Blue Jays: How does the 25 man roster look if the season started today?

Lineup vs. RHP

When it comes to the lineup I thought I would split things up a bit, mostly because I think it could be a bigger focus in Toronto than it has been in year’s past. Not that I think we’re going to see platoons being utilized all over the diamond, but I have a feeling that certain positions could be approached in such a way.

I’m going to operate under the pretence that the Blue Jays will carry 13 players, meaning they would have a four man bench. It’s possible that they carry eight bullpen arms to start the year, depending on who they are looking to protect on the roster, and I’ll cover that near the end as well. For now though, let’s have a look at how the Blue Jays might stack up against right-handed pitching.

1- Lourdes Gurriel Jr. (2B)

2- Justin Smoak (1B)

3- Randal Grichuk (RF)

4- Kendrys Morales (DH)

5- Kevin Pillar (CF)

6- Freddy Galvis (SS)

7- Brandon Drury (3B)

8- Danny Jansen (C)

9- Billy McKinney (LF)

Bench

• Teoscar Hernandez
• Luke Maile
• Devon Travis
• Dalton Pompey

Let me be clear that I don’t think Teoscar Hernandez is going to only hit against lefties. I’m more looking at how I see the lineup being utilized the majority of the time, but I would expect that all of Pillar, McKinney, and Morales would sacrifice at bats so Hernandez could get in there a good chunk of the time as well.

I also want to reiterate that this is how I see things starting out at the beginning of the year, not how I think the Blue Jays should line things up, or how it’ll ultimately play out. A good example is Pillar, who I don’t think the Blue Jays should use as the #5 hitter at all, but it wouldn’t surprise me if that’s where he started the season.

Of course things will change when Vladimir Guerrero Jr. is inevitably promoted, which will push someone from the 13 man list of players. That spot will likely come down to either Dalton Pompey, or Devon Travis, and it could be a matter of need on the team. I chose Pompey for the 13th man because he’s out of options and I really thought that Atkins would have traded or DFA’d him by now given the way things have gone the last couple of seasons. He remains on the roster however (which personally makes me happy), and I think he’ll have 3-4 weeks to show whether the Blue Jays should keep him around in favour of another outfielder, or a 2nd infielder.

We could also debate the batting order until we’re blue in the face, and I have a feeling that new manager Charlie Montoyo will be experimenting a lot at the beginning of the year. That said, this is my guess for how things goes in the first few weeks, at least against righties.