BALTIMORE — Well, trade deadline in the rearview mirror, assets acquired, eyes on trying to compete in 2025, the Toronto Blue Jays now have two months of consequence-free runway to sort through their new haul of players. How much of a role is Joey Loperfido, debuting with a single for his new team, ready for? What about soon-to-arrive Jonatan Clase, Jake Bloss and Will Wagner, not to mention the dudes already here? What’s it all going to look like?
At the same time, there’s also two more months of just-get-through-it games like Wednesday afternoon’s 10-4 thumping from the Baltimore Orioles. Paolo Espino covered for the traded Yusei Kikuchi and grinded through four hope-it’s-at-someone innings of four-run ball, Yerry Rodriguez served up star prospect Jackson Holliday’s first career grand slam in an all-over-the-place fifth, and there were plenty other, um, opportunities for growth let’s call it.
For the time being, the road to better times is also the road to the draft lottery and there are many ways to derive longer-term value from this trying journey.
“We’re not in the position that we would want to be as a team, as an organization right now, but there’s always a way to take some good from something,” Jays outfielder George Springer said before collecting two hits and scoring a run. “There are a lot of guys that are going to get some valuable experience and, in my eyes, there’s no substitute for that. A lot of guys are going to be better off going into next year getting that experience now, whether it’s through failure, through success or both. That will be huge for us.”
Case in point: Addison Barger, who on Monday hit his first career home run, a three-run shot off Zach Eflin, and on Wednesday added his second, a solo shot to open the third off Grayson Rodriguez, along with an RBI double and a walk.
With Loperfido and, soon, Clase joining the instant-energy Steward Berroa in the mix, reps in the outfield will be scarcer for Barger, while Wagner’s looming promotion plus Bo Bichette’s eventual return from the injured list will take away infield appearances.
Still, he’s made some recent adjustments, widening his stance to simplify his swing and put himself in better position “to launch from anywhere, anytime.”
“It’s allowing me to see the pitch longer, make better decisions,” Barger continued. “With the bigger moves I would … kind of fly open and rollover groundballs instead of staying through and in there.”
Some positive returns “give me a lot more confidence to stick with it,” he added. “Stick with the plan, through the good and the bad, believe in the work I’m doing and have confidence in it.”
Leo Jimenez, who wasn’t in the starting lineup Wednesday, is someone manager John Schneider wants to prioritize at short during Bichette’s absence. Spencer Horwitz will continue to be featured in the lineup and Davis Schneider needs to play, too, while infielder Luis De Los Santos entered the game in the eighth to make his big-league debut.
All combined, that’s a sudden influx of internal competition that didn’t exist beforehand.
“You want to see some guys play, but you also want to make sure that we’re doing things the right way,” said Schneider. “You watch George play today, you watch Vlad (Guerrero Jr., who extended his hit streak to 14 games) play today, they’re all going about it the right way. That’s first and foremost.
“Then you want to just put guys in spots where they can hopefully have some success,” Schneider continued. “Some guys, not everyone, are going to get a little bit more runway than others and you want to just see what they’re all about. Not just the swing, the throw, the pitch, whatever it is, it’s how they’re doing with the day-to-day, with the group, all that kind of stuff.”
Loperfido, who started in left but can play all three spots and handle some first base as well, is especially intriguing, a speedy left-handed hitter who has started to come into more power the past few years as he’s grown stronger and made some swing adjustments.
The 25-year-old quickly ingratiated himself in the Houston Astros clubhouse this season and the Blue Jays are eager to see how he does with some consistent playing time and if that helps eat into his 36 per cent strikeout rate.
“It’s a really great opportunity for me. Talking to the staff, I’ll have a lot of opportunities to play,” he said. “As a young player, that’s really all you can ask for. I know I’ll get my opportunities, I know I’ll make the most of them.”
The Blue Jays need some pitchers to do the same.
Bloss, currently doing a get-to-know-you assessment at the club’s pitching lab in Florida, will soon join triple-A Buffalo en route to the Blue Jays rotation. Espino covered Kikuchi’s spot in a pinch and while his innings-eating coverage will be needed over the next months, he, joining-the-team-in-New-York acquisition Ryan Yarbrough and Bowden Francis, who threw a career-best 5.2 innings in Monday’s 8-4 win, are all rotation options until Bloss arrives.
So there’s lots of sorting all the new pieces to come, even as the deadline’s passing brought, in Schneider’s words, “clarity” and an end “to thinking one thing or another,” for so many players on the roster.
“This is the group. This is the Toronto Blue Jays, the 26 guys that are going to go try to win a game every single night,” he continued. “We’re going to lean on the veteran guys that are here. We still have really good players in our clubhouse. So, establishing that is going to be key. And with the new guys coming up, really onboarding them, if you will, as to what we’re trying to do here.”
Welcome to the next stage of the Blue Jays season.
