3 Blue Jays players the organization has way too much faith in right now

It is often said there's a lack of loyalty in professional sports, including players being traded or not re-signed when their preference is to remain with their current team. On the flip side, there's been plenty of occasions where those same players have left a team in the lurch, when offered a better situation elsewhere. The Blue Jays are no exception to these -- and any other number of similar -- scenarios.

At the same time, there are also numerous times throughout professional sports when an admirable and/or appropriate amount of loyalty has been displayed. However, what about when maybe too much loyalty has been shown towards an individual? Here is a look at three players who the Blue Jays have arguably too much faith in at this moment in time:

Mitch White

Of the three players referenced in this article, Mitch White is the one most akin to being the equivalent of a cat with nine lives. How he is on the Blue Jays' 40-man roster is barely quantifiable.

The actual reason is so that White can't elect for free agency and have the Blue Jays all but lose him for nothing. However, you have to wonder why they would not allow just this, to be done with the headache(s) he has caused during his time in Toronto.

Pure and simple, the 29-year-old has been awful for the Blue Jays in his 20 appearances for them in the Majors, which includes eight starts (all during the 2022 campaign). He has a 0-6 record, while producing a 7.60 ERA and 1.737 WHIP over 55.2 combined innings.

White essentially looked bad from the word go following his arrival from the Dodgers in a August 2022 trade. However, the hope was that offseason and spring training would help get him back on track this past season.

Instead, the seeds were sown for another disappointing campaign, when the righty started the year on the injured list due to elbow inflammation. After rehab assignments in the minors, he subsequently spent more time out due to shoulder fatigue.

Then, when White did finally make his first appearance of the season for the Blue Jays, it was a disaster. He allowed three hits and two earned runs in 1.2 innings, serving as an indicator of how things were going to play out for him in 2023 at the Major League level.

After clearing waivers and being assigned to Buffalo for the remainder of the season, the 2016 second round draft pick at times showed some promise, but ultimately finished his Triple-A campaign with a 1-2 record, 5.50 ERA and 1.563 WHIP in 55.2 innings over 17 appearances (including 12 starts).

Why White is still on the Blue Jays' 40-man roster could also conceivably come down to the front office just trying to save face and hoping he (somehow) works out. Don't forget that they did give up a couple of promising prospects in Nick Frasso and Moises Brito, to acquire him in the first place.

Further, that hope comes from the perception that when the Blue Jays traded for the San Jose, California native, he was actually an enticing addition. Certainly he had shown some glimpses of promise in 38 games for the Dodgers, with a 3.58 ERA, 3.87 FIP and 1.202 WHIP in 105.2 combined innings.

As things stand, White will get (yet) another opportunity to justify the Blue Jays' decision to keep him around. However, even he must be surely running out of lives, in his attempts to stick around in Toronto.

Nate Pearson

If there were a Blue Jays equivalent of the dictionary and you were to look up 'frustrating', you might find the name of Nate Pearson used as an example, (if not Alek Manoah). Without doubt, he is an extremely polarising figure within the realm of Toronto sports.

On the one hand, we're talking about a player who has talent oozing out of his very being. At one point Pearson was considered a future staff ace, ranked back in 2020 as the third-best pitching prospect in all of baseball and eighth overall by MLB Pipeline.

However, as we sit here right now, the righty has yet to fulfil his potential and you have to wonder if he will ever reach the highs he is capable of. Although maybe it should be more a question of if he will ever perform to expectations on a consistent basis, because there were certainly signs there last season that he'd finally cracked the code.

Consider that in his first 17 appearances of the 2023 season, Pearson had an insanely good stat line which included a 4-0 record, 1.96 ERA and 0.91 WHIP in a combined 23.0 innings. He wasn't relying on his fastball as much -- although it was still as effective -- while his location was much improved.

Unfortunately for the 27-year-old though, this turned out to be almost too good to be true. He subsequently endured a 16-game spell, with a terrible 9.53 ERA and 1.650 WHIP in 17.0 combined innings that led to him being sent down to Buffalo.

Pearson did make a couple more appearances in late September for the Blue Jays, allowing no runs in 2.2 combined innings. As a result, he ended the season with a 4.85 ERA, 4.85 FIP and 1.266 WHIP in 42.2 innings over 35 games; not great, but overall not horrific either.

In defence of the 2017 28th overall draft pick, his development -- or lack thereof -- has not been helped by an almost ridiculous string of injuries dating all the way back to 2018. Even though he did enjoy more good health in 2023, there is still a significant cause for concern within the Blue Jays organization.

In this respect, the reality is that Pearson is now never likely to a part of the starting rotation, never mind a staff ace. His durability will always be a worry while, in fairness, he has shown more glimpses of is his upside working out of the bullpen.

Still, there remains the question of if the Odessa, Florida native can truly prosper in Toronto, or if it is just better for all concerned if he starts over somewhere new? In this respect, this is a pivotal year for him, with it representing the final season of him holding a minor league option.

From a team control aspect, it should be noted Pearson still has two more years of arbitration eligibility before coming an unrestricted free agent in 2027. At the same time however, you would conceivably get good odds on him still being with the Blue Jays organization at that point.