General Blue Jays Discussion Thread (2025)

[Brownie19]

We could really use David Robertson right now.  I suspect he's holding out for $8M+ thought.  He'll wait until enough injuries pile up that someone will pay him to play.

[Pendleton]

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025/03/blue-jays-to-re-sign-dillon-tate.html 

[Terminator]

4 minutes ago, Pendleton said:

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025/03/blue-jays-to-re-sign-dillon-tate.html 

Major League deal for Tate but he does have an option and Roster Resource has him starting out in the minors

[Spanky99]

2 hours ago, max silver said:

Oh s*** Erik Swanson's been sent to see Dr. Keithmeister. The team just signed Dillon Tate, please don't tell me that means they are out of contention for David Robertson. 

Oof... 😥

[Spanky99]

On 3/2/2025 at 5:44 AM, Spanky99 said:

Robertson, Grandal and JDM for about 18M ish, yay or nay?

I'm yay all day.

 

2 hours ago, max silver said:

Oh s*** Erik Swanson's been sent to see Dr. Keithmeister. The team just signed Dillon Tate, please don't tell me that means they are out of contention for David Robertson. 

 

2 hours ago, Brownie19 said:

We could really use David Robertson right now.  I suspect he's holding out for $8M+ thought.  He'll wait until enough injuries pile up that someone will pay him to play.

I wanted him before the Swanson news, I'd give the guy 8M all day, whether they signed Tate or not. Tate doesn't stop a Robertson sign. Imo.

[Orgfiller]

Didn't see this brought up although I may have just missed it. I was wondering why we haven't seen much of Josh Kasevich lately and were seeing so much of Josh Rivera, and the reason is the former reaggravated an existing stress reaction in his back early in spring.

From Rotowire:

Stress reaction in back

March 7, 2025

Kasevich will be sidelined several weeks after aggravating a stress reaction in his lower back in a game last weekend, Arden Zwelling of Sportsnet.ca reports.

 

ANALYSIS
It's not clear when Kasevich suffered the initial injury, but he's now had a setback. The 24-year-old infielder finished last season at Triple-A Buffalo and will be assigned there once he's healthy enough to play.

[Terminator]

https://www.mlb.com/news/blue-jays-2025-opening-day-roster

Keegan Matheson's Opening Day Roster predictions

C: Kirk, Hiney-man

1B: Vlad

2B: Gimenez, Wagner

SS: Bo

3B: Clement, Barger

LF: Schneider, Loperfido

CF: Varsho

RF: Taters, Springer

SP: Gausman, Berrios, Bassitt, Scherzer, Francis

RP: Hoffman, Yimi, Chad Green, Yarbrough, Little, Sandlin, Yariel, Pop

[Jays24]

Our cleanup hitter (Springer) is 3/19

Our number 5 hitter (Gimenez) is 6/25

Gonna be a long season with those 2 in the middle or top of our lineup.  

[Brownie19]

1 minute ago, Jays24 said:

Our cleanup hitter (Springer) is 3/19

Our number 5 hitter (Gimenez) is 6/25

Gonna be a long season with those 2 in the middle or top of our lineup.  

[Terminator]

15 minutes ago, Jays24 said:

Our cleanup hitter (Springer) is 3/19

Our number 5 hitter (Gimenez) is 6/25

Gonna be a long season with those 2 in the middle or top of our lineup.  

Spring stats don't mean much but if they did then you'd be pretty thrilled as most of the team is raking.

And if those two struggle they won't "be in the middle or top of our lineup" for long. Gimenez will stay in and hit 9th and Springer will become a platoon bat.

[Orgfiller]

22 minutes ago, Terminator said:

https://www.mlb.com/news/blue-jays-2025-opening-day-roster

Keegan Matheson's Opening Day Roster predictions

C: Kirk, Hiney-man

1B: Vlad

2B: Gimenez, Wagner

SS: Bo

3B: Clement, Barger

LF: Schneider, Loperfido

CF: Varsho

RF: Taters, Springer

SP: Gausman, Berrios, Bassitt, Scherzer, Francis

RP: Hoffman, Yimi, Chad Green, Yarbrough, Little, Sandlin, Yariel, Pop

Hard to disagree with most of this. I agree that Barger is hitting himself onto the roster, and he has a longer sample at AAA to merit the callup, with Roden likely coming up after a couple of months of further strong performance or in case of an injury. This is Schneider's make or break year, if he struggles again, particularly against lefties, he'll be an early demotion candidate. Orelvis hasn't done enough IMO to outperform the other hitters on the brim, and his defense is still a question mark. Hell, they even have Wagner getting 3B reps to increase his utility on the roster.

Loperfido will make it on the basis of being able to play CF with Varsho still recovering and hitting marginally better than Clase, but he's also in hot water as Berroa has looked capable on both ends (insane BABIP SSS aside) and is the same age.

I think Matheson missed Josh Walker for the bullpen, hard to see a scenario where his contract is dumped and he's looked decent in his outings. Everyone else is a no-brainer for the pitching depth chart with Swanson and Burr on the IL to begin the season.

[Orgfiller]

5 minutes ago, Terminator said:

Spring stats don't mean much but if they did then you'd be pretty thrilled as most of the team is raking.

And if those two struggle they won't "be in the middle or top of our lineup" for long. Gimenez will stay in and hit 9th and Springer will become a platoon bat.

I'm glad you brought up Springer becoming a platoon bat, because I think there's a high chance him and Roden are rotating LF/RF duties by mid-late May/early June, particularly if there's further decline or just lack of a bounceback with the bat.

Springer can also feasibly play all 3 OF positions still, at least CF for an inning or two in a pinch, so would have less of a need for Loperfido/Clase/Berroa being a necessity on the roster with Varsho healthy if they're not performing.

[Terminator]

1 minute ago, Orgfiller said:

I think Matheson missed Josh Walker for the bullpen, hard to see a scenario where his contract is dumped and he's looked decent in his outings. Everyone else is a no-brainer for the pitching depth chart with Swanson and Burr on the IL to begin the season.

I think Walker did sign a major league deal, but he does have an option still. So he can still be optioned to MiLB. Pretty sure anyway.

[Orgfiller]

1 minute ago, Terminator said:

I think Walker did sign a major league deal, but he does have an option still. So he can still be optioned to MiLB. Pretty sure anyway.

Ah I missed the option. Still, I would think we'd rather a higher upside option in Walker over known kitchen sink/gas can probability Ryan Yarbrough who is realistically only there to eat up low leverage innings.

[max silver]

30 minutes ago, Jays24 said:

Our cleanup hitter (Springer) is 3/19

Our number 5 hitter (Gimenez) is 6/25

Gonna be a long season with those 2 in the middle or top of our lineup.  

[Vancouverite]

4 minutes ago, Orgfiller said:

Ah I missed the option. Still, I would think we'd rather a higher upside option in Walker over known kitchen sink/gas can probability Ryan Yarbrough who is realistically only there to eat up low leverage innings.

i like Yarbough in our pen i think he'll be pretty dependable for long relief and low leverage situation. Typical vet

How about Walker over Pop?

[max silver]

9 minutes ago, Orgfiller said:

Hard to disagree with most of this. I agree that Barger is hitting himself onto the roster, and he has a longer sample at AAA to merit the callup, with Roden likely coming up after a couple of months of further strong performance or in case of an injury. This is Schneider's make or break year, if he struggles again, particularly against lefties, he'll be an early demotion candidate. Orelvis hasn't done enough IMO to outperform the other hitters on the brim, and his defense is still a question mark. Hell, they even have Wagner getting 3B reps to increase his utility on the roster.

Loperfido will make it on the basis of being able to play CF with Varsho still recovering and hitting marginally better than Clase, but he's also in hot water as Berroa has looked capable on both ends (insane BABIP SSS aside) and is the same age.

I think Matheson missed Josh Walker for the bullpen, hard to see a scenario where his contract is dumped and he's looked decent in his outings. Everyone else is a no-brainer for the pitching depth chart with Swanson and Burr on the IL to begin the season.

I believe there's a pretty decent chance that Straw makes the opening day roster over Loperfido.

[Orgfiller]

1 minute ago, Vancouverite said:

i like Yarbough in our pen i think he'll be pretty dependable for long relief and low leverage situation. Typical vet

How about Walker over Pop?

Pop is hot garbage so hard to argue just about anyone else' inclusion over him lol. I guess he's been fine in Spring and the stuff in theory has potential. On the other hand, with Yariel also starting out in the bullpen, he's pretty much that long arm with some upside, and I don't know how common it is to have multiple guys capable of going 3+ innings in the bullpen at once.

[Eat My Shatkins]

33 minutes ago, Jays24 said:

Our cleanup hitter (Springer) is 3/19

Our number 5 hitter (Gimenez) is 6/25

Gonna be a long season with those 2 in the middle or top of our lineup.  

So I think what your saying is.....and correct me if I'm wrong, that the Jays could really use 1 or 2 more "big bats"? I looked at your post history, and it's not really clear if you see the lack of another "big bat" or two as a potential issue the Jays may face this season.

[Vancouverite]

20 minutes ago, Orgfiller said:

Pop is hot garbage so hard to argue just about anyone else' inclusion over him lol. I guess he's been fine in Spring and the stuff in theory has potential. On the other hand, with Yariel also starting out in the bullpen, he's pretty much that long arm with some upside, and I don't know how common it is to have multiple guys capable of going 3+ innings in the bullpen at once.

Francis has struggled this spring though and Scherzer i'm sure they won't overwork him.

for our roster construction might not be the worst thing to have 2 guys in the pen able to go 3 IP.

Assuming health, Bsssit, Gausman and Berrios are top 10 in baseball at eating up innings so if we have Yarbough and Yariel respectively back up Scherzer/Francis it should allow for decent bull pen management for the rest.

Could even skip the odd Scherzer/Francis start as they might not be the best candidates for 150+ IP seasons

[Vancouverite]

14 minutes ago, Eat My Shatkins said:

So I think what your saying is.....and correct me if I'm wrong, that the Jays could really use 1 or 2 more "big bats"? I looked at your post history, and it's not really clear if you see the lack of another "big bat" or two as a potential issue the Jays may face this season.

not sure what he's saying or why he thinks SPringer/Gimenez will be our # 4/5 hitters either.

likely Bo, Vlad, Tony will be our 2-4 but, assuming they are our 1-3 than our 4-6 will most likely be a combo of Kirk, Varsho (vs. RHP), Barger (vs RHP), Wagner (vs. RHP) Clement (vs. LHP), Schneider (vs. LHP), Springer (vs. LHP).

Varsho and Barger are crushing baseballs this spring training so really hopeful it carriers into the regular season.

vs. RHP, here's a potential line up. There's definitely lots of pop in here.

Bichette SS

Guerrero 1B

Santander LF or RF or DH

Varsho CF

Kirk C

Barger LF or DH

Springer LF or RF or DH

Clement 3B

Gimenez 2B

 

[Vancouverite]

24 minutes ago, max silver said:

I believe there's a pretty decent chance that Straw makes the opening day roster over Loperfido.

if Varsho is good to go for opening day i'm not against this.

Straw can be effective is used situationally. late-inning defensive replacement and pinch runner.

Our roster offers enough positional versatility that we can hide a guy to be situational only and Straw is ELITE defensively.

Having Straw - Varsho outfield to close out a game is huge. They'll theoretically be able to cover 75% of the outfield...

[Brownie19]

13 minutes ago, Vancouverite said:

not sure what he's saying or why he thinks SPringer/Gimenez will be our # 4/5 hitters either.

likely Bo, Vlad, Tony will be our 2-4 but, assuming they are our 1-3 than our 4-6 will most likely be a combo of Kirk, Varsho (vs. RHP), Barger (vs RHP), Wagner (vs. RHP) Clement (vs. LHP), Schneider (vs. LHP), Springer (vs. LHP).

Varsho and Barger are crushing baseballs this spring training so really hopeful it carriers into the regular season.

vs. RHP, here's a potential line up. There's definitely lots of pop in here.

Bichette SS

Guerrero 1B

Santander LF or RF or DH

Varsho CF

Kirk C

Barger LF or DH

Springer LF or RF or DH

Clement 3B

Gimenez 2B

 

Suggesting Varsho is our cleanup hitter only helps to prove Jays24's point.  Then again, we already had this discussion yesterday...

We'd love to have a stronger "4th and 5th best hitter", but we have above average depth 1 through 9.  We also have some upside bats who could step up and become more consistent middle of the order bats.  It is what it is at this point.  Outside of a deal, there's really no obvious fit who's going to drastically improve the lineup.

[Vancouverite]

57 minutes ago, Brownie19 said:

Suggesting Varsho is our cleanup hitter only helps to prove Jays24's point.  Then again, we already had this discussion yesterday...

We'd love to have a stronger "4th and 5th best hitter", but we have above average depth 1 through 9.  We also have some upside bats who could step up and become more consistent middle of the order bats.  It is what it is at this point.  Outside of a deal, there's really no obvious fit who's going to drastically improve the lineup.

i may be alone on this forum on this take but, i still believe Varsho has middle of the lineup potential.

I'm not going to put too much emphasis on spring training performance but, if Varsho can become a 30 HR guy having him in the 4th hole vs. RPH (if you load up with Bo, Vlad, Tony 1-3) or 5th hole (if Bo, lad, Tony are 2-4) can be good if you potentially have 4 x 30 HR bats.

Guess point i was trying to make is that if the stars align there's potential in our line up. We lack having an established line-up but, we've seen good flashes from our projected starting 9 + bench.

Afterall, this is baseball. Least predictable sport ...

[Pendleton]

https://www.mlb.com/news/andres-gimenez-looking-to-bounce-back-on-offense

 

[Jays24]

3 hours ago, Brownie19 said:

Haha literally the first time I called out seeing Springer/Gimenez in the 4/5 spot... maybe twice at most.  Just getting warmed up for the season tbh lol. 

[Jays24]

2 hours ago, Terminator said:

Spring stats don't mean much but if they did then you'd be pretty thrilled as most of the team is raking.

And if those two struggle they won't "be in the middle or top of our lineup" for long. Gimenez will stay in and hit 9th and Springer will become a platoon bat.

Thing is this team doesn't have anyone else on the roster except maybe Kirk who i could comfortably want as our cleanup hitter.  I've loved what the kids have shown in Spring but I don't think anyone wants to throw them in the middle of our lineup yet.  Let's hope Kirky has a big bounce back year.  

[Terminator]

42 minutes ago, Jays24 said:

Thing is this team doesn't have anyone else on the roster except maybe Kirk who i could comfortably want as our cleanup hitter.  I've loved what the kids have shown in Spring but I don't think anyone wants to throw them in the middle of our lineup yet.  Let's hope Kirky has a big bounce back year.  

Yeah we can probably field a lineup where you are comfortable with 1-3 and 6-9 right now.

But all told we've got 17 guys who project to hit league average or better. Hopefully a couple of them step up and the lineup is rocking 1-9. 

[Gen.Disarray]

3 hours ago, max silver said:

I believe there's a pretty decent chance that Straw makes the opening day roster over Loperfido.

Yeah I could see that. And if Straw makes the team hopefully he pulls a Sogard :)

[Brownie19]

1 hour ago, Jays24 said:

Haha literally the first time I called out seeing Springer/Gimenez in the 4/5 spot... maybe twice at most.  Just getting warmed up for the season tbh lol. 

Didn't we literally have this conversation yesterday?  I was comparing the 2025 Jays to the 2024 Mets, who really only had 3 really good hitters and then a bunch of guys who were just above league average.  Or was that someone else?

I must say - I'm warming up to you and jaysblue.