Olney discusses injuries to Cease, Guerrero Jr. and whether Blue Jays would be interested in Tigers ace Skubal

Just when it looked like things were starting to turn around for the Toronto Blue Jays, the reigning American League champions were dealt potential significant injury problems to two of their most important players during Sunday’s series finale against the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Starting pitcher Dylan Cease, who signed a massive seven-year, $210 million contract in the winter, departed the game in the fifth inning with left hamstring tightness.

In the bottom half of the inning, star slugger Vladimir Guerrero Jr. also exited after taking a pitch to the right elbow. Guerrero Jr. immediately underwent X-rays, which came back negative.

The Blue Jays, who have dealt with numerous injuries in 2026 after staying relatively healthy in 2025, appear to have caught a break with Sunday’s scares.

After the game, manager John Schneider told reporters Cease was in the line to get an MRI, but initial signs were positive and could be in available to make his next start.

As for Guerrero, he could be ready to play Monday against the visiting Miami Marlins.

ESPN’s Buster Olney said the Blue Jays will likely take the “conservative route” when it comes to Cease.

“I mean, the key question is when he goes in today, and he talks to them, and how is he feeling? I suspect that whatever the conservative route is, that’s the route that the Blue Jays, you know, will take, should take,” Olney explained on Monday’s during an appearance on TSN 1050’s First Up. “If they determine that it’s just a minor cramp, and they have, you know, the advanced medicine these days, they have great ways of determining that. If they determine it’s just a minor cramp, then you can move forward.

“If not, if it’s just something that they fret is going to pop up at some point, then yeah, you got to sit them down for a start, and give them more time.”

Olney added he expects Cease to be honest with how he’s feeling even if it means he needs to sit out a start.

“And what’s interesting about this is, too, is that the relationship between the team and the player is relatively new, right? Because I’ve covered a lot of teams where the athletic trainers will look at you and go, yeah, that guy isn’t honest with us. Like, we don’t know him, or he’s not telling us. Well, here’s the thing with Dylan Cease. First off, he’s a great guy. He’s easy to talk to,” said Olney.

“I’m sure the information they’re getting from him is real, and he’s gotten paid. You know, this is not a case where it’s his free agent year, and he’s got a lot riding on the line. He’s got a contract in place, and so I hope that if he does need just a light blow, you know, skip a start or something like that, then they’ll all settle on that.”

Cease, 30, has been solid in his debut season for the Blue Jays. The right-handed pitcher owns a 3-3 record with a 3.05 ERA with 92 strikeouts and a 1.21 WHIP over 11 starts.

He spent the first five years of his MLB career with the Chicago White Sox before spending the last two with the San Diego Padres.

It’s been a seemingly never-ending string of injuries for the Jays this season.

Catcher Alejandro Kirk as well as outfielders Addison Barger, Nathan Lukes and Anthony Santander are all on the Injured List alongside pitchers Max Scherzer, Shane Bieber, Yimi Garcia, Tommy Nance and Joe Mantiply.

Jose Berrios and Cody Ponce have already been lost for the season with injuries.

George Springer also missed significant time with a fractured toe.

Despite the injury bug and a lack of hitting, the 25-28 Jays are only one game out of playoff spot in the mediocre American League.

Olney says it sometimes takes time for a team that played deep into October the previous season to get their motor running.

“I do think that, teams that play deep into October, you get a bit of a hangover the following year to some degree where it’s almost like they need to get back to playing really meaningful games because they played at those peak adrenaline games in the past, to remind them of what they’re playing for,” said Olney.

Blue Jays in on Tarik Skubal?

After making the American League Division Series in back-to-back seasons, the Detroit Tigers are one of the worst teams in baseball this season, currently sitting last in the AL Central with a 21-33 record.

The poor start means Detroit could be a major seller ahead of the trade deadline with the possibility of moving ace pitcher Tarik Skubal.

The 29-year-old Skubal, who is playing on a one-year, $32 million contract and will be a free agent this winter, is currently sidelined after undergoing a non-invasive procedure on his left pitching elbow on May 6.

Skubal is rehabbing well, throwing his third bullpen session last week.

If the losing continues, the Tigers will have to decide if trading Skubal would be the best decision for the franchise as losing him for nothing in free agency is a strong possibility.

Los Angeles Angels owner Arte Moreno infamously selected to keep Shohei Ohtani ahead of the 2023 deadline even though the Angels were longshots to make the postseason and the two-way Japanese superstar was fully expected to leave in the off-season.

The Angels didn’t come close to making the playoffs as the rival Los Angeles Dodgers signed Ohtani to a record 10-year, $700 million deal.

Olney doesn’t see the same decision-making process from Tigers’ president of baseball operations Scott Harris.

“He’s objective. He’s not a Hail Mary guy. And if the numbers are ugly, he will make a move to recoup value, which is what he should do. That is a smart baseball play. And the Tigers are terrible right now. In a terrible American League, they’re right near the bottom,” said Olney. “They got a lot of things going wrong, including injuries. Skubal will have about 10 starts leading up to the deadline to show everyone that he’s healthy and all signs are great along those lines. He’s not going to re-sign with the Tigers when he hits free agency.”

On Sunday, a report from USA Today’s Bob Nightengale revealed the Blue Jays, alongside the New York Yankees, Padres and Dodgers could be in the running to acquire Skubal if he’s made available.

Olney believes the competition for Skubal will come down to the Dodgers and Padres.

The Blue Jays would likely stay out of it due to their lack of interest of giving up a plethora of prospects for a rental player, says Olney, pointing towards president Mark Shapiro’s disappointment in acquiring David Price ahead of the 2015 trade deadline.

“The Blue Jays, the first thing, when I saw their name mentioned was in Alex Anthopoulos’ last year running the team, Mark Shapiro came on board and from what I’ve heard from other folks, he was not comfortable, not happy with the idea that before that deadline, that year, Alex went all in with a David Price trade and other deals. He thought that was kind of folly. A lot of general managers don’t like paying high prices for rentals,” said Olney.

“I got to say the sober move for the Blue Jays this year would be to bypass Tarik Skubal because it’s going to be really expensive. If you’re the Blue Jays and you get your starters back healthy and you have a Cease, you have a Kevin Gausman, you have a Trey Yesavage, starting pitching is not necessarily your big need. You want to sacrifice a ton for a two-month rental, three-month rental. That doesn’t seem to be Mark’s style.”

Olney fully expects Skubal to hit the open market next off-season where he’ll sign a record contract for a pitcher.

Before going down with his injury, Skubal posted a 3-2 record with a 2.70 ERA and 45 strikeouts over seven starts and 43.1 innings pitched.

Skubal has won back-to-back Cy Young awards, including last year when he posted a 13-6 record with a 2.21 ERA and 241 strikeouts over 31 games and 195.1 innings pitched.

The American has a 3.06 ERA over 144 career games since debuting with the Tigers in 2020.