And We're Off!

We are all set for another super fun and exciting spring training in quiet Dunedin, Flow Ride A!

 

For almost 15 years straight – thanks again, COVID – we have lived and died with any news coming out of camp that pertains to injury or general performance. It would have been really swell if the signing of lefties Amir Garrett and old friend Ryan Yarbrough on minor league deals had happened prior to pitchers and catchers formally reporting--nobody took Yarbrough, and we think it makes a whole lot of sense for him to get a bullpen job.

 

This year, we had eight willing participants step forward and answer the call. Let’s examine the ballots.

 

The following 15 names appear on all of them:

 

Chris Bassit

Jose Berrios

Bo Bichette

Ernie Clement

Bowden Francis

Kevin Gausman

Chad Green

Vlad

Jeff Hoffman

Alexander Kirk

Yariel Rodriguez

Anthony Santander

Max Scherzer

George Springer

Erik Swanson

 

The Swanson news from earlier this week is interesting, as he is a bit behind with the dreaded forearm soreness.

 

From there it does get a little murky, which is something we noted as the ballots started rolling in. In our vast experience of running this thing, that generally means that your Toronto Blue Jays do not have a strong roster and quite a few jobs are still up for grabs.

 

Team Hall of Fame

12-16

 

Addison Barger

Ryan Burr

Yimi Garcia

Tyler Heineman

Leo Jimenez

Brendon Little

Joey Loperfido

Nick Sandlin

Davis Schneider

Myles Straw

Will Wagner

 

We appreciate the support from the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame once again. Guess they were too busy being awesome, and missed the news on the trade for the platinum glove winner this offseason.

 

Team Blue Jay Hunter

17-13

 

Barger

Burr

Garcia

Andres Gimenez

Heineman

Little

Loperfido

Nathan Lukes

Sandlin

Straw

Wagner

 

Hat tip to the Godfather of Blue Jays blogs

 

Team Last Row 500’s

14-15

 

Christian Bethancourt

Burr

Gimenez

Jimenez

Little

Loperfido

Lukes

Zach Pop

Sandlin

Schneider

Wagner

 

Why take just one G/Jimenez north with the club when you can take both? No Yimi…..what do you know that we don’t know?

 

Team Jimmy Triggs

15-15

 

Barger

Garcia

Gimenez

Heineman

Little

Lukes

Tommy Nance

Sandlin

Schneider

Straw

Wagner

 

Mr. Defending Champion, Sir

11-19

 

Andrew Chafin

Garcia

Gimenez

Yasmani Grandal

Lukes

Orelvis Martinez

Nance

Alan Roden

Sandlin

Schneider

Straw

 

Yowser! Where do we begin on this one? The Champ is back to defend, and he went off the board. Start with a few free agents still out there in Chafin & Grandal, add a couple of top prospects in Martinez & Rodon, and subtract Wagner from the mix. Easily our favourite ballot of the Roster Challenge this year. Let’s see how it works out for him.

 

Team I Like Nuts

14-15

 

Garcia

Gimenez

Heineman

Little

Loparfido

Lukes

Nance

Pop

Schneider

Straw

Wagner

 

The only ballot not containing Sandlin, AKA the other guy in the trade for the platinum glove winner.

 

Team @1BJW

15-13

 

Barger

Betancourt

Burr

Garcia

Giminez

Little

Loparfido

Sandlin

Schneider

Straw

Wagner

 

Clearly the best ballot and most realistic shot at winning.

 

The Ant Farm

12-16

 

Barger

Burr

Garcia

Gimenez

Heineman

Little

Lukes

Martinez

Sandlin

Straw

Wagner

 

Big shout out to our in-house Tech Guy; none of this is possible without him.

 

We do appreciate all of you who decided to join us again. The number of entries for this challenge is dwindling faster than the number of home-grown infielders we have under contact for the 2026 season, but we’re glad to have you all. Good luck!

26 Man Roster Challenge: 2025 Edition

It’s that time of year again! The 26-Man Roster Challenge is a go for launch once again. Many thanks in advance to all of you who still take the time to play with us. We just cannot seem to give this thing up.

 

For those who don’t know, the 26-Man Roster Challenge is a super simple game that has but one requirement: Name the 26 baseball players within the Blue Jays organization who you think will crack the opening day roster.

 

Sounds easy, right? Well, it really and truly isn’t. If you decide to play, there are 4 ways to submit your ballot:

 

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(s) we post later.

4.            Twitter ballots will be accepted @1BJW

 

In the event of a tie—and, at this point, it's pretty much a given that there will be a tie—we ask that you also give us a prediction of what you think the spring training record will be for the boys in baby blue. From what we can see, it appears as though your Toronto Blue Jays will attempt to play 30 spring training games this year. Don't forget that sometimes it rains and the games are not generally made up if they are cancelled. There is also a chance that if a game goes to extra innings and one team runs out of pitchers, both teams agree that the game ends in a tie.

 

It is not a requirement that you select a tie breaker—all ballots containing 26 names on it will be considered valid—but it is a very good idea that you do include one; over the years we've had numerous stupid-close finishes and actually had to break it right down to winning percentage. We have only had three outright winners in 14 years.

 

Some things to consider:

 

Our rotation looks pretty decent all of a sudden with the addition of crazy eyes, doesn’t it? Moving the Cuban to the bullpen should help with the depth there, however there should be at least a spot or two up for grabs in low leverage.

 

Ernie Clement, Tommy Nance and Tyler Heineman are all on the 40-man roster and out of options; they need to head north with the team or risk being lost on waivers. None of those players are even remotely game breakers (sorry to all seven Clement supporters out there) and probably haven’t earned a spot based on performance, but anyone who has rosterbated with us before knows all too well that rarely is the choosing of the 26th man based on performance.

 

Varsho is banged up still and will probably stay behind in Florida to finish up his rehab/get some reps. That should open up an OF spot, but whomever it is needs to be able to play CF. We can’t let Gorgeous George anywhere near that spot ever again.

 

As always, the dreaded NRI/minor-league-deal-with-an-invite-to-spring-training needs to be mentioned and considered. Key off-season acquisition Myles Straw is on this list, as if we didn’t already have enough 4^th OF types clinging around already.

 

It’s worth noting that former champion, friend of the site and all around decent human, Jimmy Triggs, drew our attention to the official MLB roster rules. They state that there must be at least an even 13/13 split between hitters and pitchers, so you’re looking at an 8-man pen and a traditional 4-man bench.

 

If you have been keeping a list of potential roster candidates for your ballot at home—we can’t be the only ones who do this—you will know that there is a dead spot at 3B, and there are a few interesting kids that could break through there if given everyday AB’s.

 

All that being said, there are still a few impact players on the open market, primarily represented by Dick McNuts. We much preferred when The Beast just told Boras to piss off and go elsewhere rather than being “linked” “used,” followed by the predictable outcry that ensues from the spurned fan base.

 

Prizes:

Get your bobblehead on! 

Good luck to all who decide to join in on the fun this year. We are still searching for the elusive perfect ballot; it would be swell if this were the year!

 

Please include a team name and a tiebreaker. Do NOT forget the tiebreaker. The deadline to submit ballots is February 12^th @ 11:59PM EST.

 

26 Man Roster Challenge Winner Declared (finally)

We just wanted to say a few words about the 2024 edition of the 26 Man Roster Challenge. First and foremost, it was a complete and total bloodbath. Guess that's what happens when the closer, the primary set-up guy and the number one catcher all go down during camp. Every contestant picked Romano, Swanson and Jansen to make the team, and we all failed. The winning ballot had a mere 20 out of 26 players correct.

 

As had become the norm around here, the tiebreaker played a huge role in determining the winner. With a remarkable nine-way (!) tie for first place, all eyes turn to your Toronto Blue Jays spring training record:

 

13-17 .433

 

Our boy Jesse 18-11-2 .613

The Ant Farm 18-12 .600

Blue Jay Hunter 18-14 .563

Jays are my 2nd favourite team 16-14 .533

Swedish Meatballs 15-14-1 .517

Keegan Matheson 16-16 .500

Jimmy Triggs 16-16 .500

Last Row 500’s 15-16 .484

MLB Depth Charts 13-19 .406

 

Some interesting transaction notes:

 

Who the fuck is Wes Parsons? Never mind, it ain’t all that important after all.

Manoah went from being the main guy on our 2023 fridge magnet to whatever he is now, which is what, exactly? Smart money is on depth.

Pretty Mitch White grabbed a bullpen spot on the strength of his increased velo. There is just no world where he is traded for cash three weeks later, is there?

Blue Jays gonna Blue Jays and take advantage of an out they surely insisted on in the new Cuban guy’s contract. He starts in AAA for some reason.  

 

In conclusion:

 

By our calculation, the winner this time around is Team MLB Depth Charts. Congratulations,

Jason! We will be in touch shortly to arrange getting the loot to you.

 

(P.S. We wrote this post as if it were done when it should have been done, which is about a month ago.)

2024 Roster Challenge Is Live

 

We are off and running! This year’s roster challenge had 12 brave people step forward to answer the call. As usual, some interesting trends developed and are worth taking note.

First off, there are no identical ballots, which continues to be pretty wild!

 

Second, a few minor-league deals went down after camp opened, because why wouldn’t they? Old friend Danny Vogelbach is back in town and a clear upgrade over a few of the existing bench options. He could be the reason why the perfect ballot remains elusive once again this year.

 

The following 21 players appear on all lists submitted:

 

Chris Bassitt

José Berríos

Yimi García

Kevin Gausman

Chad Green

Yusei Kikuchi

Tim Mayza

Jordan Romano

Erik Swanson

Danny Jansen

Alejandro Kirk

Bo Bichette

Cavan Biggio

Santiago Espinal

Vladimir Guerrero Jr.

Isiah Kiner-Falefa

Davis Schneider

Kevin Kiermaier

George Springer

Daulton Varsho

Justin Turner

 

If anyone out of this group does not make the opening day roster, this thing will get interesting in a hurry.

 

The next group of players are found on 11 of 12 ballots.

 

Génesis Cabrera

Trevor Richards

Alek Manoah

 

The Manoah omission prompted an exchange with the ballot holder. It came down to “gotta go off script." If you have eyes on winning this challenge outright, we could not agree more.

 

The next group of players appear on less than half the ballots:

 

Nate Pearson

Spencer Horwitz

Orelvis Martinez

Nathan Lukes

Mitch White

Yariel Rodriguez

 

We absolutely love the Orelvis pick, but do not see a world where he breaks camp with the big club since we already have a dozen or so players who can play second base. Somewhat surprised that the person who the braintrust gave 30-plus million dollars to this offseason was not picked more often.

 

And finally, the long shots/dart throws/probably-not-going-to-happen guys:

 

Bowden Francis

Robbie Grossman

 

Here are the tiebreakers for all ballots submitted:

 

Our Boy Jesse 18-11-2

Last Row 500’s 15-16

Jays are my 2^nd favourite team 16-14

Winter of Discontent 15-14

MLB.com 16-16

MLB Depth Charts 13-19

@1BJW 16-15

Swedish Meatballs 15-14-1

The Ant Farm 18-12

Jimmy Triggs 16-16

I Like Nuts 14-16

Blue Jay Hunter 18-14

We wish everyone good luck, and many thanks for playing!

Click here to see all the ballots

26 Man Roster Challenge - Shitty Offseason Edition

It’s that time of year again! The 26-Man Roster Challenge is a go for launch once again. Many thanks in advance to all of you who still take the time to play with us. We just cannot seem to give this thing up.

 

For those who don’t know, the 26-Man Roster Challenge is a super simple game that has but one requirement: Name the 26 baseball players within the Blue Jays organization who will crack the opening day roster.

 

Sounds easy, right? Well, it really and truly isn’t. If you decide to play, there are 4 ways to submit your ballot:

 

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(s) we post later.

4.            Twitter ballots will be accepted @1BJW

 

In the event of a tie—and, at this point, it's pretty much a given that there will be a tie—we ask that you also give us a prediction of what you think the spring training record will be for the boys in baby blue. From what we can see, it appears as though your Toronto Blue Jays will attempt to play 32 spring training games this year. Don't forget that sometimes it rains, and the games are not generally made up if they are cancelled. There is also a chance that if a game goes to extra innings and one team runs out of pitchers, both teams agree that the game ends in a tie.

 

It is not a requirement that you select a tie breaker—all ballots containing 26 names on it will be considered valid—but it is a very good idea that you do include one; over the years we've had numerous stupid-close finishes and actually had to break it right down to winning percentage. We have only had three outright winners in 13 years.

 

Some things to consider:

 

Admittedly, this offseason has been lackluster. The brain trust seems to be convinced they can just run this thing back and hope for a different outcome. It is almost as if they flunked grade nine French last year, and the plan this time around is still to not study again. At all.

 

It does need to be said that your Toronto Blue Jays are still a pretty dangerous playoff-calibre team! We just can’t score any runs, which is not exactly the brand we’ve gotten used to seeing up here in Baseball North.

 

It’s worth noting that the reigning champion, friend of the site and all around decent human, Jimmy Triggs, drew our attention to the official MLB roster rules. It states that there must be at least an even 13/13 split between hitters and pitchers. Naturally, there are some exceptions because of that 2-million-dollar man that enjoys the odd mystery flight across the nation, but even our GM, as shifty/greasy as he is, probably can’t get around a hard cap on the number of arms in the bullpen.

 

Mitch “Pretty Boy” White, Otto Lopez and Ernie Clement are out of options and need to head north with the team or risk being lost on waivers. None of those players are even remotely game breakers and probably haven’t earned a spot based on performance. But anyone who has rosterbated with us before knows all too well that rarely is the choosing of the 26th man based on performance.

 

One exception could be Clement who in 50 at bats slashed .380/.385/.500…..which is just slightly above his career line of .231/.279/.299. Did he figure something out? Is the regression monster coming for visit to his 144wRC+? Was it the age 27 theory actually working out? Who really knows but unless he gets some reps in the OF, we sincerely doubt another utility infielder is needed on this team as it is currently constructed.

 

As always, the dreaded minor-league-deal-with-an-invite-to-spring-training needs to be mentioned and considered. It isn’t completely nuts to think one of these dudes comes in, blows the doors off the hinges and wins a job with the squad. Or is it?

 

One potential X-factor are the fine folks at Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada. They just cannot seem to get a visa in the hands of our newest Cuban import, Yariel Rodriguez. That could be an ongoing saga at the beginning of camp and, if it drags on, might effect his chances of joining the squad as the multi-inning guy.

 

If you have been keeping a list of potential roster candidates for your ballot at home—we can’t be the only ones who do this—you will know that there are not many MLB jobs on the line for this team at all.

 

Prizes:

 

V Dub signed ugly black uniform for all you idiots that think they look cool!

 

1992 Topps team card set with a Guzman rookie in there

 

A lock for your luggage that doesn't arrive at destination

 

Good luck to all who decide to join in on the fun this year. We are still searching for the elusive perfect ballot; it would be swell if this were the year!

 

Please include a team name and a tiebreaker. Do NOT forget the tiebreaker. The deadline to submit ballots is February 14th @ 11:59PM EST.