The Jays have seven outfielders on their 40 man roster. They cannot keep all seven, who would you drop? This assumes that Randall Grichuk and Lourdes Gurriel will not be dropped because of their contracts.
| Anthony Alford |  6 (8.45%) |
| Jonathan Davis | 21 (29.58%) |
| Derek Fisher | 9 (12.68%) |
| Teoscar Hernandez | 4 (5.63%) |
| Billy McKinney | 31 (43.66%) |
71 votes | 13 featured comments
The youngest of these outfielders is 25 years old. You could argue that all of them are at, or near, their peak.
I'd put Tellez in with these guys as well. Aside from Hernandez who has shown enough to hope and to be a 1 WAR player as is, the rest are very likely fourth OF or AAAA types. Jays will probably need to let go a couple of these guys.
McKinney got my vote, but both he and Davis have options left, so then it becomes a 40 man question. Should be able to trade one of them for some reliever like AA did with Snider.
The current 40 man roster is filled with players of this type. It's not just outfielders.
I'd keep Hernandez and Fisher for sure, and Alford probably. I would be inclined to keep the other outfielders over a marginal relief pitcher. But that's just me.
McKinney doesn't really do anything well so he would get my vote to be taken off. I would hold on to Alford since he is the type of lottery ticket that at least has some upside if he figures something out. Similar logic applies to Fisher. Davis if nothing else has the skill set of a useful bench outfielder, so he's not an issue. It's really McKinney that provides no type of value to the team unless you think he will hit RHP at an elite level, which is not something that is likely to happen.
Boy has Alford fallen fast. Ranked the 25th best prospect in baseball by Baseball America pre 2016, Top 100 pre-2018. Now is a release candidate. I'd hold onto him for at least one more season. Davis I don't see much in - defense, can take a walk in the minors, that's about it. Fisher is too new, Hernandez has shown enough to easily be worth a 40 man slot, McKinney is a Meh to me, but I'd be surprised if he is cut. Davis is the likely cut, followed by Alford I'd think. Davis' best possible result is 4th OF imo. The rest still have starter dreams.
McKinney has that good looking left handed cut. Meh.
He does hustle, which is what everybody should be doing.
He was walking over 14% of the time in Buffalo and striking out just over 16% of the time.
He hasn't been able to duplicate this in Toronto (5.8% vs 26.1%).
Maybe he can do that down the line, but the defense isn't good enough that I'm willing to wait on that.
He does hustle, which is what everybody should be doing.
He was walking over 14% of the time in Buffalo and striking out just over 16% of the time.
He hasn't been able to duplicate this in Toronto (5.8% vs 26.1%).
Maybe he can do that down the line, but the defense isn't good enough that I'm willing to wait on that.
The poll is missing an option for "All of the above".
I would keep them all if possible.
T Hernandez is the most accomplished offensively because he has the most ML playing time due to being acquired mid 2017. Also being healthy unlike Alford and the opportunity to play on a rebuilding team.
Alford, Davis, McKinney and Fisher are all works in progress that bring different skill sets to the game.
I like the potential of Alford the best, offense and defense, but he has the worst health. Fishers arm is too weak and so a very big obstacle IMO. May make a great 1B.
The goal is to become competitive. We might succeed. If so then our good pitchers (Pearson if he can become good) will battle the strong teams best pitchers. Sale, Paxton, Cole, Verlander etc... Both pitchers will dominate the opposition. A botched fly ball by T Hernandez or Fisher probably costs us the game. So J Davis or Alford needs to be in CF.
I forget who was pitching for Boston when S Brito caused an easy fly ball to drop in CF by running at Grichuk. We coughed up a big lead with a lot of unearned runs against Sanchez.
T Hernandez is the most accomplished offensively because he has the most ML playing time due to being acquired mid 2017. Also being healthy unlike Alford and the opportunity to play on a rebuilding team.
Alford, Davis, McKinney and Fisher are all works in progress that bring different skill sets to the game.
I like the potential of Alford the best, offense and defense, but he has the worst health. Fishers arm is too weak and so a very big obstacle IMO. May make a great 1B.
The goal is to become competitive. We might succeed. If so then our good pitchers (Pearson if he can become good) will battle the strong teams best pitchers. Sale, Paxton, Cole, Verlander etc... Both pitchers will dominate the opposition. A botched fly ball by T Hernandez or Fisher probably costs us the game. So J Davis or Alford needs to be in CF.
I forget who was pitching for Boston when S Brito caused an easy fly ball to drop in CF by running at Grichuk. We coughed up a big lead with a lot of unearned runs against Sanchez.
I voted for Davis who seems obvious to me. Would have picked McKinney as well if 2 were needed to be dropped. Davis is already losing his speed, and is a poor hitter. At his age, he is going to be declining from here, not improving. In my opinion he has virtually no chance of being a useful mlb player. I would much rather lose Davis than a potentially useful reliever like Romano, Font, Shafer, D. Jimenez, Z. Jackson or Bergen.
Font seems to have found his home. Obviously you need to protect him, and sure he's a better bet than Davis. As for some of the other guys, I don't know. I do see at least 5 pitchers on the 40 man who I wouldn't want to protect- Adam, Boshers, Stewart, Merryweather and Perez. Not keen on Derek Law either.
It's funny to see the 3 year ZIPS projections for Davis on fangraphs showing him as 1 WAR player with a wOBA of about .280. I don't think that anything he did this year at triple A and here changes that significantly- I'd probably put his wOBA for next year at .275 if he gets 450 PAs (as ZIPS projects) and .300 if he gets 200-250 PAs with the majority of them against left-handers. Used right, he'd be a pretty good complementary player on a 26 man roster. Personally, I prefer that my centerfielders can play the position well and would take the offensive risk with Davis in a platoon (which I'll happily concede) rather than the defensive risk.
I voted for Teoscar, but not because I think they should release him necessarily. I think he may be the only one on that list with any trade value at all. If that is incorrect and they can't find a taker, then I think you can make a decent case for releasing any of them.
Ultimately the decision to keep, say, Davis over Fisher or vice versa, might be based in part on what they plan to do with the 26th man next year.
Ultimately the decision to keep, say, Davis over Fisher or vice versa, might be based in part on what they plan to do with the 26th man next year.
McKinney, Davis and Teoscar all have options next year, and with a probable 5-man outfield, I don't see why we don't keep all seven.
That means running with a 5 outfielder with presumably Teoscar, Alford and Fisher joining Gurriel and Grichuk.
I don't have any problem with that, and as others have noted, there's plenty of dead wood on the 40-man elsewhere.
Smoak and Buchholz are free agents; Travis is going to be non-tendered; Maile might be too, but we would have to pick up a 3rd catcher anyway, so there's no additional 40-man flexibility there. Giles is a possible trade candidate.
Stewart, Boshers and Adam are easy cuts from the pitchers. Other cuts that seem better before getting to Jonathan Davis are Urena from the infielders, and Yennsy Diaz, Romano and Pannone from the pitchers.
Even that leaves the 40-man littered with mediocre relievers (Mayza, Law, Gaviglio, Shafer, Tepera) and marginal starting candidates (Waguespack, Merryweather, Zeuch).
I'm not sure who exactly needs to be added to the 40-man to protect them from the Rule 5 this winter, but a quick glance doesn't suggest there's a tonne of must-add names there.
Short version: there's plenty of flexibility for the Jays to keep the existing outfielders on the 40-man over the offseason, add Rule 5 guys, and make FA acquisitions.
That means running with a 5 outfielder with presumably Teoscar, Alford and Fisher joining Gurriel and Grichuk.
I don't have any problem with that, and as others have noted, there's plenty of dead wood on the 40-man elsewhere.
Smoak and Buchholz are free agents; Travis is going to be non-tendered; Maile might be too, but we would have to pick up a 3rd catcher anyway, so there's no additional 40-man flexibility there. Giles is a possible trade candidate.
Stewart, Boshers and Adam are easy cuts from the pitchers. Other cuts that seem better before getting to Jonathan Davis are Urena from the infielders, and Yennsy Diaz, Romano and Pannone from the pitchers.
Even that leaves the 40-man littered with mediocre relievers (Mayza, Law, Gaviglio, Shafer, Tepera) and marginal starting candidates (Waguespack, Merryweather, Zeuch).
I'm not sure who exactly needs to be added to the 40-man to protect them from the Rule 5 this winter, but a quick glance doesn't suggest there's a tonne of must-add names there.
Short version: there's plenty of flexibility for the Jays to keep the existing outfielders on the 40-man over the offseason, add Rule 5 guys, and make FA acquisitions.