Blue Jays: What if you have to choose which stars to keep?

Looking ahead to the next few seasons, the Blue Jays not only have some roster needs to address, but they also have some tough decisions to make.

I’ll admit that this might be an odd thing to think about as the Jays are in the midst of a playoff race here in 2022, and especially because things have been going much better lately, but allow me to explain. I think most of us can agree that there are still some holes with this roster, and unless this team goes on a run and finds some significant playoff success this year, I feel like it’s likely that some changes are coming to the core of this team. I also say that because the contract situations are going to dictate that sorta thing as well, and regardless of how well things go in Toronto over the next 3-5 years, they likely won’t be able to keep everybody.

That means that Ross Atkins and/or any future front office decision-makers will have some tough choices to make, and at least a few of them could shape the direction of the franchise over the next half decade or more. No pressure right?

There are almost unlimited ways that this whole thing could go down, but I thought it would be fun to look at three choices I feel like the Blue Jays will have to make in the not so distant future. A lot could change before some of these calls have to be made, but I don’t think it’s ever too early to think about long-term planning with an MLB roster.

With that in mind, here are three decisions that I see coming up, and I’ll even give you my take on what I think the Jays should do.