Predicting the Blue Jays Opening Day roster if the season started today

Bullpen

The Jays bullpen dealt through a lot of injuries and disappointments last season. The Blue Jays signed Kirby Yates to a one-year $5.5 million dollar contract, one I thought would end up being a steal. Yates posted a 1.19 ERA in 2019 with a league-leading 41 saves. He was so good, he finished ninth in the National League Cy Young balloting. He did not throw a single pitch for the Blue Jays as he underwent Tommy John Surgery prior to the regular season and spent all year on the IL.

The Jays bullpen ranked eighth in the American League with a 4.08 ERA and 12th in innings pitched. With that in mind, the Jays tried to acquire a proven late-game arm in Brad Hand to try and help propel them to the postseason. Hand pitched in just 11 games for the Blue Jays and pitched to a 7.27 ERA. He was released after a few weeks

Julian Merryweather has looked really promising but can’t seem to stay healthy. Rafael Dolis went from being one of the late-game relievers for Charlie Montoyo to choose from to being DFA’d by season’s end. Tyler Chatwood is another arm who had some success early but collapsed and was DFA’d.

The Jays signed Yimi Garcia to help their bullpen for this season, but I don’t think they’re done re-tooling the ‘pen. If the season started tomorrow, I believe these eight pitchers will be a part of the bullpen.

6) Jordan Romano
7) Tim Mayza
8) Yimi Garcia
9) Julian Merryweather
10) Adam Cimber
11) Trevor Richards
12) David Phelps
13) Nate Pearson

I believe the Jays bullpen is pretty much set with the exception of the last two spots. Jordan Romano became the full-time closer last year and was dominant. Tim Mayza became a dependable left-handed reliever who the Jays could trust to get the big left-handed hitters out.

Garcia is the Jays’ new bullpen addition who I believe is a solid middle innings reliever. Merryweather has flashed his potential, he just has to stay healthy. Adam Cimber and Trevor Richards were both acquired last season and were both solid acquisitions. They should be reliable arms again.

David Phelps is a guy I believe does make the team but has an uphill battle only because he’s not on the 40-man roster. He signed a minor league deal this offseason. Phelps made just 11 appearances for the club last season but is a guy that when healthy can pitch in a couple of different roles.

Nate Pearson’s been extremely disappointing at the big league level. He has not stayed healthy and has not been effective. He has electric stuff which helped him strike out 12.0/9 last season, but he walked an absurd 7.2/9. He’s only made 17 appearances in his two seasons. If the Jays make him a permanent reliever for now maybe health will be easier to come by.

Position Players

The biggest loss of the offseason was Marcus Semien, who ended up signing a massive deal with the Rangers. He signed a one-year prove-it contract prior to the 2021 season and he did better than anyone could’ve possibly expected. He hit 45 home runs which set a single-season record for second basemen. He won the Gold Glove at second base, a new position for him, and finished third in the American League MVP balloting.

That kind of production is seemingly impossible to replace, but the Blue Jays have made no attempt to replace it as of now. They finished second in the majors in runs per game and led the league in home runs and OPS as a team last season, so even without Semien in the lineup, they should still be very good.

The Jays do still have the MVP runner-up in Vladimir Guererro Jr. He’s going to hit in the middle of the order around other young cornerstones Bo Bichette and Teoscar Hernandez. They should hopefully get more than 78 games from George Springer as well.

14) George Springer
15) Bo Bichette
16) Vladimir Guerrero Jr.
17) Teoscar Hernandez
18) Lourdes Gurriel Jr.
19) Randal Grichuk
20) Cavan Biggio
21) Santiago Espinal
22) Danny Jansen

From top to bottom, the Jays lineup has depth and should be able to score a ton of runs. It’s not as long of a lineup as last season with the departure of Semien, but it’s without a doubt one of the best lineups in the game.

I do believe the Jays could benefit from a third baseman to lengthen the lineup a little more but it should be good as is.

It should be interesting to see how Biggio bounces back after really struggling last season. Espinal took a lot of his at-bats by the end of the year and should get a majority of the third base reps at least to start the season.

I believe the starting catcher will be determined by whether Alejandro Kirk is hitting or not. If he is hitting well, he’ll get a bulk of the playing time. Jansen is a premier defensive catcher so anything productive with his bat is just gravy. Both should get plenty of reps behind the plate.

What’s interesting is the bench. Right now, the Jays only have seven position players on their 40-man roster who don’t project as starters. Two of those players have no MLB experience while another has just one at-bat. Depth is an area the Jays will have to address when the lockout is over.

23) Alejandro Kirk
24) Kevin Smith
25) Josh Palacios
26) Reese McGuire

I do have three catchers on my Opening Day roster. This might not be ideal, but there weren’t really any other options. Gabriel Moreno, as much as I’d like to see him, is not going to make the team out of Spring Training. Leo Jimenez does not have an at-bat above A-ball. Otto Lopez has one big-league at-bat. Those are the only options on the 40-man.

Kevin Smith struggled in his cup of coffee with the Jays last season but should be fine in a bench role getting some starts at third base sometimes.

Josh Palacios also struggled in his cup of coffee last season but he won’t have to play much with the Jays having four reliable outfielders on the roster.

The Jays I’m sure will address their bench whenever the lockout is over as this bench is not great by any stretch outside of Alejandro Kirk. The Jays will probably also get another arm or two.