The Birds of the North: Toronto Blue Jays 2020 Preview

Written by Murray Brown

After a season that was mainly focused around the youth movement, which in big part lead to a poor 67-95 record that had the team finish fourth in arguably the toughest division in all of baseball. With some departures, and some key under the radar additions, the Jays are looking like they are in it to contend this year.

Last year the Blue Jays had an astonishing 21 different pitchers start a game for them. Injuries, and then once the trade deadline came around with Marcus Stroman, and Aaron Sanchez being traded away, the holes in the rotation got even bigger. If the Jays get bit of luck this year, and can avoid being plagued by injuries, they could have a sneaky middle of the pack rotation this year after having the 21st ranked starting rotation last season. As of today the rotation candidates include:

Hyun Jin-Ryu

Tanner Roark

Matt Shoemaker

Trent Thornton.

Chase Anderson

Ryan Borucki

Shun Yamaguchi (could split time in between the rotation and bullpen)

Nate Pearson (once called up)

Chase Anderson

Now of those names only Ryu, Roark, Shoemaker, and Thornton appear to be locks for the rotation so that 5th spot is up for grabs between newly acquired Chase Anderson and Ryan Borucki who had a lost season last year after battling with injuries. The rotation could also get mixed up with top prospect Nate Pearson waiting in the shadows. September call ups would allow for some other young arms to get some starts in depending on where the jays are at in the standings come September.

The bullpen, that last year was just as big of a question mark, believe it or not is an even bigger question mark this season. Apart from closer Ken Giles, and newly signed Shun Yamaguchi, nobody has a guaranteed spot. Some of the names you could see this season include:

Anthony Bass

Rafael Dolis

Sam Gaviglio (Long relief/fill in starter)

Wilmer Font (Long relief/fill in starter if needed)

Sean Reid-Foley (Fill in starter if needed)

Brian Moran

Ty Tice

Of those players, the few I could see being under the radar names would be Brian Moran, and Ty Tice. Mainly because they are the only lefties of the bunch, and with Tim Mayza out for the season with a torn UCL they would need the lefty arms for match up purposes.

Last year the Blue Jays handed over the starting catcher job to Danny Jansen after he had a solid September as a end of season call up in 2018, and had a rather disappointing season looking at his .207/.279/.360 slash line. But looking at his .314 xWOBA from 2019 its fair to expect he’ll have a bounce back year. The backup spot is a tough one as nobody knows what the jays are thinking since they brought in former Orioles catcher Caleb Joseph, they may possibly have Joseph backup Jansen, and allow Reese Mcguire get in the extra playing time down in AAA.

Now this is the part where things get simple. Vladimir Guerrero Jr will be starting at 3B, Bo Bichette will be the starting Shortstop and Cavan Biggio will be a lock at 2B. Travis Shaw and Rowdy Tellez will split at bats over at 1B, with Tellez most likely getting the leg up on starts vs a lefty as he had a slugging percentage of .513 last season compared to Shaw’s career .396 slugging percentage against lefties. The Shaw signing may not look great, but he is a massive bounce back candidate after his down season last year where he openly admitted he tried to change his swing which ended up derailing his season. While being able to play 1B with the rumors of Vladdy possible being move to 1B, Shaw has actually played third for a good portion of his career and would have no issue moving across the diamond.

The Outfield situation although it isn’t a complete cluster bomb of a situation like the bullpen, it isn’t necessarily the greatest. The outfield with rosters possibly expanding once the season comes back, the Jays could opt to go with 2 outfielders on the bench. Lourdes Gurriel Jr, Teoscar Hernandez, and Randal Grichuk for the time being regarded as locks into starting positions. But if they have some options with backups as they have Derek Fisher, Billy Mckinney, Anthony Alford, and Jonathan Davis to choose from. I wouldn’t be all to surprised to see Fisher, and Alford being the two who get the opportunity first, as Jonathan Davis has struggled in his short time in the major leagues, and Mckinney just being the odd man out. Alford was having a good spring prior to things being shut down, and Derek Fisher still having top prospect pedigree coming over from Houston in the Aaron Sanchez/Joe Biagini trade.

Lastly for the bench, and DH roles, the DH will mainly be whoever needs a rest, thats who will be slotted in, or for match up purposes mainly. Like I touched on earlier the bench could get confusing with expanded rosters coming. The Jays signed Joe Panik, and Ruben Tejada in the off season and those two look to be locked in for utility roles along with Brandon Drury who is still hoping to get things clicking.