Top 5 Blue Jays Spring Training Storylines to Watch
All eyes are on the Toronto Blue Jays as they look to rebound from a horrible season in 2024. Here are five storylines to watch as spring training gets underway.
There have been a ton of eyes on the Toronto Blue Jays as of late, as they’ve finally emerged from their winter-long hibernation to – once again – screw up what should’ve been an easy entrance into the “win” column for the organization.
Of course, this is in reference to Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and the failed extension talks between player and team. It’s unclear what kind of figures were thrown around, but all we know right now is that the face of the franchise is ready to test the free-agent waters next winter as he’s left without a long-term contract in Toronto.
Don’t get it twisted, though, the Blue Jays have done some things right this offseason, even if you have to squint to find them. Sure, they failed to land any of Juan Soto, Willy Adames, Alex Bregman and Corbin Burnes, but coming away with Anthony Santander, Max Scherzer and Jeff Hoffman isn’t exactly nothing.
As spring training officially kicks off, the Blue Jays are going to remain a team worth keeping an eye on. Whether you’re looking to see how well their new-and-improved roster gels or simply waiting to see how much worse their situation can get, they’re clearly going to find a way to entertain.
Let’s check out some of the biggest storylines to keep an eye on as the Blue Jays prepare to get their spring training underway.
Top Blue Jays Spring Training Storylines to Follow
Does Vladdy’s Extension Drama Affect the On-Field Product?
There’s no bigger storyline this spring than how Guerrero and the Blue Jays treat each other after things got awkward during their extension talks. Guerrero’s already been hopping on Instagram and “liking” pictures with him jersey-swapped into a Yankees uniform, so this could very well get uglier before it gets any better.
Guerrero is one of the best pure hitters in the American League, so there’s no reason to believe his on-field performance will dip now that he isn’t locked up. Really, he’s more likely to go off this year offensively now that he’s officially entering a walk year.
Still, this is going to be an interesting situation. There’s no shot the Blue Jays entertain a trade involving Guerrero (although there’s a world where they should at least consider it…), so he’s going to spend the coming season in their uniform. There’s no denying that there will be some hard feelings between the decision-makers and Guerrero, so it’s anybody’s guess as to how this ultimately shakes out.
Added Pressure on Infielders
A few months ago, I highlighted the fact that the Blue Jays have an incredibly long list of infielders looking for playing time in 2025. At the time, there were 10 names on the 40-man roster. Since then, Spencer Horwitz and Luis De Los Santos have been sent packing, but Andres Gimenez was also brought aboard via trade.
That leaves us at nine.
Obviously, Bo Bichette and Guerrero have shortstop and first base locked up. That leaves Addison Barger, Ernie Clement, Gimenez, Leo Jimenez, Orelvis Martinez, Davis Schneider and Will Wagner vying for playing time between second and third base. It sounds like Gimenez is going to get everyday reps at second, and Clement’s got the inside track on a consistent role at the hot corner.
The pressure will be ramped up for basically all infield-capable players outside of Bichette, Gimenez, and Guerrero.
Clement, Jimenez, and Wagner all impressed in their own way last season and should have spots on the roster locked down.
Martinez is working his way back from a PED suspension that wiped out nearly his entire second half of last season. With a promising bat but no set position to play on defense, he seems ticketed for Triple-A. The same can be said for Barger, who doesn’t have an obvious route to consistent playing time, and Schneider, who impressed in 2023 but fell flat last year.
Having somewhere around seven players competing for two roster spots will be interesting for the Blue Jays. This is not a group devoid of talent, but it’s one that doesn’t have enough space on the 26-man roster to go around.
Which Version of Bo Bichette Shows Up?
Boy, this is a loaded question. History would suggest that the clear answer is “yes”, but Bichette struggled so badly last season that he’s a real wild-card heading into 2025.
The two-time All-Star hit just four home runs with 31 RBI, a .225/.277/.322 line and a ghastly .598 OPS in just 81 games this past year. He dealt with multiple freak injuries, too, that kept him out of action for nearly the entire second half of the season. In fact, he made it into just one game after July 19.
Luck played a huge role in Bichette’s performance when he was healthy last year, so it’s entirely possible that a bounce back is in his future. After all, we’re talking about a player who had never posted an OPS+ below 121 prior to last year and led the American League in hits in both 2021 and 2022.
Of course, things can’t be quite as simple as Bichette showing up in 2025 as a whole new man. Bichette, like his fellow superstar Guerrero, is a pending free agent who can’t wait to get out of Toronto. Anyone who watched the former play last year can tell you that he looked uninterested while taking the field. It’s been clear for a bit now that he’s eager to move on, so that’s another black cloud the Blue Jays’ front office will have hanging over their heads this season.
Who Gets the Backup Catcher Job?
A tip of the hat goes to Alejandro Kirk, who took the starting catcher’s gig and ran with it once the Blue Jays traded away Danny Jansen at this past year’s deadline. With Jansen continuing his trek through the AL East and signing with the Rays, any hopes of a pairing of him and Kirk behind the plate once again were dashed.
Now, the Blue Jays have Kirk and a handful of decent-but-not-great options as their catching depth. At the moment, only Tyler Heineman is on the 40-man roster, but he doesn’t bring much to the field in terms of his offensive production and he’s been merely passable on defense over the course of a five-year career.
Heineman’s spot on Toronto’s 40-man roster does give him a leg up over the competition, but the Blue Jays have gone out and signed three catchers to minor league contracts this winter, with two of them having prior experience in the big leagues.
Christian Bethancourt is an eight-year veteran with some thump in his bat and a cannon of a throwing arm, so don’t discount his chances at cracking the Opening Day roster as Kirk’s second-in-command.
Then there’s Ali Sanchez, who is well known as a defensive-minded backstop with very little bat to lean on. This mini roster battle is not going to be the sexiest, but there’s really no obvious candidate to be the Blue Jays’ backup catcher once the regular season begins.
Alan Roden’s Time to Shine
Roden, 25, has gradually been receiving more and more attention as he’s developed, and rightfully so. The former third-round pick in the 2022 MLB Draft has begun to develop more pop in his bat and he’s already got one of the strongest senses of pitch-recognition and patience at the plate in the entire system.
This past year in what was his second full season as a pro, Roden hit 16 home runs while driving in 75 RBI, going 14-for-15 in stolen base attempts and sporting nearly identical walk and strikeout percentages at 12% and 14%, respectively.
Roden is an on-base machine who continues to find more and more ways to reach base every time he comes up to bat. He’s got a ton of gap power and that home run pop that he’s been working on has been paying off. Pair this with that combined .865 OPS he posted last year and you’re looking at a real threat.
GM Ross Atkins recently singled Roden out as a player he’s got his eyes on this spring.
“He’s just done so much to put himself in a position to move through the system quickly,” Atkins said, “with the way he goes about his job, the contact rates, the shape of his offense, the fact that [he’s valuable] on both sides of the ball, his baserunning, stealing bases, he plays defense at a solid level, he’s very physical with upside, the power. He’s an exciting piece.”
Ross Atkins on Alan Roden, via MLB.com
Daulton Varsho is slated to open the season on the injured list, which will likely push Joey Loperfido into an everyday role as the club’s center fielder to start things off. Roden may not have the most obvious path to an Opening Day roster spot, but he’s already got eyes on him and there’s a lot a red-hot spring showing could do for him moving forward.
Even if he doesn’t crack the roster once all is said and done, we’re looking at a potential leadoff hitter down the line who gets on base with the best of them. Roden’s still working on getting his name out there, but having him turn into the stud he’s currently looking like will go a long way to softening the blows of a Bichette and/or Guerrero departure coming up.
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Eric Treuden (troy-din) has covered baseball for years for multiple different outlets including FanSided, Yardbarker, and Wisconsin Sports Heroics. He recently was the editor for Jays…