6 Blue Jays who could be playing their way out of the team’s 2024 plans

For the 2023 season, despite their lack of consistency throughout the year, the Toronto Blue Jays have somehow managed to stay within the thick of the playoff chase. Currently, they hold a 66-54 winning record and sit in the third and final Wild Card spot, with the Seattle Mariners in hot pursuit trailing only by 1.5 games. Despite being in playoff contention, some of the current players have struggled to produce for the ballclub. The Jays will definitely need them to work things out soon; otherwise, their spots on the active roster could be at risk down the stretch and potentially beyond as well.

Here, we take a look at six Blue Jays players that could be playing their way out of the team’s 2024 plans if they don’t turn things around soon.

Santiago Espinal

For Santiago Espinal, it has been a season to forget for the former All-Star. After taking hold of the starting second baseman job early last year with the Jays, Espinal went on to have a very productive first half and was selected to the All-Star game in recognition of his fine performance. However, he began to struggle in the latter half of the season and ended up losing some playing time near the end of the year as a result.

With hopes that a new season means a fresh reset for Espinal, those struggles unfortunately have carried over into the 2023 season as he has failed to provide any consistent production at the plate all year. There’s no denying that he still provided solid defence for the ballclub, but the lack of offence has no doubt affected his playing time, along with his potential value going forth with the team. For 2023, Espinal has hit .229 with a .617 OPS, with 25 runs scored, eight doubles, two home runs and 18 RBI in 65 games played.

With the rapid ascension of the recent play of top prospects Orelvis Martinez and Addison Barger at Triple-A Buffalo, Espinal will certainly need to step up his game in the final few weeks of the season if he wants to secure a roster spot for the 2024 season.

Nate Pearson

In the case for Nate Pearson, you have to feel sorry for him because he ran into many injury troubles in the past few years that have pushed his once promising career off-track. For this season, Pearson finally had a clean bill of health and was all set to show everyone what he could really do to contribute to the Jays' organization.

After being called up from Buffalo in late April, he was dynamite as in his first 17 games, he went 4-0 with an impressive 1.96 ERA, 0.91 WHIP, giving up only five earned runs, five walks and 26 strikeouts over 23 innings pitched. It was probably the most dominant stretch we had seen Pearson since donning a Jays’ uniform for his career.

However, it has been a completely different story for him in his next 15 appearances, as he began to struggle mightily with his command and has resulted in many hitters getting on base. During this stretch, he has compiled a gaudy 10.13 ERA, 1.63 WHIP, giving up 18 earned runs, 10 walks and 13 strikeouts in just 16 innings of work. It had gotten so bad that he was sent back down to the minors recently, before being recalled as a result of Hagen Danner’s injury.

Pearson will need to prove that he can regain his dominant form earlier in the year to help the ballclub down the stretch and maintain his spot on the MLB roster for the rest of this year and beyond. The Jays’ faithful have been patient all these years for the former first round pick, but the patience may be growing thin if he doesn’t turn things around soon.

Cavan Biggio

The 2023 season hasn’t been all that kind to Cavan Biggio, as he struggled big time coming out of the gate at the beginning of the year. Already engaged in a tough battle for playing time with Espinal and Whit Merrifield, Biggio failed to rise to the occasion as in his first 40 games, he batted just .172 with a .575 OPS, 13 runs scored, four home runs, eight RBI, two stolen bases, eight walks and 36 strikeouts in 40 games played.

It pretty much had gotten to a point where whenever he stepped up to the plate, many were expecting an automatic out was about to happen. However, since then, Biggio has provided a little more consistent production, as he has hit .265 with an .809 OPS with 18 runs scored, four home runs, 14 RBI, nine walks and 22 strikeouts in 34 game appearances entering Sunday’s game against the Chicago Cubs.

With the emergence of Merrifield in regaining his former All-Star form and becoming one of the more prolific hitters in the Jays lineup, along with his ability to play both at second base and the outfield positions, playing time for Biggio has become quite limited as a result. Therefore, Biggio will need to make the most of his opportunities down the stretch whenever given the chance. Otherwise, he may be deemed expendable beyond this season.

Paul DeJong

It may be harsh to put Paul DeJong already in this category. After all, he had just started to get his feet wet with his new club after coming over from the St. Louis Cardinals at the trade deadline. However, other than some steady defence, he has provided almost nothing to the Blue Jays so far from an offensive standpoint. He wasn’t expected to post Bo Bichette-type numbers while he served as his temporary replacement, but given that he had shown some power and consistent run production earlier on in his career, he was at least expected to do a little more than what he has accomplished so far in a Jays’ uniform.

In 11 games, DeJong has gone 3-for-39 for a .077 batting average, with one run scored, one RBI, no walks and 14 strikeouts. Perhaps one would say he probably needs an adjustment period to get comfortable first, but given that he has been a veteran with seven years of MLB experience, one would expect it would be a little better than this. At this point, it may be even more realistic to just play Espinal instead until Bichette returns from the IL.

While DeJong was acquired at the deadline primarily to serve as Bichette’s temporary replacement, it was also expected that when Bichette returns, DeJong could become a useful power bat off the bench in late game situations going forward and make spot starts at shortstop when needed. But at this rate, it doesn’t look like he will get much more playing time in the near future, not to mention even to consider bringing him back beyond this season if he doesn’t get going soon.

Alek Manoah

Finally, it has certainly been a nightmarish season so far for Jays’ pitcher Alek Manoah. After having an impressive rookie season back in 2021, following by a spectacular breakout year in 2022 in which he became an All-Star and an AL Cy Young finalist, many were expecting bigger and better things for Manoah as he entered the 2023 season. However, he probably wished it had never even started as anything one could think of that could go bad has gone bad for him.

Not only has Manoah struggled mightily with his control and command throughout the year, he has now been optioned to the minors twice with fading hopes that he can eventually regain his prior dominant form in the process. For the year, he has compiled a disappointing 3-9 record with a 5.87 ERA, 1.74 WHIP, giving up 57 earned runs including 15 home runs, 59 walks and 79 strikeouts in 87.1 innings pitched in 19 starts. Nobody in the world was expecting something like this, especially Manoah himself, as he now has to find a way to regroup, reset and get his career back on track.

Whether or not Manoah will be back this year with the big league club is also a big question mark, with the pending returns of bullpen arms Jordan Romano, Trevor Richards, and Chad Green on the horizon. We don’t believe that Manoah would end up being traded, but if he doesn’t turn his game around soon, he may not have a guaranteed roster spot with the Jays to start the 2024 season until he has proven he can still get it done.