Cody

Ponce

Lauer earns his spot in Toronto’s season-opening rotation with rookie sensation Trey Yesavage (shoulder) along with veterans Shane Bieber (forearm) and José Berríos (elbow) heading to the injured list. Big-ticket offseason acquisition Dylan Cease will get the ball following Opening Day starter Kevin Gausman. It’ll be Cody Ponce and Max Scherzer rounding out the initial rotation.

Both Scherzer and Ponce will work in an additional minor league game to continue getting stretched out before taking their respective turns in the Jays’ rotation. That means the two right-handers can be penciled in — in some order — for the first two games of the Rockies’ series that starts on Monday, March 30. That means Dylan Cease and Eric Lauer are likely to follow Kevin Gausman during the first series of the season against the Athletics.

The Yankees brought just three likely major leaguers with them, two of whom (Amed Rosario and Randal Grichuk) would typically only play against lefties. Ponce had an easy time with the group, even though his velocity fell off some today; he averaged 94.5 mph with his fastball, down from 96.0 in his previous four spring outings. Ponce’s rotation spot in Toronto could eventually come into jeopardy if they ever have all of their seven starters healthy at once. We like him in mixed leagues until then, though.

With his pitch count up, Ponce was lifted with the bases loaded and two out in the first. Michael Plassmeyer then retired Ryan Kreidler. Ponce came back out for the second and walked two more in a scoreless frame. In the third, he retired Brooks Lee and gave up a double to Matt Wallner before being lifted again. In all, Ponce threw 31 of his 59 pitches for strikes. The bullpen then followed his lead the rest of the way, and the Jays won the game 6-1 despite walking 10 batters in all.

That’s not typically a good sign. The Blue Jays had previously said they were not concerned about a major injury for Berrios, but it’s hard to be as confident in that now. He likely wasn’t on fantasy radars anyway so this shouldn’t change that, but it may change value in the rest of the Blue Jays rotation. The team had wanted to be cautious with Trey Yesavage’s innings, but they may not have that luxury anymore. Of course, they could just move Eric Lauer into the rotation or piggyback Lauer and Yesavage. This also means Cody Ponce’s spot in this rotation is very secure, and he should be going higher in drafts.

Ponce struck out just one, but of the eight balls in play against him, only one was hard hit. We’re a little nervous to recommend Ponce this season, just because the Jays now possess seven starters and Ponce had no real MLB track record before his success in Asia. Still, we imagine he’ll offer some mixed-league value if he gets the chance to make 30 starts.

Not a great day for Ponce, who had more hard-hit balls allowed (six) than called strikes (one) and whiffs (four) in the 32-pitch outing. We like Ponce as a late-round pick in mixed leagues, but his margin for error for sticking in Toronto’s rotation for the long haul has gotten smaller with the Max Scherzer signing. He should be in there initially, at least.

It was to be expected, but it’s still fun to see Ponce’s velocities all up 3-5 mph from his Statcast “yearly average.” For him, that yearly average is from 2021, when he averaged 93.2 mph with his fastball in 15 appearances for the Blue Jays. He turned into a mid-90s guy in Japan, and he averaged 96.0 mph on his 10 fastballs today.

The deal, agreed to nine days ago, is now official. It sounds like Ponce is pretty much guaranteed a rotation spot, which could get awkward unless José Berríos is traded. The former Brewers prospect is coming off one of the best seasons in KBO history, having gone 17-1 with a 1.89 ERA and a 252/41 K/BB in 180 2/3 innings for Hanwha. In a nice situation in Toronto, he’ll be worth trying late in mixed-league drafts.

Toronto continues to fortify its rotation shortly after inking Dylan Cease to a massive seven-year $210 million contract. The 31-year-old right-hander was one of the true X-factors on the open market this offseason after a remarkable run in Korea with the Hanwha Eagles, where he overhauled his arsenal, added velocity, and dominated to the tune of a microscopic 1.89 ERA and stellar 252/41 K/BB ratio across 180 2/3 innings over 29 starts last season. He’ll slot in as a back-end stabilizer for the Blue Jays behind Kevin Gausman, Cease, Shane Bieber and rookie sensation Trey Yesavage. From a fantasy standpoint, it’s a compelling landing spot — he has a relatively clear path to a rotation spot on a title contender and enough swing-and-miss ability to matter in deeper mixed leagues, even in the AL East’s unforgiving environments. He’s a late-round dart throw worth monitoring closely next spring.