The Toronto Blue Jays are looking to build on their surge to the top of the American League East division with a blockbuster reinforcement for the rotation. But adding the new arm will mean a harsh transition for another standout contributor.

The Blue Jays acquired former Cy Young Award winner Shane Bieber from the Cleveland Guardians in a trade deadline move. And now that Bieber has completed a rehab stint, he will make his debut for his new team on Friday.

To make room for him, the Blue Jays are relegating Eric Lauer to the bullpen despite his rising status as one of the team’s best pitchers. Lauer has a 2.76 ERA with 87 strikeouts in 88 innings so far this year. He leads all of the team’s pitchers with a 2.7 WAR.

After making the decision to move Lauer to the bullpen, manager John Schneider acknowledged how challenging it was given his strong performance.

“Everyone is deserving to be in this rotation, and everyone is deserving to pitch,” he said, according to MLB.com’s Keegan Matheson. “Good teams have tough conversations sometimes, and this is definitely one of them.”

For his part, Lauer was quick to note that he sees the demotion as “fluid” and something he can take in stride as he expects an opportunity to return to the rotation in the near future. Ultimately, he identified back-and-forth dialogue between the members of the team as the key to maintaining a positive mindset in the face of the change.

“That’s the biggest thing,” Lauer said of the “open line of communication” among the Blue Jays as they make room for Bieber in the rotation, according to Matheson. “Obviously, we added a really, really good pitcher. Things are going to happen, but we want to make it as seamless and easy for everybody as possible.”

Lauer seems to be taking the move to the bullpen in stride with a mindset that it is temporary. Fans can credit Schneider’s handling of the situation for placating any potential hard feelings as the team removes a standout starter from the rotation to make room for Bieber.

But moving forward, it looks like more change is likely as the line of communication about pitching roles remains open.

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