Shane Bieber's return to the Toronto Blue Jays rotation hasn't gone the way anyone hoped, and the early results are hard to spin.
Three starts back, and Bieber is carrying a 9.00 ERA with a 2.08 WHIP, numbers that would worry any team regardless of the pitcher's track record.
He's allowed six home runs in just 13 innings, a rate that turns nearly every mistake into a crooked number on the scoreboard.
That's not a small sample blip. That's a pitcher who clearly isn't finding his old command yet, whatever the reason behind it.
Bieber has struck out nine batters across those three starts, so the swing and miss stuff hasn't completely disappeared.
But strikeouts don't matter much when the ball keeps leaving the yard at this pace, and Toronto knows that better than anyone right now.
Timing makes this trickier too. The Blue Jays are riding real momentum, winners of two straight and 5-5 over their last 10 games heading into a series at San Diego.
Why the rotation math gets complicated either way
Adding a healthy Bieber back to a group that's already leaned on shaky performances from Kevin Gausman was supposed to be a boost, not another problem to manage.
Instead, Toronto now has two established arms scuffling at the same time, and that's the kind of stretch that forces uncomfortable conversations in a front office.
It's a bit like fixing one leak in the roof only to find a second one right next to it. The relief never really arrives.
Is three starts enough to actually panic about Bieber, or does his track record earn him more rope than a pitcher without his resume?
Toronto sits at 44-49, third in the American League East, close enough that every rotation decision over the next few weeks carries real weight.
Bieber gets another turn soon enough, and how he looks then will say a lot more than these first three outings ever could.
Are you concerned about Shane Bieber's rough start back with the Blue Jays?
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