if Ryu misses any significant time, it’s likely that the Blue Jays will need to reach even deeper at some point. Even without another injury, we’ve already seen a willingness from the front office to shift to a sixth starter during dense stretches of the schedule.

Toronto is scheduled to play 13 in a row later this month, then have a stretch of 19 games in 19 days from June 24 to July 10, including a doubleheader against Tampa Bay at Rogers Centre.

Casey Lawrence has pitched to a 2.30 ERA over eight starts with Triple-A Buffalo, while Thomas Hatch and Bowden Francis, both of whom entered the season as part of that depth picture, have struggled. Prospect Maximo Castillo recently earned a promotion to Buffalo, but he is still just 23.

With no clear-cut answer, creativity is on the table. Beasley was pitching multi-inning stints in Buffalo successfully, but with he and Thornton representing the new “Striplings” of the bullpen, you see how quickly things could thin out.

What happens next?
In a perfect world for the Blue Jays? Nothing.

That’s rarely how it works, though. In the short term, the team will hope that its five-man rotation remains healthy and clearer depth options emerge from Triple-A. Long-term, though, this has to become more of a priority.

It’s never too early to look towards the Trade Deadline which falls on Aug. 2 this season, and teams have shown a willingness recently to get out in front of that. Chasing depth instead of an ace makes that an easier market to live in, of course, but the Blue Jays will need more information on Ryu before going down that road.