Blue Jays Rumors: Updates on Varsho, Swanson, Vlad

The Blue Jays officially opened spring training today, and Blue Jays manager John Schneider held his first media availability of the year where he touched on some injury updates for a bevy of players.

Here's what we know.

Daulton Varsho

Varsho, who underwent rotator cuff surgery at the end of last season, has been throwing at 90 feet, and likely won’t be ready for Opening Day. While Schneider told MLB.com’s Keegan Matheson that Varsho has been at the Blue Jays’ spring training site in Dunedin “often,” he feels he could use a little more time. 

If Varsho does end up missing opening day, then Joey Loperfido, Nathan Lukes, George Springer and Jonatan Clase could all be in the center field mix.

Erik Swanson

A year after struggling with a 5.03 ERA in 45 games, Swanson has some forearm fatigue and "may be a little behind" at the start of spring training. That said, he's optimistic that he'll be ready in time for Opening Day, per Matheson.

Still, forearm injuries are no joke. Every year, it seems like there's a variety of players who go from feeling "sometime" in their forearm to having Tommy John surgery within a matter of weeks.

Swanson was great for the Blue Jays from 2023 in his first full season with the club (2.97 ERA in 66 2/3 innings), but really struggled last season as the Blue Jays' bullpen imploded.

Vladimir Guerrero Jr.

The biggest story at the start of Blue Jays' spring training is Guerrero and his contract extension, as he's reportedly set a deadline of Feb. 18 for extension talks. With that date less than a week away, Schneider spoke about his All-Star first baseman.

“We all want Vlad to be here. Ross has said that and I’ve said that. You just keep working towards it and hopefully it happens, but our conversations have really been about this year and how we can get better," he said, per Matheson.

What that means for Gurrero remains to be seen. He's one of the best players in baseball and wants a contract commiserate of that, but it's anyone's guess what kind of contract the Blue Jays are willing to ffer.

This will be storyline that will likely linger for most of spring training.