The 25 Man Roster Challenge Is Back Once Again!

This spring, pitchers and catchers’ first workout to be held on Feb. 23 & the first full team workout will take place on Feb. 27
— Blue Jays-Official (@BlueJays) November 21, 2014

It's just about that time of year when we all start to think about what the Opening Day lineup for your Toronto Blue Jays will look like. Well, it should be that time of year. No matter. The 6th (!) annual 25 Man Roster Challenge is a go once again. It's ridiculously easy to play and you can win cool Blue Jays stuff.

If you do decide to play, you have 3 options on how to get your ballot in: 

1: Send us an email: 1bluejaysway(at)gmail.com

2: Make a post on your blog, if you have one and send us a link

3: Add your ballot to the comments section of this post or the reminder post(s) we will do

All ballots should have a team name and a tiebreaker. 

In the event of a tie, and it's pretty much a given at this point there will be a tie, we ask that you also give us a prediction on what you think the spring training record will be. From what we can see, it appears as though the boys of summer will attempt to play 32 spring training games this year. That total includes the 2 exhibition games against the Reds in the Big O, but not the split-squad game against the Canadian Junior National Team on March 15th. 

Try not to forget that sometimes it rains in Florida-we are too cheap to get a dome down there and the games don`t generally get made up. There is also a chance that if one of those games goes to extra innings and one team runs out of pitchers, both teams agree to say "Fuck it, let's go play some golf" and the game ends in tie.

It is not a requirement that you select a tie breaker, and all ballots containing 25 names will be considered valid, but it is a really good idea that you choose one. Two years ago we had a stupid close finish and we actually had to break it right down to winning percentage.

It should be noted that no one has ever gone 25 for 25 in all the years we have been running this challenge; it would be really swell if that streak was broken.

Some Things To Consider:

Your Toronto Blue Jays currently have 10 players who are out of options on the 40-man roster and would therefore have to make the team or be sent through waivers before they could be demoted to the Minor Leagues. A few of these players are not in jeopardy at all, but there will be some spring training battles to keep your eyes on here for sure.

RHP Kyle Drabek 
RHP Liam Hendriks 
RHP Todd Redmond 
LHP Scott Barnes 
1B Justin Smoak 
INF Steve Tolleson 
INF Danny Valencia 

Josh Donaldson, Brett Cecil and R.A. Dickey are also out of options. These players should be on all ballots unless you think there is a chance they get injured during camp. Note to the training staff, keep Cecil away from the damn blender, please.

For a very detailed look on the out-of-option situation, check out this article.

The starting rotation looks far from settled after Dickey, Marcus Stroman, Mark Buehrle, Drew Hutchison take their turns. Between Aaron Sanchez, newcomer Marco Estrada and top prospect Daniel Norris, any one of them could emerge and grab that spot. The trickle down effect of who gets that job has some implications for the bullpen too.

Regarding the bullpen: Realistically, this is the most likely area where the winning ballot will distinguish itself from the others. We don't have a closer, unless you've had the idea that it will be Sanchez's role on the team rammed down your throat by the MSM long enough that you actually believe it. Drabek is an interesting name to think about here as well. Does the braintrust pull a Jeremy Jeffress (he's good enough. Oh, no, wait a minute, let's send him down a week into the season) type deal on us here?

And how about the clusterfuck behind the plate? No chance the team can break camp with three catchers while trying to convince us that "We're going to take the best team North." Dioner Navarro doesn't have a role on this team, especially if the plan is to get EE lots of DH at bats while rolling the dice with bounce-back candidate Justin Smoak at 1B. If Navarro is dealt, what, if any, MLB-ready return does he bring back?

The second base situation has long been a soft spot in this lineup and it appears as though that trend will continue, at least in the short term, until recently acquired Devon Travis lays claim to the spot. This should be the wide open race in camp. There is a chance that some passed-over free agent is looking for a minor league contract after spring training opens and comes in to win the job.

As always, there are a few intriguing names on the spring training invite list that could factor in on your ballot. Click here for that.

At the end of the day, to be the champion all you have to do is put forth a ballot with 25 names on it. Who wins what job is irrelevant in this game, but it can't be played without taking it into consideration.

Prizes:

The winner of this year's roster challenge will receive a Upper Deck Cecil Fielder baseball card, an autographed Rawlings baseball signed by former Blue Jay greats Brandon League/Gregg Zaun, AND a vote Jose button.

All prizes are yours to keep if you are proven to be victorious.

Behold!

The field in last year's edition of The 25 Man Roster Challenge was jam-packed with all-star calibre participants. We were able to get ballots from the president of the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame, the MLB beat writer for the Blue Jays, a finalist from the MLB Fan Cave, the beat writer for the biggest newspaper in the country and a writer who is in the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, just to name a few.

The deadline for ballots will be February 22nd at midnight. Late ballots will not be considered.

We wish you all good luck.