Future Blue Jays Newsletter

The baseball season may be over (and not necessarily in a manner which was satisfactory to Blue Jays fans), but the Hot Stove season is crackling away.

Tomorrow (Tuesday, Novebmer 18th) at 6 pm is the deadline for MLB teams to set and lock their 40-man rosters in advance of next month’s Rule 5 draft, the yard sale of marginal prospects clubs hope to uncover a gem in.

The Blue Jays roster is currently at 37 players. While they don’t face a 40-man crunch this season, there are some interesting decisions looming.

Baseball America kicked things off last month by predicting reliever Yondrei Rojas might be added to the 40, citing his intriguing “under-the-hood” data:

Rojas dominated at Vancouver and then New Hampshire this season. Regular readers will recall that Blue Jays MiLB Pitching Development Director Justin Lehr specifically mentioned him as a breakout guy this past season when I talked to him in early September. But after posting a sparkling 1.43 ERA in 30 relief outings this season, Rojas got absolutely tonged by the advanced hitters and pitcher-unfriendly Arizona Fall League to the tune of a 30.85 ERA in only 4 outings. That performance undoubtedly took him off a lot of teams’ radars.

Over at MLB Pipeline, they suggest OF Victor Arias may merit some 40-man consideration for the Blue Jays, but in truth, while he’s one of the best overall athletes in the system, it’s hard to see a big league team stashing him away on their MLB roster for a season. Arias is a ballhawk who added an average of 8 mph to his OF throws this season, but his swing is long, and pitchers at AA exploited it when he was promoted to New Hampshire. Despite his NFL Free Safety-like speed and acceleration, he hasn’t learned the nuances of reading pitchers and stealing bases yet. Arias is likely too far away for even the most bottom feeding of expected cellar dwellers next season. It might be a gamble to leave him off the 40, but it’s not a huge one.

A year ago, SS Josh Kasevich was looking like a possible 40-man roster addition this time around. He had reached AAA in August, and had shed at least some of his glove-first label by slashing .325/.382/.433 with Buffalo, and posting some impressive exit velos to go along with his contact-oriented approach. With Bo Bichette’s impending free agency a year away, Kasevich looked like some reasonable insurance for the postion. But two things happened along the way to drop his stock. The first was a recurrence of a back injury that required surgery at the end of spring training (a hand injury suffered in an infield collision during a rehab stint with Dunedin didn’t help). The second was the emergence of Andres Gimenez as a bonafide everyday SS when Bichette went down with a knee injury in September. Kasevich just was never able to get back on track after the injuries, hitting just .173 in 29 games with Buffalo when he came back in August. Sent to the Arizona Fall League to make up for missing reps, Kasevich hit a modest .255, but none of his 14 hits were for extra bases.

C Edward Duran is eligible for the R5 for the first time. He had a breakout season with Dunedin, but like many players struggled with pitching at the next level (Vancouver). I still see him as the Catcher of the Future, but he’s too far away.

Pitching is where the Blue Jays toughest decisions lie. Starter Ricky Tiedemann and relievers Connor Cooke and TJ Brock are all first-time eligible, and there’s a chance the Blue Jays may lose at least one of that trio. Tiedemann is the farthest along on his Tommy John rehab (despite some setbacks); Cooke and Brock should be ready for spring training. Tiedemann has been injury plagued for much of the past two years, and while he should be well ready by the New Year, placing him on the 40 may only be a slightly less riskier proposition than leaving him off of it. Certainly, if Ross Atkins was to call me tomorrow morning (he does have my number, after all), I would recommend protecting all three, but if push came down to shove, Tiedemann would be the top candidate. He’s still going to need more seasoning, but as a starter his upside is the biggest.

OF Yohendrick Pinango had one of the best seasons of any Blue Jays MiLB hitters, but his limited defensive profile and struggles against AAA pitching took him off the market.

Some other interesting 40-man tidbits which may or may not factor into today and tomorrow’s roster decisions:

-SS Leo Jimenez and OF Jonatan Clase are out of options.

-LHP Adam Macko has one year of options left. A knee injury and a rough return to Buffalo made him something of a forgotten man this year, but when he was moved to a bullpen role in August, he was much more consistent. I watched him at Sahlen Field during a 4-inning (1 hit, 0 runs,) relief appearance, and he just looked like a different pitcher. The way he mowed down hitters had me looking at the scoreboard to make sure it was Macko.

-RHP Angel Bastardo, taken from the Red Sox in last year’s R5, missed all of 2025 recovering from Tommy John, was activated earlier this month, and must stay on the Jays MLB roster for 90 days next season, or be offered back to the Red Sox.