Blue Jays confusingly demote utility infielder instead of struggling outfielder

The Blue Jays’ offense gained a key reinforcement on Tuesday when Daulton Varsho returned from the injured list (and promptly made a fantastic catch).

But the Blue Jays also made an interesting roster move to get Varsho on the team’s active roster. 

Varsho’s promotion to the active roster on Tuesday wasn’t much of a surprise. The corresponding move was. 

The Blue Jays elected to demote infielder Will Wagner to Triple-A to make room for Varsho in a bit of a head-scratching move.

Blue Jays confusingly demote utility infielder instead of struggling outfielder

While Wagner got off to a bit of a slow start this year (he had a .184 batting average and an OPS+ of 48 through 20 games), he’s a utility infielder, while Varsho is a full-time outfielder. 

That move is a bit confusing at face value, it gets even more confusing when you consider the Blue Jays' current roster construction. 

With Varsho in the fold, the Blue Jays now have seven outfielders on their roster (Varsho, Addison Barger, Nathan Lukes, Anthony Santander, Myles Straw, George Springer and Alan Roden). 

While Barger can play some third base, it’s still an… interesting group, to say the least. 

Santander and Springer have alternated between designated hitter so far this year, which means that there’s only two outfield spots available for the other five players. 

And if Varsho’s going to be the team’s full-time center fielder (which Blue Jays’ brass has made it seem like), then there’s four players vying for playing time in one of the corner outfield spots.

One of those players who shouldn’t be in that mix is Nathan Lukes. 

Not only is Lukes also a left-handed hitter like Varsho, but he’s only hitting .222 and can only play in the outfield. 

On the other hand, Wagner can play second base, first base and third base. 

While Lukes has one of the Blue Jays’ home runs (and there haven’t been many of those this year), his roster spot could be better utilized now that Varsho’s back. 

On Tuesday, Varsho got the start in center while Santander got the start in right and Straw got the start in left. 

Straw seemed like the likely roster victim for Varsho at the beginning of the year since he made the team in large part due to Varsho’s injury, but he’s one of three Blue Jays who are hitting .300 or better. 

It’ll be interesting to see how all of this impacts Roden. Before the season, Blue Jays brass said that they wanted Roden to get everyday at-bats this season, but that’s going to be tough under this new outfield alignment.

He’s only played twice in the past week, and both appearances came in Sunday’s doubleheader against the Yankees. 

Straw’s earned more playing time, and Barger now has some additional value thanks to his defensive versatility, but Lukes seems a bit redundant. 

The Blue Jays front office is trying to pull as many levers as possible to turn things around, but this move is a bit puzzling.