Blue Jays Discussion Thread (2026)

[Brownie19]

5 hours ago, Laika said:

I think people are underestimating how significant it was to Toronto to have entire seasons from Barger and Santander wiped out, along with almost 50% of the season for Kirk. 

There is this impression that the offense just plain sucks and is hopeless and Shatkins put together a woeful slap-hitting team with no path forward, but I dunno. It could be better than people think, even without any significant additions, just assuming a somewhat healthy year from the incumbent hitters and some reasonable amount of regression to the mean for Guerrero. 

Having the worst offense in baseball will do that...

[Eat My Shatkins]

Thing is that after having the offense crater the way it did, the Jays FO can't really sit on their hands and put all their hopes in the return of Santander and Barger can they?

Santander is in his 30's and hasn't been healthy for two full seasons now.

Barger doesn't have a long track record of success in MLB to point to.  

If these guys actually come back and give you 120 wRC+ or better it should just be icing on the cake. If it's something you count on you might be setting yourself up for another tough season offensively.

Even if they only brought in Suzuki I'd be much happier with the outlook for next season. 

[jaysblue]

14 hours ago, Eat My Shatkins said:

Thing is that after having the offense crater the way it did, the Jays FO can't really sit on their hands and put all their hopes in the return of Santander and Barger can they?

Santander is in his 30's and hasn't been healthy for two full seasons now.

Barger doesn't have a long track record of success in MLB to point to.  

If these guys actually come back and give you 120 wRC+ or better it should just be icing on the cake. If it's something you count on you might be setting yourself up for another tough season offensively.

Even if they only brought in Suzuki I'd be much happier with the outlook for next season. 

Agreed. That’s why adding another proven bat is so important. It raises the floor of the offense.

If Santander and Barger come back healthy and produce, great, but you don’t want the lineup depending on that. Add someone like Suzuki, and suddenly those bounce-backs become upside rather than necessities.