The 10 most important Blue Jays players heading into the 2023 regular season

Who are the 10 most important players to the 2023 Toronto Blue Jays?

Expectations are sky-high for the 2023 version of the Toronto Blue Jays. The past few years have seen the club regularly in playoff contention, but the World Series championship has proven to still be elusive.

This year's Blue Jays have the potential to go very, very far and to do great things. A lineup consisting of Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Bo Bichette, paired with a starting rotation led by Alek Manoah and Kevin Gausman and a bullpen with Jordan Romano on-hand to slam the door in the ninth, is sure to be lethal.

The competition is going to be fierce, as it always is in this division. The New York Yankees are never to be counted out, despite the fact that injuries have ravaged their team in recent weeks, especially on the pitching side.

The Boston Red Sox don't appear to be the sexiest team on paper, but they could surprise people this year. The club has intriguing rookie Masataka Yoshida in left field, Rafael Devers at third and a healthy Chris Sale. They will need multiple things to go their way, but never say never.

The Tampa Bay Rays are another one that can never be counted out. The club has one of the best pitching staffs around and has enough offensive firepower to be dangerous. They are forever underrated, but perhaps they shouldn't be any longer.

Then there's the Baltimore Orioles, who shocked the baseball world by surprisingly being in contention for a good chunk of last year. They have largely the same team as they did last year, but will have a more experienced Adley Rutschman and uber-prospect Gunnar Henderson in their everyday lineup.

Obviously, the Blue Jays will need multiple different aspects of their roster to step up. Many different things need to go right to put together a championship-caliber team.

Le'ts take a look at the 10 most important players on the Blue Jays roster as we near the 2023 regular season.

10. RHP Erik Swanson

Honorable mention(s): Jordan Romano, George Springer

The only reason Swanson gets this spot instead of Romano is simple: he has never pitched in the American League East and will need to continue his dominance from last year if the Jays' bullpen is to have any hope.

Romano is going to be a dominant force once again in the bullpen. Fans know what they're going to get from him and we are very forutnate to have him in the ninth inning to slam the door on the opposition. He'd likely rank 11th on this list.

Swanson, however, is a wild card. The 29-year-old spent the first four years of his big league career on the Mariners and didn't become a top tier reliever until last year. A starter-turned-reliever, Swanson made 57 appearances for the Mariners last year, posting a 1.68 ERA and a just-as-impressive 1.84 FIP in 53+ innings of work. He is important enough to make the list because his continued success is crucial for his new team.

9. LHP Yusei Kikuchi

Kikuchi is entering the second season of a three-year, $36M contract he signed prior to the 2022 campaign. The 31-year-old had a difficult time getting going last year, stumbling to the finish line with a 6-7 record, 5.19 ERA, 5.62 FIP and 75 ERA+.

In Spring Training, the former Seattle Mariner and 2021 All-Star looked like a whole new pitcher. Through his first six appearances and 18 innings pitched, he had a sparkling 1.00 ERA with 25 strikeouts and just earned runs allowed.

Haters will point to his 10 walks in that time, which is a valid concern. He typically hasn't been a serial walker in the big leagues, so there's reason to believe he dials this down a bit once the regular season rolls around.

The four-year MLB veteran seems to have found his mojo in the early goings of the season. If he is able to continue this hot streak into the regular season, he will be an extremely important part of the roster.

6. C Alejandro Kirk

Obviously, Kirk, who exploded onto the scene last year with an All-Star Game appearance and Silver Slugger Award, is going to be important to this team. He hit 11 home runs with 37 RBI with a .315 average in the first half of last season, easily cementing his name into the conversation of best catcher in the league.

However, his second half results were much, much less exciting. In 56 games, he hit just three home runs with 26 RBI and had a .246 average. It seems that Kirk may have had troubles with durability down the stretch and began to be affected by fatigue, so it will be interesting to see how he holds up in what will be his second straight season as the Blue Jays' primary catcher.

The presence of Danny Jansen will allow Kirk to get some additional breathers as the season marches on. They are to be viewed as 1 and 1A behind the plate and are exepcted to roughly split the time 50/50 in the regular season.

5. RHP José Berríos

There is perhaps no player on the roster more in need of a bounceback season than the 28-year-old Berríos. He put in a ton of hard work over the offseason in an effort to return to his ace-like performances he had with the Twins, so it will be a major storyline throughout the year to see how he fares.

The reason Berríos ranks so high on this list is because he is capable of greatness if he can utilize the potential he has shown over the years. If he, along with Yusei Kikuchi, can improve even slightly on their poor performances last year, the Blue Jays will suddenly have a lethal one-through-five in the starting rotation. Alek Manoah and Kevin Gausman are workhorses who are sure to produce, while Chris Bassitt is another true veteran in the middle of the rotation. Now, it's time for someone like Berríos to step up and show that last season was a fluke.

4. RHP Kevin Gausman

It took Gausman roughly nine years to turn into the ace-level talent that everyone knew he would eventually become. After bouncing around from the Orioles to the Braves to the Reds to the Giants, he finally turned it up a notch in 2021 with the Giants, turning that strong season into a huge contract with the Blue Jays.

Last year, he did not disappoint. In 31 starts, he had a 3.35 ERA and a league-leading 2.38 FIP, striking out 205 and walking only 28 in 174+ innings. He is widely expected to turn it up even more in the upcoming season and has actually been predicted to win the AL Cy Young Award by multiple large media outlets.

There is little doubt that the 32-year-old will be able to follow up last year with another solid showing. He has become one of the very best pitchers in the game and forms a lethal duo with an upcoming player on this list.

3. SS Bo Bichette

Amid an offseason filled with contract drama, Bichette spent a ton of his time donating to charity and hosting youth events around the country. He has seemed to shed the label of "selfish player" and is going to be a massive part of this 2023 Blue Jays squad.

Coming off of two straight seasons in which he led the American League in hits, the 25-year-old Bichette is primed for another huge season coming up. He has shown off some impressve bat-to-ball skills alongside some serious home run pop, so it wouldn't be shocking to see him top 200 hits, 30 home runs or 100 RBI in the upcoming season.

Bichette gets a ton of hate for his defensive play, but he is only two years removed from being worth 1.0 dWAR at shortstop. If he is able to sharpen his defense, he will shoot up the list of best players in Major League Baseball today.

2. RHP Alek Manoah

Recently named the Blue Jays' Opening Day starter, Manoah is in for a huge season in 2023. The 25-year-old is coming off of one of the best pitching seasons in recent memory for the Jays, going 16-7 with a 2.24 ERA and 174 ERA+ in which he was worth 5.9 bWAR.

The 2022 All-Star and third place finisher in the AL Cy Young voting has been seen as a candidate to regress in 2023 but it's more reasonable to assume that he gets even better in the upcoming season. Last year, he put the pitching staff on his back and the Opening Day nod he will receive in a few days is a testament to the hard work he put in to turn himself into a true ace-caliber pitcher.

1. 1B Vladimir Guerrero Jr.

As if there could be anyone else atop this list. Guerrero, 24, is the face of this Blue Jays franchise and is already in the conversation to be in the top 10 players in all of baseball. The son of Hall of Famer Vlad Sr., Junior is coming off of a "down year" in which he hit 32 home runs with 97 RBI and a .274 average. His OPS+ of 132 still put him 32 percent above league-average and he made the second of what will likely be many All-Star Game appearances as well.

Guerrero is the anchor of this Blue Jays offense. He is going to be right in the middle of all of the action and is more than capable of a return to his MVP-caliber season that he had in 2021. There is little doubt that he's one of the best first baseman in the game today and he is easily the most important player on this club. Extend the man and make him a Jay for life.