Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Eric Lauer doesn’t like pitching behind an opener. Blue Jays manager John Schneider doesn’t appear to be losing sleep over it.
A minor drama hit the Blue Jays clubhouse Friday when Lauer, a veteran southpaw who has mostly started in his MLB career, openly complained about being asked to serve as the bulk guy behind an opener.
His words, via Mitch Bannon of The Athletic:
“It’s definitely different. To be really blunt, I hate it. I can’t stand it. You work with what you got. Part of it, too, we’re trying to mix some things up. We’re trying to find ways to win. It’s a gameplan we had, and I think we went out there and tried to execute it the best we could. That’s really all you can do.
“You can make it work the best you can. It’s just, hopefully it’s not something that we will continue doing. But you know, that’s above my pay grade.”
One day later, Schneider confirmed he agreed with Lauer on one thing, that the matter is above his pay grade. He also didn’t seem to appreciate Lauer airing his grievances with the media rather than behind closed doors:
“I respect everyone’s opinion. I know the end of his quote was ‘it’s above my pay grade,’ and it definitely is above his pay grade as to how we use him. We’re trying to win; you know what I mean? My job is to put him in spots to try to have success. That’s what I try to do. He’s aware of that. He gets that. I think that anyone who’s been bounced around a little bit, he wants to start. I get it. He’s on board with us, just trying to win and go out and execute until we take the ball from the big fella and do it again the next time.
“It’s just reminding guys, if you don’t like your role, come talk to me. Come talk to Pete. That goes for everybody. It’s you don’t like when I take you out as a starter. All right, come talk to me. Don’t tell you guys [reporters]. Come tell me. So that was it, basically it was quick. I think the message was, like, you pitch, I decide.”
Lauer made three starts before Friday, in which he allowed 11 earned runs while striking out 12 and walking nine in 12 2/3 innings of work. With the opener, he allowed three earned runs in five innings in a 6-3 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks.
There are levels to this as well, as The Athletic notes Lauer feels pitching out of the bullpen last year cost him his arbitration case, in which the Jays successfully argued for a $4.4 million salary instead of his $5.75 million number.
Lauer is also due to hit free agency next offseason.
Openers have become commonplace in MLB in recent years, though some pitchers clearly still have issues with the idea. The Blue Jays are doing it as a matter of desperation, as they entered the season with an overstocked rotation but are now dealing with a significant number of injuries.
Starters Trey Yesavage, José Berríos, Shane Bieber and Cody Ponce are all currently on the injured list, with Ponce likely out for the season with an ACL injury after signing a $30 million deal over the winter. Those inuries are how Lauer made the rotation out of spring training.
Toronto has also signed Patrick Corbin to fill a gap in the rotation, and using an opener in front of Lauer may well be them trying to mitigate issues with a starter they can’t afford to replace right now.