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The Blue Jays didn’t lose a series in April despite having one of Major League Baseball’s most difficult schedules. Midway through May, they’ve yet to win one as the ups and downs of a 162-game schedule wreak havoc on a World Series contender that has yet to put everything together.

After a blistering start in the standings, the Jays’ progress has slowed with the bats continuing to struggle and the pitching staff doing the best it can to deliver with no margin for error. Despite a strong opening month, a recent 2-6 stretch entering Wednesday was all it took to drop the Jays to third place in the American League East.

Nobody said this would be easy, and with so many contenders in baseball’s toughest division this is the reality the Jays will face most of the year. One week it might look like they’re going to run away with a division crown, the next it might appear as though they’ll miss the post-season entirely. It’s a roller coaster of emotions that won’t let up until at least October.

Through the first month-plus of the season, the pitching has done its job and the offence has struggled. In another couple of weeks the opposite may be true, but as long as the Jays remain within striking distance of first place there won’t be too much to complain about.

It has been far too long since we’ve done a Blue Jays mailbag and a lot has happened since the start of the season. It’s time to bring this back as a semi-regular feature. If you have questions, please send them to bluejaysmailbag@gmail.com along with your first name and hometown, or by reaching out to me on Twitter @GregorChisholm.

The following questions have been edited for length and grammar:

When is Hyun-Jin Ryu expected back and what are the Jays doing about his conditioning? They need to keep this guy away from the fridge. He has been out of shape since he signed here.

Maybe it’s because I grew up watching guys like David Wells, CC Sabathia, and Bartolo Colon, but I don’t put much stock into a pitcher needing to look a certain way to be effective. If this was a guy who relied on strength and power, maybe, but that’s not Ryu. He’s a finesse guy who is closer to Mark Buehrle than Roger Clemens, and nobody ever had much to say about Buehrle’s fitness routine.

A couple of months ago, there were lots of Jays players and coaches raving about Ryu, praising the work he’d put in during the off-season and vowing that he was in line for a bounceback year. I didn’t put much stock into those initial reports, just like I’m not putting much stock into the complaints about him being overweight. His issues aren’t that simple.

Ryu’s fitness might not be an issue for me, but his overall health is. Not the “left forearm soreness” which popped up at a convenient time, but his ability to bounce back from starts and log innings. For the past year, he has seemed almost incapable of throwing every five days, which forced the Jays to give him extra rest whenever possible. Running on a treadmill isn’t going to solve his lack of command, but regardless of the cause there are legitimate questions about his durability. He’s scheduled to start Saturday against the Rays and if he comes back looking just as bad as he did in April, there will be problems.

Wondering whether the Jays will consider using a six-man rotation when Ryu returns to give him more rest. That would also allow Ross Stripling to keep starting and he has done a fine job in the rotation.

Colin D., Dartmouth, N.S.

I was curious about this, too, and recently asked general manager Ross Atkins the question. Atkins was open-minded and noncommittal. Reading between the lines, it sounds like the Jays will occasionally experiment with this, but they’re not considering a permanent move. Six starters would have been useful in April , when the Jays played 27 games in 28 days. In May, an extra starter would cause more harm than good because they have five off-days. One extra day of rest is fine; two or three throw pitchers off their routines. So no, I wouldn’t expect to see a six-man staff this month, but spot starts could be on the table for June and beyond.

What’s up with Cavan Biggio? Looks like he lost his job (and rightfully so given the solid results from Santiago Espinal). I’ve always been a fan and it’s disappointing to see him struggle.

Injuries provide a partial explanation. Biggio hasn’t been able to stay healthy since 2020 after dealing with sprained fingers, a back strain and neck issues. This year, an elbow injury caused a delayed start to spring training, and shortly after he recovered the 27-year-old was placed on the COVID list. Biggio, who began a rehab assignment on Tuesday, just can’t seem to catch a break.

There have been other issues, too. Biggio’s best asset is his plate discipline, laying off pitches outside the zone and piling up the walks. From 2019-20, he chased about 16 per cent of the time. Last year it rose to 22.2 per cent, and in a limited sample size this season it was 25.4. He also has been pulling the ball less, with a 49.4 per cent rate from 2019 that fell to 35 last season.

Add it all up and you’ve got someone who stopped playing to his strengths. Whether that was a result of staying on the field while hurt or trying to be more aggressive to limit the strikeouts isn’t clear. Regardless, Biggio needs to get back to the guy he was as a rookie because it wasn’t long ago that he had a lot of value. But he’ll have to earn it, because Espinal has second base locked down and unless someone gets hurt there isn’t a path to much playing time.

Before the season I wrote you that Espinal doesn’t get enough respect. Now, do the Jays have the guts to put him at short and Bo Bichette to second?

No chance. Bichette is the Jays’ starting shortstop this year, next year and likely for at least another two after that. Atkins put this story to bed last October when he came out and declared Bichette was his undisputed starter, after the club previously flirted with the idea of acquiring someone like Francisco Lindor the year prior. Players with this much talent get to call their own shots. If Bichette was going to switch positions, he would have done it before he established himself as an emerging star. This topic will come up again as he approaches free agency, but it’s highly unlikely anything happens before then. Shortstop is where he wants to be, and moving him now would only risk alienating a cornerstone of the franchise.

With MLB announcing a London series for three of the next four seasons, how likely is it that we’ll get to see the Jays over here? And can I buy you a beer if you come over with them — would be great to say hello!

Daniel W., Colchester, U.K.

Free beer? How could I say no to that? It would be awesome for the Jays to be included, and there will be interest from the club, but there figure to be at least a couple of other teams who will get priority. The 2019 series featured the Red Sox and Yankees, and the Cubs and Cardinals were set to meet in 2020 before those games were cancelled because of the pandemic. That seems to prove that MLB is prioritizing what it believes to be its biggest rivalries from some of its biggest markets.

The Cardinals and Cubs will be in the mix again. The Dodgers and Giants, along with the Phillies and Mets, figure to get consideration as well. Picking a Canadian team wouldn’t do much to drive up the ratings in the United States, but the overseas crowd won’t care about that and Canada’s historical ties to the U.K. could prove to be a selling point. I wouldn’t bet on this happening, but the Jays’ chances of pulling it off are much greater than nabbing another signature event like an all-star game.

What does MLB do, if anything, to reprimand its umpires when they make bad calls? How could they think Yimi García intentionally threw at Josh Donaldson? Will any of these guys lose money or cushy assignments because of their mistakes. or are we just supposed to pretend none of this happened?

The decisions that were made by the umpiring crew during Tuesday night’s game in the Bronx were a disgrace. If the umpires believe a pitcher intentionally threw at a hitter, it is up to their discretion whether to toss him from the game, but it’s rare to take that step before warnings are issued. It also defies logic that García would throw at Donaldson when the former Jay represented the go-ahead run in a tie ball game.

The pet peeve I have with umpires is the shroud of secrecy that hangs over everything they do. The best any of us can hope for is a pool reporter being permitted to ask them a few basic questions after a controversial game. That happened Tuesday night when crew chief Alfonso Márquez stated García was tossed because of the optics following a three-run homer by Giancarlo Stanton and an exchange of words earlier in the game between Donaldson and catcher Tyler Heineman.

We’ll likely never know whether MLB followed up to discuss the situation further, but there certainly won’t be any repercussions, and the league isn’t transparent about how umpires are evaluated or why they get specific assignments. The strength of the umpires union provides one explanation for the protection, but with technology continuing to improve and unofficial scorecards available after each game, this issue will continue to get more and more attention until the machines eventually take over.

With Gabriel Moreno looking like he’s going to be good and presumably getting called up at some point this year, are Danny Jansen and/or Zack Collins expendable/could they be traded? You can’t carry three catchers all year, can you?

The catcher I expect to get moved at some point is Alejandro Kirk. The 23-year-old will have much more appeal to a rebuilding ball club than either of the two you mentioned, because he remains under club control through at least 2026 and won’t be eligible for arbitration until at least 2024. By comparison, Jansen is already into his arb years and will become a free agent after 2024.

A deal could happen this summer, but the Jays aren’t going to feel the numbers crunch until next year. They can remain patient with Moreno because there isn’t a pressing need at the big-league level and more time to develop is always a good thing, especially at the sport’s most difficult position. They won’t have the same luxury next spring when, presumably, Moreno will be too good to pass up.

Jansen and Kirk will be worth monitoring, but Collins doesn’t really factor into any of this. He was acquired for Reese McGuire because he had an option remaining on his contract. Collins got off to a nice start with the bat, but he’s a depth piece who will be shuttled back and forth from the minors when the Jays are at full strength and he’s not the kind of guy who would net much of a return.

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