Toronto's breakout rookie righty is walking away from the mound for a while. The Blue Jays placed Trey Yesavage on the 15-day injured list with left knee inflammation after he came out of Tuesday's start against the Astros looking like something was very wrong.
Yesavage threw 16 strikes over 2 innings before his knee appeared to buckle while he was warming up for the 3rd. Manager John Schneider said afterward that the 23-year-old was dealing with a pinching sensation that wouldn't let him balance properly on the mound — not the kind of thing you push through in a game that's still early August with a rotation spot on the line.
The timing stings. Yesavage entered the night 5-5 with a 3.65 ERA across 18 starts, numbers that had quietly made him one of the more reliable arms in Toronto's rotation as a first-year guy. He's been a legitimate fantasy asset all season, and losing him for at least 2 weeks — knee inflammation being what it is, sometimes longer — is a real blow for a Jays team trying to hold its ground in a crowded AL wild-card picture.
Toronto didn't waste time shuffling the roster to cover the gap. The club optioned Chad Dallas to Triple-A Buffalo and called up right-handers Lazaro Estrada and Chase Lee ahead of Wednesday's rematch with Houston. That's a lot of fresh arms getting thrown into the fire at once, which tells you how much the front office is scrambling to patch a rotation and bullpen that just lost one of its best pieces.
For now it's a wait-and-see situation on how long Yesavage is actually out. Knee inflammation can clear up in the minimum 15 days or it can linger, and until the Jays get more imaging or a follow-up update, fans are stuck guessing whether this costs their rookie a couple starts or a much bigger chunk of the stretch run.