Blue Jays Discussion Thread (2026)

[Omar]

39 minutes ago, Terminator said:

Lukes is criminally underrated. Seems like everyone wants to roll with Barger in one corner OF spot and a FA signing in the other, but I'm not sure why Barger is being penciled in over Lukes.

Term, you know Barger can be penciled in to hit 25 hr's whereas Lukes....

[Terminator]

22 minutes ago, Omar said:

Term, you know Barger can be penciled in to hit 25 hr's whereas Lukes....

He'll be 27 and he's never once done that

[Stangstag]

1 hour ago, Omar said:

Term, you know Barger can be penciled in to hit 25 hr's whereas Lukes....

Yes and Santander can be penciled in for 40

[bluejaysinternNo5]

Lukes has a ceiling of a league average hitter. Barger has a greater ceiling than that. Jays are starved for offense so you give Barger the chance to start and hopefully hit his ceiling. If he doesn't Lukes slides in. Slotting in both of Lukes and Barger to start would not inspire confidence after the year they just had. I would be pretty disappointed with that.

[Carlos Danger]

1 hour ago, Omar said:

Term, you know Barger can be penciled in to hit 25 hr's whereas Lukes....

Barger had a pretty s***** August 2025 IIR.... He drank some of the same ju ju juice and sold his soul to the Devil along with Vlad and the rest of the team and was on fire end of season/playoffs. 

I would be very concerned about the sustainability of Barger to use him as one of your all in eggs in your basket to solve your offensive woes.

[Jays24]

2 hours ago, jaysblue said:

Spanky, you can send me that e-transfer anytime for our Clement bet. No rush though. 

[Jays24]

Jays needs:

1. Top 4 of the order bats at 2B and LF to make Clement our backup IF and Lukes our 4th OFer (e.g. Bo with the Mets paying some of his salary + Suzuki/Sato)
2. A front line starter as Soriano seems like a 3/4.  (Cease, ?, Soriano, Yesavage, Ponce)
3. High leverage lefty to make Flaherty our 2nd LHP out of the pen
4. Keep Miles as our 7th inning man
5. Bring Straw back as the 5th OFer

I dont think the Jays can get all that so id downgrade needing a top end starter to bringing back Gausman or Bieber instead.  Just hope one of our guys can become a #2 calibre starter on a contender.

Most important part is getting this done before the lockout happens on December 1  when things will probably become a lot harder for us to spend our way to contention.

[Omar]

1 hour ago, Terminator said:

He'll be 27 and he's never once done that

He hit 21 in 135 games in 2025.  He has only had ~750 plate appearances.  He has all the potential to do it. Lukes cant. 

[Omar]

45 minutes ago, Stangstag said:

Yes and Santander can be penciled in for 40

No faith huh?  

[jaysblue]

46 minutes ago, Stangstag said:

Yes and Santander can be penciled in for 40

How many HR's can Vladdy be penciled in for?

[jaysblue]

21 minutes ago, Jays24 said:

Spanky is a man of his word. He's always paid up, so not worried. 

[Omar]

1 minute ago, jaysblue said:

How many HR's can Vladdy be penciled in for?

Double digits next year. Book it.

[jaysblue]

I think Barger has the potential to hit around 25-30 HR's, but he also has the profile as the kind of bat who could struggle putting up a 100 wRC+ / 700 OPS and be awful.

Think other power/bust bats like Matt Wallner, Brenton Doyle, Mickey Moniak or JJ Bleday, etc. They could either be solid or awful. 

[jaysblue]

When you look at majority of the Jays lineup this season (qualified min playing time PA's):

• Varsho: 78 wRC+ (6th worst)
• Clement: 80 wRC+ (8th worst)
• Gimenez: 81 wRC+ (10th worst)
• Guerrero: 95 wRC+ (24th worst)

Straw with an 83 wRC+ over 300 AB, so could throw him in there if you would like.

Overall, that's 3 everyday players who got significant playing time here in the Top 10 worst wRC+ in all of baseball. That can't happen again. 

[Eat My Shatkins]

I don't think you can count on Barger or Santander for anything next season. 

Santander has been out a long time and is no spring chicken.

Barger barely got his feet wet and then missed basically a whole season.

If you get anything from them it's a bonus in my books.

That's why I'd go hard after Arozarena.

I also wouldn't count on Bateman being this good either, again if he is it's a bonus. Because of that I'd try to get Kwan from the Guardians. He's going to be getting too expensive for them now.

[Omar]

Arozarena is really going to cost, moreover in a weak FA class.  Also maybe looking at his last contract for his career.  $$$$!!!!

[sliderguy35]

Arozarena should be absolutely no-touch. He had a nice season but every regression indicator out there is screaming that hes mid-decline.

Hes going to be 32 next season, already a bad defender, hard hit rate, barrel rate, bat speed are all down, chase rate & groundball rate are way up.

Id be shocked if anyone gave him more than 3 years and im certainly hoping it wont be us.