Blue Jays: Four players who may be off the 40-man roster come spring

Breyvic Valera

A bench player for almost all of his career, Breyvic Valera joined the Blue Jays back in late 2019 after being claimed off of waivers when the New York Yankees designated him for assignment. He would play in five games for the club before the end of the season, eventually being DFA’d by the Jays only to be picked up by San Diego and then re-acquired by the Blue Jays again prior to the 2020 campaign when the Padres DFA’d him. A bit confusing, but all in all he returned to the Jays.

He would miss the entire 2020 season on the restricted list and rejoined the team in 2021, eventually being DFA’d at the start of April and passing through waivers to join the Bisons in AAA. He would start the year in Buffalo and would be brought back to the Blue Jays roster in mid July, staying with the club for the rest of the season and finishing with a .253/.313/.356 slash line with one home run, 15 RBI, and a .669 OPS. Valera split his time between third base and second base, sporting clean fielding percentages at both positions.

For Valera, his role on the club is on the bench and he is expendable, as evident by the club designating him on multiple occasions before. While he could find his way on the bench to begin the 2022 season, the Blue Jays also have a few younger infield prospects knocking on the Major League doors in Kevin Smith and Otto Lopez, and if the front office does add a few players during the offseason, Valera’s spot on the roster could be gone, meaning his spot on the 40-man is most likely gone as well.