Blue Jays: Big decisions coming to make the 40 man roster work

Who ends up being removed from the 40 man roster?

If the Blue Jays ultimately decide to carry both John Axford and Bud Norris, as I believe they will, then they will have to make room for them somehow.

That could happen in a few different ways, and here are my top candidates, in no particular order:

Pompey- I hate to say it, but this feels like his last chance in Toronto and the roster crunch isn’t helping things. As I said, I’m rooting for him but with his being out of minor league options I wouldn’t be surprised to see the Jays look for a trade partner very soon.

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Travis- This might be the least likely option (in my eyes), but sadly I do feel it’s a realistic one that will be discussed by Atkins and his team.

Luciano- As I said above, I think the Blue Jays like him enough to give him a shot to stick at the beginning of the year, and are hoping the youngster can handle the gig. He definitely possesses the tools to be a talented big league pitcher, it’s just a matter of if he’s ready enough now for it not to ruin his development. I think he gets the chance to show what he can do in the regular season.

Jonathan Davis– The other candidate I could see on the bubble is Jonathan Davis, who is yet another outfielder that is lost in the depth chart. We saw him get a cup of coffee with the Blue Jays last year and he showed some promise, but I think he’s too far behind the others to justify keeping him around. His game reminded me a lot of Rajai Davis last season, and while it’s possible he could slip through waivers, I don’t know if he will either.

It might not be a Blue Jays team that’s set to contend this year, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t important roster decisions that could affect both the 2019 season, and the rebuild beyond that. And if you’re thinking that it might not matter, just remember that the Pittsburgh Pirates once traded some guy named Jose Bautista in order to make some room on their 40 man roster.

While that sorta thing doesn’t happen very often, you don’t want to be the team that let go a potential star for nothing, or even a solid contributor. While I’d love to sit in the GM’s seat (who wouldn’t?), I don’t envy the choices they’ll have to make in the next week or two.