José Berrios didn't throw a pitch in 2026, and the Blue Jays are now staring at the same contract hangover the Angels just escaped.

Anaheim's seven-year, $245 million deal with Anthony Rendon finally wrapped up this month. The Angels still owe him more than $30 million.

Rendon played 257 games over the life of that contract. He missed 877.

Toronto isn't there yet. But the Berrios deal, seven years and $131 million, is drifting in the same direction.

Elbow issues kept the right-hander off the mound for the entire 2026 season. Then came Tommy John surgery, which turns his 2027 into a giant question mark.

He hasn't pitched for the Blue Jays since late September 2025. Toronto went 79-82 this season and finished with a -44 run differential.

And the bill keeps coming. If he opts in to the final two seasons of the deal, Toronto pays him $24 million in each of them.

The World Series walkout still hangs over the Blue Jays' rotation

That salary is tied for fourteenth in average annual value among starting pitchers. The arms around him on that list are actually taking the ball every fifth day.

His Toronto résumé isn't a disaster on paper. Since arriving at the 2021 trade deadline, he's 53-39 with a 4.09 ERA.

But the ride has been bumpy. He posted a 5.23 ERA in 2022, then bounced back in 2023 and handed Toronto a solid AL Wild Card start that October.

The 2024 season looked fine at a glance, with a 3.60 ERA across a full slate of starts. His 19.5% strikeout rate told the quieter, more worrying story.

Watching him pitch has always felt like driving a car with the check-engine light on. It runs. Right up until the day it doesn't.

With the Twins, he was the definition of durable, regularly making 30 to 32 starts a season. Nobody knows which version walks out of Tommy John rehab.

The off-field piece stings too. During the 2025 World Series, Berrios stepped away from the team and went back home.

He addressed it in February. “I apologize. Maybe I made one bad decision to go back home,” he said.

An apology doesn't fix a payroll. Handing him that extension off his post-deadline run in 2021 was a bad call, and the Blue Jays are still absorbing the damage.

Trade him? His value is next to nothing right now. Any club willing to take him would almost certainly make Toronto eat most of the money.

And Berrios isn't the only uncomfortable number on the books. Anthony Santander's contract carries its own set of questions heading into the winter.

The real damage lands at the back of the rotation. John Schneider can't plan around a maybe this expensive, and until Berrios' elbow gives an answer, neither can the front office.