With 40-man roster over capacity, the Blue Jays have some decisions to make

Once the regular season ended, the Toronto Blue Jays activated three players from the 60-day injured list. This is nothing more than a paper move made at the end of the season when there are no more games to be played. All teams do it, and that alone is not noteworthy.

What is worth noting is how the Blue Jays will handle their 40-man roster now that the three 60-day IL players are back in the mix. As of right at this moment, their 40-man is at 43, which ... won't work. Alek Manoah, Will Wagner and Daulton Varsho have been "activated" and added back to the 26- and 40-man rosters, which leaves some decisions to be made.

The 2024-25 offseason was already going to be an active one for the Jays, but now there are some additional choices they'll have to make. Left-hander Ryan Yarbrough is the only player headed for unrestricted free agency, so his impending departure will leave the roster at 42.

Since the Jays are going to have to protect some minor leaguers from the Rule 5 Draft, they're going to need the additional spots to be freed up. So this begs the question, which players are most in danger of losing their holds on a 40-man roster spot?

Here's a look at which Blue Jays are arbitration eligible this offseason, along with what MLBTR predicts they'd earn in arbitration:

• Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (5.157): $29.6MM
•  Erik Swanson (5.059): $3.2MM
•  Jordan Romano (5.051): $7.75MM
•  Génesis Cabrera (5.011): $2.5MM
•  Dillon Tate (4.144): $1.9MM
• Daulton Varsho (4.128): $7.7MM
•  Alejandro Kirk (4.047): $4.1MM
•  Alek Manoah (3.063): $2.4MM
•  Zach Pop (2.171): $1MM
•  Ernie Clement (2.168): $1.7MM

Of this bunch, Pop or Tate being non-tendered makes a great deal of sense, as both are replaceable arms that aren't locks to make the 2025 roster.

All of the other obvious candidates also come from the massive group of relief pitchers the Blue Jays currently employ. Of the bunch, Hagen Danner, Tommy Nance, Luis Frias and Pop are the four that don't have minor league options heading into 2025. Danner has potential, but the fact that he can't be sent down complicates things. Otherwise, the rest of this group is pretty replaceable.

Down in Triple-A, Tate, Nick Robertson, Emmanuel Ramirez, Brett de Geus, Easton Lucas and Brandon Eisert are all DFA candidates. They're all optionable, but it's also true that none of them did enough this year to guarantee job security beyond the 2024 season.

Our prediction? Yarbrough hits free agency and both Tate and Pop are non-tendered. This will bring the 40-man roster back to 40, but there will need to be additional moves made if there's any young players on the farm that the Jays want to protect from the R5D.