4 weak spots the Blue Jays are going to need to address sooner rather than later

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Despite making various moves during the past 2023-24 offseason with hopes to make the team better, the Toronto Blue Jays have been off to a slow start in 2024. With a 6-7 record, they currently sit last in the American League East, but more worrisome had been the fact that various aspects of their starting lineup have been quite underwhelming coming out of the gate. Some of the struggles by the players have been so extensive that it has limited the team’s success to date.

Here, we will take a look at five key weak spots in their roster makeup that the Jays need to seriously address before the season goes beyond recovery.

Third base

The hot corner has been a position of concern for the Jays. Thus far, they have already tried the likes of Justin Turner, Isiah Kiner-Falefa, and Ernie Clement at third, but each of them have had their own deficiencies, limiting their overall effectiveness in the role.

Turner is by far the best option from an offensive standpoint, given that he currently leads the team in batting average (.342), OPS (1.026), hits (13), runs (7) and doubles (6). However, he is a huge liability in the field at third base, as in just two starts at the position this year, he has already committed two errors and has a -1 DRS. Kiner-Falefa has been practically the exact opposite, displaying stellar defense at the hot corner but struggling to put up some offensive numbers. He has just 3 runs scored, 2 RBI and was hitting close to just .200 until his recent hitting spurt in the past three games. Clement is about right in the middle, not hurting the Jays too much, but at the same time not providing enough to make a huge difference. To date, he has posted a .242 average, .672 OPS, with 5 runs scored, 1 home run and 2 RBI offensively and a -1 DRS and a 1.000 fielding percentage defensively at third.

As a result, to rectify the situation, the Jays can consider the possibility of promoting one of their promising prospects in Addison Barger. Not only has he been providing steady defense, he has been off to a hot start at the plate with Buffalo, hitting a solid .308 with a .926 OPS, 7 runs scored, 5 doubles, a home run and 11 RBI while maintaining a 1:1 strikeout-to-walk ratio in just 10 games played to date. He appeared ready last season before running into some injury woes that ended up holding him back significantly. So it may be the right time just about now to see what he can do to help the big league club.

Center field

Another particularly troubling aspect that has stood out had been the play of Kevin Kiermaier with regards to what he has contributed offensively to the club this year. There’s no question that Kiermaier still remains an elite play in the field after registering 2 DRS and 1.000 fielding percentage through 11 games. On the other hand, he has been almost completely productionless at the plate.

Much was said about how Kiermaier provided valuable offensive impact last season for the Jays while hitting at the bottom of their everyday lineup. Aside from scoring important runs with his speed, he would come up with key hits in late inning situations to help fuel the team to victory. However, so far in 2024, Kiermaier has gotten off to one of his worst starts in his career. In 34 plate appearances, he has totalled only 3 hits for a .097 average, .273 OPS, -17 OPS+ (that’s right, a negative OPS value), with 2 runs scored, 2 RBI, 2 stolen bases, 3 walks and 14 strikeouts. No matter how you see it, something seems a bit off for Kiermaier, as his swing just doesn’t feel right.

Nevertheless, the Jays will need to make a decision soon on whether Kiermaier is providing enough value in center field to offset his mediocrity at the plate. Otherwise, reducing his playing time moving Daulton Varsho over to cover center, and inserting Davis Schneider or Cavan Biggio into the lineup as the starting left fielder may have to be considered to optimize run production for an already-struggling Jays’ offense.

Catcher

Entering the MLB regular season, the Jays were dealt an early blow when catcher Danny Jansen suffered a wrist injury during spring training. As a result, Jansen ended up starting the season on the shelf while Brian Serven put together a strong enough spring showing to win the backup job. In doing so, Serven and Alejandro Kirk would serve to hold down the fort until Jansen made his return in April.

However, things haven’t gone as planned as Serven, who is not known for his offensive prowess, has been limited to just two starts and had been held hitless in the five games he has played. Consequently, Kirk has taken upon a larger than normal workload and has suffered at the plate. Although he has driven in seven runs, Kirk has compiled only 6 hits for a .146 average, .364 OPS, 4 walks and 7 strikeouts in 12 games of action. Having both catchers currently in a funk at the same time is certainly not an ideal situation for the Jays, especially when they have been having trouble scoring runs already as of late.

Therefore, the Jays desperately need Jansen back as soon as possible and hope that he can provide the much-needed offensive spark for the team. But with Jansen running into frequent injury trouble almost all of last season, he will need to stay as healthy as he can to be productive. Otherwise, the Jays could be in for a long season with regards to their catcher’s position, as the apparent depth they once thought they had isn’t materializing.

Starting pitching

Despite the Jays’ constant struggles with offense, pitching was believed to be one of the team’s main strengths heading into 2024. In particular, with Kevin Gausman coming off a Cy Young-calibre year, the steady veteran presence of Chris Bassitt, along with the huge bounce-back seasons last year for both José Berríos and Yusei Kikuchi, the Jays have a strong starting core four that could compete against almost any starting pitching staff in the league. Added to the emergence of Bowden Francis, the expected comeback of Alek Manoah, and the addition of Cuban sensation Yariel Rodríguez, it appeared that the club had plenty of starting pitching depth going forward.

However, after two weeks into the season, both the infallible strong core and the strong depth appeared to have unexpectedly evaporated. Other than Kikuchi and Berríos, the rest have gotten off to a rough start to the year. The usually reliable Bassitt is sporting a 5.06 ERA, Gausman got blown out in his last outing, and Francis had fallen apart in his two starts thus far. Manoah went down with shoulder soreness and inflammation during the preseason and is now struggling in his rehab starts. Even the Jays most highly-touted pitching prospect Ricky Tiedemann has hit some bumps in the road in his journey to reach the big leagues. Only Rodríguez provided a glimmer of hope with his two solid starts with Buffalo so far as he builds up into game shape, and it sounds as if he's going to be promoted as soon as this weekend.

At this rate, if Rodríguez also ends up disappointing as a starting pitcher at the big league level, or the Jays actually end up using him as a reliever instead, then we may be looking at the likes of Mitch White and Paolo Espino as the main starting pitching depth for the team going forward. If that indeed comes to fruition, the Jays’ pitching troubles could only just be starting right now.

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Third base

Center field

Catcher

Starting pitching

Schedule