Offseason Roster Thread 2025-26

[Ray]

Worth noting there's a ton of big money contracts coming off the books next season: Gausman, Springer, Bieber. Smaller ones like Straw, Garcia, Varsho, and Lauer as well.

I agree it feels financially irresponsible to sign both Bo and Tucker to long term deals unless we can swing a trade to offload salary, but they would only have a absurdly high payroll for 1 season before it tapers down again.

[mphenhef]

7 hours ago, DonJays said:

Sure, if he doesn’t care about winning. If that’s the case, the jays wouldn’t be interested 

If the pirates were willing to pay him there would be an argument to be made that they will try to win with Skenes, Bubba et al

[jmomcc]

4 hours ago, Ray said:

Worth noting there's a ton of big money contracts coming off the books next season: Gausman, Springer, Bieber. Smaller ones like Straw, Garcia, Varsho, and Lauer as well.

I agree it feels financially irresponsible to sign both Bo and Tucker to long term deals unless we can swing a trade to offload salary, but they would only have a absurdly high payroll for 1 season before it tapers down again.

If they wanted to go all out dumping money on this year but keeping money off the books next year, could they trade berrios and pay say 23m of his remaining salary, but frontload it. So, take all 18m, this year and then 2.5 the next two years, Essentially a team gets him for 3/43 but pay nothing this year. 

I feel like maybe someone like san diego who really need cheap pitching this year would jump at that.

[jmomcc]

Also in the vein of kind of out there possibly dumb ideas. 

Let's say you sign bo and tucker. At that point you have such a loaded line up you could play Straw in centre field just for defense. Or Lukes if you think the defense is good enough. 

Then... you trade Varsho to Philly. They need a CF and Dumbroski is one of the few remaining gms willing to overpay right now in prospects. 
 

edit: just generally if i could add in free agency hard and then improve the farm via trades then we would be really set up next offseason to either hope some guys progress to the majors and be real contributers for cheap, or we have the ammo to swing trades next year for cost controlled guys, and mostly stay out of free agency. 

[Eat My Shatkins]

I think the Jays plan right now is to land Tucker, if they can do that I still think they might match whatever offer Bo gets up to a certain point and then run a high payroll for one season. 

I really doubt they are going to start trading guys like Varsho or Barger. Probably want to run it back but with reinforcements, not start cutting into the nucleus of the team.

Guys like Berrios, Santander and Rodriguez is where they can cut some salary if they land all the big fishes they want to land. Almost $40 million against the luxury tax for those three, but they'd have to eat some of that money and attach some prospects to do it probably.

Also, I only keep bringing up Sherzer and Bassitt because they've both made a f*** or money in their careers and both seem to want to come back badly enough that I could see them taking 1 year deals for cheap just to take another run at the world series and add to the pitching depth of this team. Bassitt has like $80 million career earnings and Scherzer well over $300 million. Both have publicly stated they want to come back, and Scherzer is running around doing interviews like hes still a Jay lol. Plus if they trade Berrios they can certainly use the depth. Remember, the Dodgers just won the world series in a year where they only got 197 regular season innings from Snell, Glasnow and Ohtani and then had them all ramped up and fresh for the playoffs, and steam rolled their way through the playoffs until they ran into the Jays.

But we'll see i guess. Maybe I've just been huffing too much glue.

 

[jmomcc]

1 minute ago, Eat My Shatkins said:

I think the Jays plan right now is to land Tucker, if they can do that I still think they might match whatever offer Bo gets up to a certain point and then run a high payroll for one season. 

I really doubt they are going to start trading guys like Varsho or Barger. Probably want to run it back but with reinforcements, not start cutting into the nucleus of the team.

Guys like Berrios, Santander and Rodriguez is where they can cut some salary if they land all the big fishes they want to land. Almost $40 million against the luxury tax for those three, but they'd have to eat some of that money and attach some prospects to do it probably.

Also, I only keep bringing up Sherzer and Bassitt because they've both made a f*** or money in their careers and both seem to want to come back badly enough that I could see them taking 1 year deals for cheap just to take another run at the world series and add to the pitching depth of this team. Bassitt has like $80 million career earnings and Scherzer well over $300 million. Both have publicly stated they want to come back, and Scherzer is running around doing interviews like hes still a Jay lol. Plus if they trade Berrios they can certainly use the depth.

But we'll see i guess. Maybe I've just been huffing too much glue.

 

The only problem with that is you sign tucker and bo, and aim to reduce payroll naturally next year. Who is playing centre field? You then need to go sign a free agent next year there or extend varsho. I wouldn't put barger in the same category as he is cost controlled for a long time. He is a guy i'd be extremely reluctant to trade unless i was blown away. 

Berrios, Santander and Rodriquez aren't really assets currently. I can see why you'd trade Berrios as he will have 10-5 rights and a full no trade in july. But i don't see why we'd trade the other two. We aren't getting anything back and they are useful to some extent. Why not give them a chance to have a big year and then trade them? If Santander hits 40 bombs this year, you could probably trade that deal, or just have a DH. 

The players that might get you something back, and who we might not need need this season are guys like varsho, schneider, lukes and lauer. I'd personally lean varsho and lauer as they have a single year of control. I'd be willing to trade schneider but maybe more reticent on lukes. 

[Eat My Shatkins]

Whatever the case, it sure looks as though the Jays are willing to go all in for 2026, one year in the highest luxury tax bracket and then reset again in 2027 when Gausman, Bieber, Springer, Varsho, Straw, Yimi can come off the books. If they can dump a portion of the Berrios contract the payroll for 2027 will come down around $100 million.

And it's not like the team would be gutted for 2027 either. They'd still have some core pieces to build around and waves of talent coming up from the minors.

[Olerud363.354]

1 hour ago, jmomcc said:

Who is playing centre field?

Jake Cook is 22 years old and scouting report is that he has some of the best speed and defensive potential of the draft class. 

Normally I'd say if he can hit, it should show up right away and no reason he can't be ready for 2027.  Like the typical path for a 22 year old College player (if they can hit) is to rip through a couple levels of the minors and show up at age 24. 

I guess he was a pitcher though so could take a little more time to develop. 

On a related note kind of weird that very few of the Jays draft picks got any minor league experience last year.  Cook, Parker, and a couple others I can't find any stats for. 

One of the only guys who appears to have played is Sean Casey's son who hit quite well for a month in Dunnedin.  https://www.milb.com/player/jake-casey-814457.   Would have been interesting to see what Cook (about the same age) would have done there, but I assume they are holding him back and working on stuff.  

[L54]

I don’t see how Scherzer or Bassitt fit on the roster at this point. It looks good on paper but you have to consider 

 a) how do you they approach spring training? If you want them to be starters they will have be built up 

b) if they’re built up as starters are you just going to throw them into single inning appearances?

c) who are you optioning? Who are those guys better than? 
 

[jmomcc]

23 minutes ago, Olerud363.354 said:

Jake Cook is 22 years old and scouting report is that he has some of the best speed and defensive potential of the draft class. 

Normally I'd say if he can hit, it should show up right away and no reason he can't be ready for 2027.  Like the typical path for a 22 year old College player (if they can hit) is to rip through a couple levels of the minors and show up at age 24. 

I guess he was a pitcher though so could take a little more time to develop. 

On a related note kind of weird that very few of the Jays draft picks got any minor league experience last year.  Cook, Parker, and a couple others I can't find any stats for. 

One of the only guys who appears to have played is Sean Casey's son who hit quite well for a month in Dunnedin.  https://www.milb.com/player/jake-casey-814457.   Would have been interesting to see what Cook (about the same age) would have done there, but I assume they are holding him back and working on stuff.  

They do play in like a development league in the complexes which essentially replaced short season. There aren't public stats thought and i'm not sure who played or how much. 

Its crazy how penny wise pound foolish baseball owners are. They are really messing with development of their players. It also widens the gap. The smart big market teams will put even more money into development to try to bridge the gap. 
 

I think the word on cook is that he has natural contact skills but they need to rework his swing some to get to power. He had high scores at the combine at the test that correlates to power, i forget what it was . 

[jmomcc]

1 minute ago, L54 said:

I don’t see how Scherzer or Bassitt fit on the roster at this point. It looks good on paper but you have to consider 

 a) how do you they approach spring training? If you want them to be starters they will have be built up 

b) if they’re built up as starters are you just going to throw them into single inning appearances?

c) who are you optioning? Who are those guys better than? 
 

Bassit is going to get a real multi year starting contract from a team. He is not realistic. 

Scherzer is making 15m this year from the nationals. If he really wanted to he could take 5m and start the year on the IL or something. Or join mid year. 

[L54]

2 minutes ago, jmomcc said:

Bassit is going to get a real multi year starting contract from a team. He is not realistic. 

Scherzer is making 15m this year from the nationals. If he really wanted to he could take 5m and start the year on the IL or something. Or join mid year. 

Bassitt will definitely have starting options. I was going to say that Scherzer starting on the IL would be the only way but I just don’t think the juice is worth the squeeze honestly 

[Jimcanuck]

Regardless, highly unlikely Scherzer would be on the post season roster given the staff the Jays have built up.

[Sorrow]

I don’t think there’s a chance in hell Tony Taters is traded. He’s making like $10m/season with the deferrals and will move into the DH roll in 2027 and while he’s bad in the OF he’s not as bad as people seem to think.

IIRC both Lukes and Loperfido have another option year.

[glory]

I don’t think it will happen but if the Jays did sign both Bo and Tucker, then what does the lineup look like? Obvious answer is Barger at 3B and Tucker/Tony in the corners, but I’m pretty sure JS would take a bullet to the chest before he benches Clement, so there would be a log jam there. 

[JaysFan99]

6 minutes ago, glory said:

I don’t think it will happen but if the Jays did sign both Bo and Tucker, then what does the lineup look like? Obvious answer is Barger at 3B and Tucker/Tony in the corners, but I’m pretty sure JS would take a bullet to the chest before he benches Clement, so there would be a log jam there. 

It kind of seems like the only way to sign both would involve moving Santander.  

[Orgfiller]

21 minutes ago, glory said:

I don’t think it will happen but if the Jays did sign both Bo and Tucker, then what does the lineup look like? Obvious answer is Barger at 3B and Tucker/Tony in the corners, but I’m pretty sure JS would take a bullet to the chest before he benches Clement, so there would be a log jam there. 

Could probably platoon Barger and Ernie, and Ernie should get plenty of reps with Bo probably getting a lot of days off to load manage, same with Gimenez and that bum ankle he was dealing with all year.

[Laika]

8 hours ago, Gen.Disarray said:

I like this take on Bo because I like him and want it to be true. But something about him reminds me of Adam Jones.

Probably not a good comp, I'm not really good at comps. But still just feels right. High average hacker, plays a premium position despite not really being very good at it. Low walk rate. Low steals despite being at a position that is often manned by pretty fast players. 

Jones had his last good season at 29, ok at 30, and pretty much a wrap after that. I think overall Bo is a better player, but is it really by much? Always feels like he's about to just fall off a cliff. If that hit tool slips at all he's kind of a nothing.

Am I way off here?

It's a fair comparison 

We have seen a decent amount of players with poor plate discipline age harshly or not live up to big contracts.  I mean it's not rocket science. Jones, Javy Baez, Castellanos, so many more. 

Adam Jones was comfortably worse than Bo though. Through age 27:

Jones: 4.6% BB, 19% K, 109 wRC+, 17.3 WAR, 3658 PA
Bo: 5.7% BB, 19.4% K, 122 wRC+, 20.0 WAR, 3292 PA (Bo would have 22.22 WAR if you equal his PA to Jones')

In the last two years Bo does have BB rates over 6 and his K rate was an elite 14.5% in 2025. He also has places to go on the defensive spectrum, 2B and 3B, which have more value than a corner outfield spot which is the only place for a CF to go. I mean Bo can age just as sharply but he would then be a 105 wRC+ 2B/3B and not a 95 wRC+ LF like Jones was. 

I wonder if people overstate Bo Bichette's plate discipline issues. In 2024+2025 combined, minimum 900 PA, if you sort hitters by BB/K lowest to highest, Bo is 64th out of 155 or 41st percentile. That's not horrendous!!! 

Yes his Swing% is much higher (13th out of 155) so his ability to avoid Ks and get some BBs is still predicated largely on his ability to make contact

If you do the same search for Adam Jones in 2012+2013 he was second worst in the BB/K department out of 158 hitters.
Javy Baez in 2019+2020 was 3rd worst. 
Castellanos 2018+2019 was 23rd worst out of 151, that is 15th percentile. 

Bo might be unfairly criticized because he is hard to comp correctly. I think you need to sort for his warts and positives. If you look for players who:

• Had BB rates under 6%
• Kept the K rates under 20% on average
• Hit for some power
• Had a track record of quality hitting (near 100 wRC+ or better with consistency)

You are going to pull a comp list like this: 

• Adam Jones
• Alex Rios
• Lourdes Gurriel Jr. 
• Howie Kendrick
• Brandon Phillips
• Eddie Rosario
• Pudge 

Someone like Castellanos is close but the Ks are too high. Someone like Trea Turner is close but maybe he walked a bit too much (and his legs are a huge differentiation, anyway). 

If he ages like Kendrick or Phillips, he's easily worth 8/$200. If he ages like Adam Jones he's $70m underwater. If you are the Blue Jays you want him in the middle I think. You don't want that 8th year, or you want the AAV to be more like $170m. 

 

[sliderguy35]

i think if you're looking at bo through an optimistic lens, the comp that you could use is robinson cano. very similar profile to bo: plays everyday / doesn't walk or strike out alot / just hits a ton with some pop. obviously he was a PED guy in his age 35 season but he was still incredibly valuable in his late 20s / early 30s (140 wRC+ as a 33 year old).

if you're looking at bo through a negative lens, then you'd look at him as the next xander bogaerts. similar profile to bo heading into free agency (although he was 2 years older), but immediately stopped hitting for power once age caught up to him and is now just a league average guy they have to pay $25M a year for the next decade. 

if you treat the range of outcomes as a spectrum from bogaerts to cano, i think bo is leaning more towards the cano side of things. the hard hit and barrel rates give me more confidence he'll be able to continue to hit for enough power to be a plus on that side of the ball.

that being said, if i have to choose between him and tucker, i'm taking the guy who's basically corey seager if he were a corner outfielder. at that point, they can trade for a luis garcia jr. / jeff mcneil / gavin lux as a cheap stopgap / platoon option with ernie before figuring out a longer term solution next offseason when there's a much better market for 2nd basemen (jazz / brandon lowe / nico hoerner / gleyber).

[Pendleton]

1 hour ago, Orgfiller said:

Could probably platoon Barger and Ernie, and Ernie should get plenty of reps with Bo probably getting a lot of days off to load manage, same with Gimenez and that bum ankle he was dealing with all year.

 

 

I feel like Ernie is best used as a utility guy who will still end up with 400+ PA for the reasons you stated. Between some short side platoon days against lefties, providing off days for 2B/SS/3B and filling those spots for any injuries, he'll still get his at bats. It's such a big luxury to have a cheap guy who is a legit player in that spot, as opposed to a defense first noodle bat. 

[jmomcc]

8 minutes ago, sliderguy35 said:

i think if you're looking at bo through an optimistic lens, the comp that you could use is robinson cano. very similar profile to bo: plays everyday / doesn't walk or strike out alot / just hits a ton with some pop. obviously he was a PED guy in his age 35 season but he was still incredibly valuable in his late 20s / early 30s (140 wRC+ as a 33 year old).

if you're looking at bo through a negative lens, then you'd look at him as the next xander bogaerts. similar profile to bo heading into free agency (although he was 2 years older), but immediately stopped hitting for power once age caught up to him and is now just a league average guy they have to pay $25M a year for the next decade. 

if you treat the range of outcomes as a spectrum from bogaerts to cano, i think bo is leaning more towards the cano side of things. the hard hit and barrel rates give me more confidence he'll be able to continue to hit for enough power to be a plus on that side of the ball.

that being said, if i have to choose between him and tucker, i'm taking the guy who's basically corey seager if he were a corner outfielder. at that point, they can trade for a luis garcia jr. / jeff mcneil / gavin lux as a cheap stopgap / platoon option with ernie before figuring out a longer term solution next offseason when there's a much better market for 2nd basemen (jazz / brandon lowe / nico hoerner / gleyber).

Just choosing between them in a vacuum or at their projected contracts? 

mlb trade rumours has 11/400 and bo at 8/208. They have been pretty accurate in their predictions so far. 

[Brownie19]

2 hours ago, glory said:

I don’t think it will happen but if the Jays did sign both Bo and Tucker, then what does the lineup look like? Obvious answer is Barger at 3B and Tucker/Tony in the corners, but I’m pretty sure JS would take a bullet to the chest before he benches Clement, so there would be a log jam there. 

Utility infielders average 400-500 PA's a year.  He doesn't need a "starting spot" to get starter PA's.

That said - I'm curious, is there anything to suggest Ernie could be a league average defender at SS?

[jmomcc]

1 hour ago, Laika said:

It's a fair comparison 

We have seen a decent amount of players with poor plate discipline age harshly or not live up to big contracts.  I mean it's not rocket science. Jones, Javy Baez, Castellanos, so many more. 

Adam Jones was comfortably worse than Bo though. Through age 27:

Jones: 4.6% BB, 19% K, 109 wRC+, 17.3 WAR, 3658 PA
Bo: 5.7% BB, 19.4% K, 122 wRC+, 20.0 WAR, 3292 PA (Bo would have 22.22 WAR if you equal his PA to Jones')

In the last two years Bo does have BB rates over 6 and his K rate was an elite 14.5% in 2025. He also has places to go on the defensive spectrum, 2B and 3B, which have more value than a corner outfield spot which is the only place for a CF to go. I mean Bo can age just as sharply but he would then be a 105 wRC+ 2B/3B and not a 95 wRC+ LF like Jones was. 

I wonder if people overstate Bo Bichette's plate discipline issues. In 2024+2025 combined, minimum 900 PA, if you sort hitters by BB/K lowest to highest, Bo is 64th out of 155 or 41st percentile. That's not horrendous!!! 

Yes his Swing% is much higher (13th out of 155) so his ability to avoid Ks and get some BBs is still predicated largely on his ability to make contact

If you do the same search for Adam Jones in 2012+2013 he was second worst in the BB/K department out of 158 hitters.
Javy Baez in 2019+2020 was 3rd worst. 
Castellanos 2018+2019 was 23rd worst out of 151, that is 15th percentile. 

Bo might be unfairly criticized because he is hard to comp correctly. I think you need to sort for his warts and positives. If you look for players who:

• Had BB rates under 6%
• Kept the K rates under 20% on average
• Hit for some power
• Had a track record of quality hitting (near 100 wRC+ or better with consistency)

You are going to pull a comp list like this: 

• Adam Jones
• Alex Rios
• Lourdes Gurriel Jr. 
• Howie Kendrick
• Brandon Phillips
• Eddie Rosario
• Pudge 

Someone like Castellanos is close but the Ks are too high. Someone like Trea Turner is close but maybe he walked a bit too much (and his legs are a huge differentiation, anyway). 

If he ages like Kendrick or Phillips, he's easily worth 8/$200. If he ages like Adam Jones he's $70m underwater. If you are the Blue Jays you want him in the middle I think. You don't want that 8th year, or you want the AAV to be more like $170m. 

 

He's projected at 8/208 so typical free agent tax overpay. Seems reasonable to me. 

[Terminator]

Yeah with Barger and Gimenez both being lefties there would be plenty of opportunities to play Clement, even if everyone is healthy.

And Barger can mix in the OF to spell Taters, who frankly should be the odd man out anyway, not Clement.

[Orgfiller]

1 hour ago, Brownie19 said:

Utility infielders average 400-500 PA's a year.  He doesn't need a "starting spot" to get starter PA's.

That said - I'm curious, is there anything to suggest Ernie could be a league average defender at SS?

His MLB SS experience is limited, but just about every defensive model has him as comfortably above average at the position. In terms of tools, he's similar to Gimenez; very rangy, excellent hands and a below average arm but made up for in accuracy.

He was 98th percentile in Statcast range with 83rd percentile sprint speed last season. There's basically no way he isn't at least an average SS unless he physically cannot make the throw from short. And, if there's one thing we know about Ernie, he has elite hands to get rid of the baseball quickly to make up for the poor arm strength.

[Sasky05]

1 hour ago, Pendleton said:

 

I feel like Ernie is best used as a utility guy who will still end up with 400+ PA for the reasons you stated. Between some short side platoon days against lefties, providing off days for 2B/SS/3B and filling those spots for any injuries, he'll still get his at bats. It's such a big luxury to have a cheap guy who is a legit player in that spot, as opposed to a defense first noodle bat. 

So the guy who just set a record for the most hits in a world series and plays gold glove defense should be a utility guy????? You must be kidding!

[Pendleton]

4 minutes ago, Sasky05 said:

So the guy who just set a record for the most hits in a world series and plays gold glove defense should be a utility guy????? You must be kidding!

A record amount of hits in a WS is both a great accomplishment and a small sample not nearly enough to dictate whether someone should be starting. But my post clearly outlined that he would receive very regular playing time, just spread around the three positions as needed. His projections have him as a slightly below average bat which is in line with what he has done in 1404 career plate appearances. He really doesn't profile as a starting 3B or 2B bat despite the playoff heroics. I don't think it's disparaging in the slightest to want him in a utility role that could still have him playing nearly every day. 

 

As I've stated as have others, if the "starting" 2B/SS/3B are Bo/Gimenez/Barger...there would be plenty of room there for Clement to get his 400+ at bats

[Terminator]

19 minutes ago, Sasky05 said:

So the guy who just set a record for the most hits in a world series and plays gold glove defense should be a utility guy????? You must be kidding!

I agree with the sentiment as Ernie is a damn good player but this team is friggin' stacked.

As a result, really good players who would start for the majority of teams might find themselves in reduced roles here.

[JaysForever]

3 minutes ago, Pendleton said:

 

As I've stated as have others, if the "starting" 2B/SS/3B are Bo/Gimenez/Barger...there would be plenty of room there for Clement to get his 400+ at bats

Ernie also played CF in college. One way or another he is getting into the lineup.

The guy can literally rotate across the entire field.

[Spanky__99]

Lots of scuttlebutt going on in here, lol. I'm fine with Boss Atkins to Git R Done!