Nobody’s having more fun this offseason than the Toronto Blue Jays, who celebrated their first pennant in 32 years (and near-miss at winning the World Series) by rearming and getting back into the fight. Midseason acquisition Shane Bieber re-committed for pennies on the dollar, and Toronto supplemented its rotation by landing the top free agent pitcher on the market, Dylan Cease, as well as KBO breakout star Cody Ponce.
The Jays then kicked January off by reaching back into the international market to purchase third baseman Kazuma Okamoto from the Yomiuri Giants of NPB. The Jays are already up to third in projected 2026 payroll, at least for now; the Phillies and Yankees are fourth and fifth, and both of those clubs have some rounding out of the roster to do before spring training.
Except apparently the Jays might not be done either.
In the wake of signing Okamoto, Mitch Bannon of The Athletic reported that Toronto’s pursuit of Kyle Tucker is only growing in intensity. And while Okamoto’s arrival would seem to obviate the need for incumbent shortstop Bo Bichette, anything is possible.
Only, where would these guys even play? The Blue Jays’ run to the World Series was complicated by injuries to Bichette and last offseason’s big signing, Anthony Santander, which led to way more high-leverage at-bats for Myles Straw and Isiah Kiner-Falefa than manager John Schneider would’ve liked.
But even the no-Tucker, no-Bichette version of the Blue Jays lineup looks pretty well stocked.
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The Non-Tucker, Non-Bichette Blue Jays Lineup
| Projected Blue Jays Lineup vs. RHP | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | DH | George Springer | .327 | .412 | .588 | 178 |
| 2 | RF | Addison Barger | .249 | .308 | .480 | 115 |
| 3 | 1B | Vladimir Guerrero Jr. | .282 | .367 | .452 | 129 |
| 4 | LF | Anthony Santander | .185 | .277 | .329 | 70 |
| 5 | C | Alejandro Kirk | .284 | .348 | .423 | 116 |
| 6 | CF | Daulton Varsho | .232 | .274 | .591 | 129 |
| 7 | 3B | Kazuma Okamoto* | .327 | .416 | .598 | 210 |
| 8 | 2B | Ernie Clement | .254 | .295 | .327 | 75 |
| 9 | SS | Andrés Giménez | .221 | .301 | .329 | 80 |
| Order | Position | Name | AVG | OBP | SLG | wRC+ |
| 1 | DH | George Springer | .254 | .361 | .475 | 132 |
| 2 | LF | Davis Schneider | .215 | .344 | .364 | 106 |
| 3 | 1B | Vladimir Guerrero Jr. | .326 | .428 | .519 | 163 |
| 4 | C | Alejandro Kirk | .276 | .347 | .417 | 113 |
| 5 | 3B | Kazuma Okamoto* | .327 | .416 | .598 | 210 |
| 6 | 2B | Ernie Clement | .326 | .351 | .549 | 146 |
| 7 | CF | Daulton Varsho | .260 | .321 | .380 | 98 |
| 8 | RF | Anthony Santander | .146 | .255 | .188 | 32 |
| 9 | SS | Andrés Giménez | .175 | .233 | .263 | 39 |
All stats are platoon splits from 2025, except Okamoto’s, which are whole-season stats from 69 games in NPB.
Nathan Lukes, Toronto’s regular no. 2 hitter during this past postseason, is nowhere to be found. How could this team possibly find room for one or even two superstar hitters in this lineup?
One option, which Bannon mentioned, would be to trade Santander. The 31-year-old was Toronto’s big free agent signing last offseason, and I was among the many who raised an eyebrow at the time: A corner outfield bat who’d just posted a career-high season of 3.2 WAR, without any standout defensive or on-base ability, is hardly the kind of player I’d go out of my way to give a five-year contract.
Obviously, the Blue Jays were under no illusions about how he’d age, but hoped that the 40-homer power he’d just demonstrated would be valuable enough in 2025 and 2026 to make the decline palatable. Well, Santander couldn’t stay on the field, and when he was in the lineup, he hit .175/.271/.294. With penalties for positional adjustment, defense, and baserunning, that comes to -0.9 WAR. If the Blue Jays were the only team that thought he was worth $92.5 million over five seasons a year ago, I doubt anyone else thinks Santander is worth $74.5 million over four years, plus whatever it’d take to acquire him. If the Blue Jays want to move on from Santander, the question is not what they could get for him, but whether they’d be better off including prospects to entice a trade partner to take on some of the contract, or cutting their losses and eating the whole thing. At that point, you might as well hang on to the guy and see if he bounces back.
Assuming Santander returns, the Jays have high-profile veterans locked into four of the five easiest defensive positions: Springer at DH, Guerrero at first, Okamoto at third, and Santander in one of the outfield corners. Catcher isn’t really relevant to a lineup puzzle that involves Bichette or Tucker, but the Jays are set there with Alejandro Kirk.
The fun thing is this: The rest of Toronto’s returning position player group is made up of guys who are some combination of young, cheap, platoonable, and defensively versatile. In order to make the puzzle make sense, I’ve come up with a handy table.
My Handy Blue Jays Lineup Options Chart
| Player | C | 1B | 2B | 3B | SS | LF | CF | RF | DH |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Addison Barger | RHP | RHP | RHP | RHP | |||||
| Alejandro Kirk | |||||||||
| Andrés Giménez | RHP | ||||||||
| Anthony Santander | |||||||||
| Daulton Varsho | RHP | RHP | |||||||
| Davis Schneider | |||||||||
| Ernie Clement | LHP | ||||||||
| George Springer | |||||||||
| Kazuma Okamoto | |||||||||
| Nathan Lukes | |||||||||
| Vladimir Guerrero Jr. | |||||||||
| Kyle Tucker | |||||||||
| Bo Bichette |
Green: Ideal fit
Red: Suboptimal defensively
Purple: Suboptimal offensively
Blue: Not currently on the roster
Can you make these pieces fit? Absolutely, if you’re willing to get creative.
I don’t think anyone wants Bichette to line up at shortstop every day going forward, but he could play second base, with Clement and Giménez sharing the load at short depending on the opponent and situation. You could use Clement, Barger, Bichette, Santander, Schneider, Lukes, and Giménez as a five-way platoon involving three quarters of the infield and both corner outfield spots. Casey Stengel’s clawing at the inside of his coffin trying to escape so he can come back to life and manage this team.
To be clear, the Blue Jays have had a good offseason even if they don’t spend another dime. The lineup as currently constituted, together with a strong rotation, should make Toronto an early favorite to repeat as AL Champions.
But if the Blue Jays wanted to add Tucker or Bichette, they’d be able to make it work. Think of how exciting that would be, both for Toronto fans and for Undead Casey Stengel.