Offseason Roster Thread 2025-26

[John_Havok]

19 minutes ago, abola2121 said:

If Bo does re-sign, what do you think of dealing Barger for a high leverage BP arm and to make room for Loperfido in the OF?

I'm going to try and avoid sarcasm here. 

F*ck no. 

[Brownie19]

16 minutes ago, abola2121 said:

Sorry dude - but RPers are too volatile.  I'm not giving up 5 years of Barger for a RPer.  If I did consider it, they'd have to be under control for another 4-5 years themselves and be absolute studs like a Mason Miller or a Cade Smith.

Also - there's a very good possibility that Loperfido sucks.  You're potentially blinded by the BABIP luck he had last year.  

[glory]

I thought Barger passed the eye test at 3B. Not so much in RF (other than the arm, obviously). I agree though that not having him play one position regularly may have hurt him. I think it's crazy to consider him in RF if he's average-ish at 3B. Finding a competent 3B that can hit is not easy. They were playing him in RF so that IKF could play 2B in the playoffs (just typing that sentence hurt me) so maybe they've already decided that he's a RF in their eyes. 

[Eat My Shatkins]

2 hours ago, Brownie19 said:

I have to assume that part of the negotiation with Ponce was that he'd be given a spot in the rotation.  He's going to want his shot and I think it's doubtful he'd sign with a team that wouldn't guarantee he gets his fair shot.  

I'd like to think there's a possibility that we added the 3rd year and extra $10M in exchange for the ability to use him as a swing man - but I just can't see that happening.

I can see that point of view for sure, but I can also see him 100% being willing to take a swing man role for 1 season before taking a full time rotation spot for the next two, especially when it's on a legitimate contender with arguably the best defense in MLB behind him. I really believe that the Jays are a VERY attractive destination right now for a multitude of reasons.

 

But who knows, maybe the Jays do plan to trade Berrios after the free agent SP market has thinned out and open up a spot for him.

[abola2121]

31 minutes ago, Brownie19 said:

Sorry dude - but RPers are too volatile.  I'm not giving up 5 years of Barger for a RPer.  If I did consider it, they'd have to be under control for another 4-5 years themselves and be absolute studs like a Mason Miller or a Cade Smith.

I was thinking more along the lines of Abner Uribe or Aaron Ashby (plus a player/prospect) from the Brewers.

 

[Terminator]

The book was still out on whether Barger could hit in the bigs, so it made sense to move him around the infield and outfield to boost his versatility and his chances of sticking as a bench or platoon guy.

He took a big step forward last year with the stick, so keeping him at one spot might make sense now. But the roster is so stacked that there’s still a good argument for having him play both.

[R.O.]

This year, according to Fangraphs DRS for Barger:

3B: 613 innings +1 DRS

RF: 413 innings -4 DRS

https://www.fangraphs.com/teams/blue-jays/stats

[thatoneguy]

The potential upside of Barger's bat outweighs benefits that could be had by trading him for a reliever IMO. Now is not the right time to be trading a young/controllable position player asset with flashes of "move-the-needle" talent like him.

[Orgfiller]

38 minutes ago, abola2121 said:

I was thinking more along the lines of Abner Uribe or Aaron Ashby (plus a player/prospect) from the Brewers.

 

Uribe is pre-arb and a stud, so the Brewers would have no real incentive to move him yet. Ashby is not a bad target, although he certainly wouldn't need to take Barger to get him. He's also cheap and good and has prior starting experience, so they might not be quick to part with him.

[Orgfiller]

A likely Brewers target would be Trevor Megill since he's in Arb2, but a 32 year old reliever who routinely misses the 60 IP mark is a very scary guy to go after, especially in trading assets to get him.

[Brownie19]

The Athletic is reporting that we've put Berrios on the trading block...

[abola2121]

36 minutes ago, Orgfiller said:

A likely Brewers target would be Trevor Megill since he's in Arb2, but a 32 year old reliever who routinely misses the 60 IP mark is a very scary guy to go after, especially in trading assets to get him.

Sounds an awful lot like Fairbanks, but yeah he would be much easier to get at least.

[jmomcc]

Ashby would be a great get but barger represents upside. Like if the adjustment he made is real, he has the power and defensive ability to be like 3/4/5 win player possibly. Its not a high chance but its a chance. 

[Stangstag]

9 minutes ago, Brownie19 said:

The Athletic is reporting that we've put Berrios on the trading block...

Shocker

[glory]

Interesting note from MLBTR:

"Berrios ended the 2025 season with 9.044 years of major league service time. That places him 128 days shy of 10 years. With MLB Opening Day set for March 25 and the trade deadline set to fall on Friday, July 31, Berrios would reach 10 years of service the day before next summer’s deadline."

I can't imagine teams will be asking about Berrios' availability after this season with him owed $24-25M a year in 2027 and 2028, but the Jays wouldn't even be able to 'bad contract swap' him after this season's trade deadline without his consent. Probably more reason to move on now. 

[jaysblue]

9 hours ago, Pendleton said:

I like the idea of signing one of the old dudes (Max/Bassitt) for a swingman role for extra SP depth. 

I think Berrios would have to be moved first though, both for financial reasons and for either Bassitt or Max wanting to sign here. Max or Bassitt likely still want to be starters for most of the regular season and Max for sure would want to be a starter in the Postseason. Bassitt is likely okay with moving to the pen again in October and could definitely be a valuable multiple inning pen arm. 

Right now the rotation is too crowded for either of them to consider the Jays an option at this time in the offseason. I'm sure Bassitt and Max will try to land deals where they're guaranteed a spot in the rotation. Maybe later in the offseason like January/February, if one of them are still unsigned or maybe someone like Max sits out until June/July and signs to pitch in the second half. 

But yeah, with Berrios still in the fold, don't see how spending $15M on either Bassitt or Max at this time makes sense. 

[Pendleton]

1 minute ago, jaysblue said:

I think Berrios would have to be moved first though, both for financial reasons and for either Bassitt or Max wanting to sign here. Max or Bassitt likely still want to be starters for most of the regular season and Max for sure would want to be a starter in the Postseason. Bassitt is likely okay with moving to the pen again in October and could definitely be a valuable multiple inning pen arm. 

Right now the rotation is too crowded for either of them to consider the Jays an option at this time in the offseason. I'm sure Bassitt and Max will try to land deals where they're guaranteed a spot in the rotation. Maybe later in the offseason like January/February, if one of them are still unsigned or maybe someone like Max sits out until June/July and signs to pitch in the second half. 

But yeah, with Berrios still in the fold, don't see how spending $15M on either Bassitt or Max at this time makes sense. 

 

Definitely move Berrios first, and hopefully one of the vets would sign here fairly cheap out of comfort and desire to win. 

[Sasky05]

19 hours ago, jmomcc said:

I really don't think any front office would see hIm as anything other than a 5th starter on a bad team. Yes, that's not fair but i think its accurate. 
 

we also just have too relievers without options. 
 

also, if you want to be a big payroll team and have a good farm.. this is kind of how you do it. You sign someone in fa, and then trade the depth below. 

Agree to disagree. I think there is zero chance of Lauer being traded, he's extremely valuable! He was our best starter, (by era), when he was in the rotation last year. He was also excellent in the pen. He's the epitome of a perfect swing man.

[Eat My Shatkins]

I think Berrios is as good as gone and I don't think he'll be as hard to move as many seem to believe.

 

I also think Scherzer will be back on a discounted deal. Maybe even Bassitt, but that seems much less likely. These guys f***ing love it in Toronto and desperately want to win a world series, especially with these other guys in the Jays clubhouse right now.

[bronson44]

"They're [Blue Jays] not even close to done yet."

- Robert Murray on The Baseball Insiders podcast just now

[G-Snarls]

3 hours ago, Terminator said:

The book was still out on whether Barger could hit in the bigs, so it made sense to move him around the infield and outfield to boost his versatility and his chances of sticking as a bench or platoon guy.

He took a big step forward last year with the stick, so keeping him at one spot might make sense now. But the roster is so stacked that there’s still a good argument for having him play both.

Plus Clement is so good defensively 

[JaysForever]

Because of the limited roster spots, at some point they will have to consolidate players together in trades in 2 for 1 deals. They should be proactive and not wait until they have a roster limit crunch.

[max silver]

6 hours ago, Terminator said:

I think a lot of the criticism of Barger’s defense comes from his rookie year when he looked overwhelmed.

But he settled in during Year 2 and his defense was totally fine at both spots. His overall Run Value was 0 (-4 range, +4 arm).

So I don't think it's fair to say that our corner outfield defense would be bad if it's Taters/Barger out there. It's more accurate to say that our LF defense would be bad (but Taters is better in the field than you think!).

I think Barger has the necessary toolset to become very good outfielder in time but he'll need more reps to improve his reads/routes sufficiently. 

[max silver]

4 hours ago, glory said:

Interesting note from MLBTR:

"Berrios ended the 2025 season with 9.044 years of major league service time. That places him 128 days shy of 10 years. With MLB Opening Day set for March 25 and the trade deadline set to fall on Friday, July 31, Berrios would reach 10 years of service the day before next summer’s deadline."

I can't imagine teams will be asking about Berrios' availability after this season with him owed $24-25M a year in 2027 and 2028, but the Jays wouldn't even be able to 'bad contract swap' him after this season's trade deadline without his consent. Probably more reason to move on now. 

I don't think Berrios would completely stand in the way of a trade if he were to lose his rotation spot but it would certainly complicate matters if he were able to essentially choose his destination.

[Brownie19]

2 hours ago, JaysForever said:

Because of the limited roster spots, at some point they will have to consolidate players together in trades in 2 for 1 deals. They should be proactive and not wait until they have a roster limit crunch.

A roster crunch is a sign of a really good team.  It's a good problem to have.

We may be in a position where we're trading MLB ready talent for young prospects.  You see the Dodgers doing this regularly...

[JaysForever]

38 minutes ago, max silver said:

I think Barger has the necessary toolset to become very good outfielder in time but he'll need more reps to improve his reads/routes sufficiently. 

He looked like he was improving towards the end. I am not sure if the numbers back that up.

[JaysForever]

32 minutes ago, Brownie19 said:

A roster crunch is a sign of a really good team.  It's a good problem to have.

We may be in a position where we're trading MLB ready talent for young prospects.  You see the Dodgers doing this regularly...

It is usually a good thing when you make 2 for 1 deals. It means you are getting the better quality player and giving away quantity.

[glory]

 

[Jimcanuck]

Wow. We are getting Tucker!

 

 

[Landry_25]

Here we go again