The Toronto Blue Jays report to spring training this week as they look to defend their 2025 American League pennant.

After falling just short in the World Series last season against the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Jays enter 2026 as one of the biggest favorites to get to the Fall Classic again, pairing with the New York Yankees and Seattle Mariners in that regard.

But despite their excellent roster and big budget, there are questions for the Jays. One of which is, 'how will they utilize right-handed pitcher Jose Berrios?'

A 31-year-old native of Puerto Rico, Berrios is a 10-year veteran of the Minnesota Twins and Blue Jays. A two-time All-Star earlier in his career, he's gone 108-82 with a 4.08 ERA. Largely durable, he's made 30 starts or more in his last seven full seasons, and he also made 12 in the COVID-shortened 2020 season (60 games).

He ended the season on the injured list in 2025 and did not appear in the playoffs, and he reportedly wasn't happy about not being included on the World Series roster.

It's been largely assumed that he'll be relegated to the bullpen in 2026 after the team signed both Dylan Cease and Cody Ponce this offseason. 

Speaking on MLB Network on Monday, insider Jon Morosi put out a few different pieces of different information/speculation.

1) He declared Berrios fully healthy heading into spring training. That isn't necessarily a major revelation, but it is worth noting that he'll have a full spring to show what he can do once more.

2) Morosi said that he believes that, with a good spring, that Berrios will have a starting rotation spot at the outset of the season. Hmm. How exactly would that work? Will the Blue Jays go with a six-man rotation? Would they bump Ponce, who they just signed to a three-year, $30 million deal? Or would they slow play Trey Yesavage heading into 2026 and actually hold him back because of workload concerns, keeping him fresher for the end of the campaign?

3) And finally, Morosi added that Berrios could be added to the Team Puerto Rico roster for the World Baseball Classic should the team advance out of pool play. Berrios was not on the initial roster after dealing with insurance issues related to his 2025 elbow injury.

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