Blue Jays Grades by Position (Consolidated)

 Outfield: B

George Springer, Anthony Santander, Daulton Varsho, Myles Straw

This outfield is definitely not perfect, but I do think it can be a strength for the Jays this year. George Springer is coming off a down season, and although he's aging there's hope he can have a bit of a bounce back. While he was a below average hitter (by OPS+) last season, he was still a positive defender sliding over to right field and overall graded out as a 1.1 WAR player. I don't expect George to be the Springer of old, but if he can get back to being decent at the plate this season it will go a long way. 

Anthony Santander is a newcomer and someone I am nervous about. The Jays needed to address the offense this offseason and Santander is a guy coming off a 44 HR season in Baltimore. He's been an above average switch hitter with tons of pop for each of the last 3 seasons. The problem is he's 30 this season, only hits for power and is a negative defender even in left field. The Jays can probably expect Santander's offense to continue this season but the decline for guys who's only tool is hitting for power is usually swift and ugly. Still though, you can't hate it because the Jays needed guys who can hit and Santander can hit

Varsho is the baseball nerd's favorite player. He doesn't hit much but he does have some pop when he does connect. The real value in Varsho is his defensive acumen and IQ on the base paths. Despite hitting with a .214 average, Varsho had a WAR of 5, showing just how valuable he is on defense. There's a case to be made that Varsho is the best defensive centerfielder in baseball, at a premium position that's awesome to have. I think if Varsho was the 7th or 8th best hitter on your team you'd be thrilled with who he is, he's just been forced into roles where he has to be better than that. Hopefully he and Santander cover each other's weaknesses perfectly. 

Catcher: C

Alejandro Kirk, Tyler Heineman 

This one is rough. Kirky is easy to love because he's round, short and playing a professional sport, how could you not love that? While he doesn't have the greatest arm behind the plate, he's done an awesome job framing pitches and overall has graded out as an above average defensive catcher. On the offensive side, Kirk frustrates me a little bit. He does hit for average and he does get on base a decent amount, but when he gets there he's one of the slowest players in the league. What we have here is basically a large man that hits singles, which I personally find counterproductive. Still though, he's a solid catcher in the MLB and so few teams have a catcher that can reasonably hit so that's a positive. 

The real reason they get a C here is because Tyler Heineman is going to need to play 50+ games unless they make an addition or a prospect pops off. Maybe it's wishful thinking to want an upgrade at backup catcher, but it is the 1 position in the MLB where the backup is guaranteed playing time even if there's no injury. Heineman has a career OPS+ of 63, meaning he's one of the worst hitters in all of baseball. He'll be all but a guaranteed out every time he trots to the plate, and that might be an issue. 

First Base: A+

Vladimir Guerrero Jr, Rotating Cast of Utility Guys

As long as he's committed and doesn't get traded, Vlad is the best player on the Jays. There's been a ton of drama recently surrounding Vlad after the team and him failed to come to terms on an extension. The trade talks are only going to get louder as the season rolls on, especially if the Jays struggle out of the gates. Putting all of that aside, Vlad is capable of being the absolute best hitter in baseball. After a slow start for the first 2 months last year, Vlad finished the season with a .940 OPS, by far the best on the team. His defense seems to come and go, but he both plays at a not very demanding position at first base and has won a gold glove there before so we know he's capable. Simply put, this is a superstar when he's at his best. The question is, will he be at his best? Vlad's OPS+ every season he's been in the league in order has been: 109, 118, 168, 133, 121, 166. He's always been an above average hitter, but when you have seasons with an OPS+ of 168 and 166, you get superstar expectations. Hopefully Vlad goes on a crazy stretch and gets himself paid!

Second Base: B-

Andres Jimenez, Davis Schneider, Utility Guys

This one is a bit difficult to grade because I had to decide whether or not to grade the position in the context of the team or in a vacuum. Andres Jimenez was one of the additions of the offseason and his glove is elite. He's coming off 3 straight Gold Glove seasons including 2022 where he was an All-Star and a good hitter. Second base is a good position to have strong defenders and Jimenez by all accounts will be that for the Jays this year. The problem is, the last 2 seasons Jimenez has not been the best hitter. He's not going to kill you out there with his bat, but you shouldn't expect solid production from him unless he has a surprise bounceback to 2022 form. And that's the issue with my grades. If Jimenez was on a team with a ton of offensive talent, this would probably be a B+ or A-. Playing on a team that already struggled offensively all of last year, we're just adding another below average bat to the lineup. You definitely need good defenders, but finding the balance with guys who can hit is also important. That being said, any team can be reasonably happy running Jimenez out there for 162 games and he provides the most stability the Jays have had at second base since Marcus Semien.

I wanted to take this section to give a quick shout out to Davis Schneider since he figures to likely be a super utility guy for the Jays this year and won't have a section of his own in this series. We saw last year over a full season that Schneider is a super hot and cold player at the plate. When he's hot he legitimately can be the best hitter in the Jays lineup and the streaks can last weeks. When he's cold he legitimately can be the worst hitter in baseball and the streaks can also last weeks. Players like this are abundant in the MLB and it's one of my favorite things over a long 162 game season. Random players getting super hot is fun, and Schneider does that as well as anyone. 

Third Base: D

Ernie Clement, Rookies, Vlad?

This is by far the Jays weakest position coming into the season and something I expect them to address before the trade deadline if they're serious about competing. I will be the first to say that I am actually a pretty big Ernie Clement fan, and he actually had a pretty decent season last year. A guy who hits for average pretty well and plays reasonably decent defense, if this is your super utility guy off the bench you're thrilled starting him every night to spot your starters nights off. The issue with Ernie is even though he hits for contact, he basically never walks and has pretty much no power. These are things you could stomach if he had an elite glove and arm at 3rd or if the rest of the team was filled with guys who get on base a ton, but neither of those things are true. I'll still be a Clement fan for the vibes, but this is a position where the Jays definitely need to look to upgrade. 

There is a chance that a rookie takes off and surprises everyone. Addison Barger has been a solid hitter in the minor leagues and will get a shot this season to earn his spot in the big leagues. I will not pretend like I know anything about him, but random rookies pop off all the time in the MLB so who the heck knows. There's also the chance that Vlad gets a look at third base, which I think could be fun. There's mobility concerns with Vlad but his arm definitely plays at the hot corner. That option would require getting someone with a bat at first base and it does raise a lot of defensive concerns, but screw it, it'd be really fun. 

Short Stop: B+

Bo Bichette, Utility Guys

Toughest position to grade on the entire team. There have been seasons where Bo Bichette is the Jays best player. While he's not the best defensive short stop at a position that gets the most action in the infield, Bo's bat in the past has been amazing. Bo is a hilarious player because he basically never walks, but his plate coverage is so good that his on base percentage is usually awesome. Bo shows a lot of power for a short stop too and has been an above average hitter overall every year of his career until last season, Bo's season from hell. Last year Bo hit .225, and if you remember, he never walks so that basically means he was terrible last season. He was in and out of the lineup with injuries and never really found a rhythm, which was a large reason for the Jays offensive struggles last year. If Bo can get back to form, it adds another legit bat to the lineup and starts to make the Jays look scary again. If he has another season like last year then we're running out a below average hitter with a below average glove at a premium position. I am cautiously optimistic that Bo will bounce back thus my B+ grade. I think this could swing all the way to A if he plays the way he has every other season of his career. Hopefully he does because the Jays have nobody meaningful behind him in the organization. 

Starting Pitching: A+

Kevin Gausman, Jose Berrios, Chris Bassit, Max Scherzer, Bowden Francis, Alek Manoah?

Screw it, I am being extra generous with this starting pitching staff, I actually think they'll be a major strength of the Jays. One of the big and super cool off-season additions for the Jays this year was future first ballot hall of famer Max Scherzer. Scherzer has had a legendary career including 3 Cy Young awards and 2 World Series titles. If his career ended today he'd go down as one of the best to ever do it, and now he's a Blue Jay. To be more realistic about it, Scherzer is 40 this season coming off a year where he pitched just 43 innings for the Rangers. He isn't the lights out elite pitcher that he was in his prime anymore even when he does play, but he's still super effective. With Gausman, Berrios, Bassit and maybe even Francis, Scherzer might be the 5th best pitcher on this staff. Though he's not an ace anymore, Scherzer as your 4th or 5th guy is awesome. A true competitive maniac who's seen what it takes to win at the highest level, I think this is a great addition and I plan on attending a few of his starts this season.   

Kevin Gausman got off to a rough start last season, as he's sometimes prone to. In the second half of the season however, Gausman was lights out and every bit of the ace the Jays thought they were getting. It's now been 4 straight seasons of very high level starting pitching for Gausman as he enters his age 34 season. Aging pitchers, especially ones who rely on the fastball and splitter as much as Gausman does, tend to fall off fairly quickly, but I still have confidence that Gausman will turn in another great season for the Jays at the top of their rotation. 

Jose Berrios is one of the more underrated pitchers in baseball, and a super fun pitcher to watch when he's on. Besides one rough year in 2022, he's been as reliable as anyone in the Jays rotation and is super effective at not walking guys. The absence of mistakes is sometimes the best quality a pitcher can have and Berrios can reliably provide that for sure. 

Chris Bassit is one of the more unique pitchers in the league and he can definitely be hot and cold. He throws a million different pitches, seriously look at his baseball savant page. Sometimes when he's got it working he looks like the best pitcher in baseball and single handedly wins the Jays games. Sometimes when he doesn't he gets into trouble with walks and innings can snowball on him. Still he's a good reliable option for the Jays and certainly overqualified as a 4th/5th starter. 

Bowden Francis burst onto the scene at the end of last season and pitched like legitimately one of the best pitchers in all of baseball. I only am talking about him so far down the list because we need to see it proven over a full season before we can crown him as an elite starter, but if he does anything like he did as a starter last year then the Jays have found a gem. As a starer in 13 games last year Bowden Francis had a WHIP of 0.75. WHIP is my favorite indicator of pitcher efficiency, it's hard to give up big innings if you're not allowing base runners, and Bowden Francis really doesn't allow base runners. Francis doesn't have elite fastball speed or an awesome breaking ball, but he has great command and forces you to beat him rather than playing into mistakes. He's an optimistic wild card heading into this season but could quickly prove to be one of if not the best starter the Jays have. 

I need to take a moment to talk about Alek Manoah as well, coming off an injury he should figure to be the Jays 6th starter unless he really wows in spring training. Kind of a sad story for someone who was looking like the future ace of the Jays rotation, Manoah has struggled mightily with command issues that have really let innings get away from him. There's going to be an injury or two to a pitcher in this rotation for sure, there always is in an MLB season, and Manoah will get a chance to show what he's got. I really hope we see him bounce back to at least become an average starter again, the team is more fun when Alek is good.

There are some concerns about the depth behind these 6 guys for sure, but the way I see it your 7th pitcher and beyond are wild cards on basically any team in the MLB. Unless one of the top 5 guys completely falls off a cliff, that's one of the best 5 man rotations in baseball. 

Bullpen: D

Jeff Hoffman, Chad Green, Erik Swanson, Brendon Little, Yimi Garcia, Nick Sandlin, Ryan Burr, Easton Lucas, Ryan Yarbrough, Angel Bastardo, Josh Walker

This was one of the Jays biggest weaknesses last season and you can argue that it got even worse on paper this season. The thing with bullpens is, on paper doesn't mean anything. I've seen seasons where the Jays pen is expected to be terrible, then like 3 guys emerge out of nowhere and it becomes a strength of the team. I've seen years where the Jays got a bunch of established guys for the pen who all promptly found a way to stink. The bullpen in baseball is probably the biggest crapshoot in all of sports and I love it. I think it's because most players in a bullpen are guys who failed at their ultimate goal. Nobody dreams of coming into games in the 6th inning for 20 pitches, it's what you do when you're told you can't start. Because of that, a lot of these guys get late starts perfecting their craft in shorter stints which creates a lot of opportunity for breakouts. That being said, all we have right now is the Jays pen on paper and there's no way you can look at it positively for now. 

There's 3 guys fighting to be the lefty in the Jays bullpen, an asset every team seeks out for matchup purposes: Brendon Little, Easton Lucas and Josh Walker. Of the 3, Brendon Little is the only one who's been decent in his MLB chances pitching to a 3.74 ERA last season in 45 innings. The other two have been terrible in their chances so far. Going into a season without a reliable lefty out of the bullpen will be a problem for the Blue Jays and if they're in any position to compete I expect them to address it. 

Jeff Hoffman figures to be the Jays closer and if he's pitching anything like he did the last couple of seasons for the Phillies, he's a pretty good option for this high leverage spot. Hoffman recorded 10 saves with the Phillies last season and hasn't had a chance yet to be a full time closer. Some guys handle the role well and some guys really struggle with the added pressure, time will tell how Hoffman bodes. 

In between the Jays have a couple of solid options in Chad Green and Yimi Garcia who have each been reliable for the Jays in the past. The problem here is you're hoping for more reliability from 2 guys that are turning 34 this season, and if they don't provide it the Jays are utterly screwed. Erik Swanson has had great seasons in the past, last season was not one of them and he enters this year as a huge wild card. If he, Garcia and Green can all either bounce back or maintain their production, the Jays will actually have a solid 3 guys they could use in middle relief. 

Beyond this, the Jays bullpen is all question marks. Again, with a bullpen random things happen all the time. Generally the opening day bullpen looks far different from the one on game 162, so while I have them at a D for now, you really never know.