ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — After 13 games in 13 days, the Blue Jays have a day off at home to regroup from a frustrating sweep at Tropicana Field.
As manager John Schneider says, there are no bad off days during a 162-game season, but a difficult decision looms over this one as Addison Barger’s expected return from the injured list Friday will require a corresponding demotion.
Barger will mostly be used as an outfielder once he returns, putting the spotlight on Davis Schneider and Yohendrick Piñango as the Blue Jays contemplate a necessary counter-move.
“We’re looking at what everyone’s doing, looking at how we’re going to use everyone,” John Schneider said. “It’ll be tough for sure.”
Despite his .558 OPS, Schneider’s just a year removed from hitting 11 home runs with a .361 on-base percentage. The power and patience that brought about that production are still there, even if he hasn’t hit much this year. Plus, as a right-handed hitter, he complements left-handed bats like Barger and Jesus Sanchez nicely.
Yet the left-handed Piñango has been one of the Blue Jays’ best hitters since joining the big-league team in late April, hitting .400 with an .833 OPS over the last week and a half. Removing him from the roster seems counter-intuitive for a team starved for offence, yet keeping him would mean rostering four left-handed-hitting outfielders at once — not exactly how you’d draw it up.
While holding onto both would be ideal, doing so would require removing someone like Lenyn Sosa from the roster mere weeks after acquiring him. With a .585 OPS this season, Sosa’s off to a slow start, too, but unlike Schneider and Piñango, he’s out of options, meaning he can’t be sent freely to the minor leagues.
By Friday afternoon, the Blue Jays need to make a decision here. Option Schneider, and their outfield gets extremely left-handed. Option Piñango, and they lose one of their best hitters. Cut anyone else, and they lose important organizational depth.
While they haven’t tipped their hand yet, the path they choose will be telling regarding what they’re prioritizing most.
The start to the season has been deliberate for Shane Bieber, who has been working behind the scenes at the Blue Jays’ player development centre in Dunedin, Fla., as he builds his way back from right elbow Inflammation.
While he’d rather be pitching in big-league games, the process of building back gradually is nothing new for the 30-year-old, who spent much of the 2024 and 2025 seasons recovering from Tommy John surgery.
“Unfortunately it feels kind of familiar, right?” he told Sportsnet at Tropicana Field this week. “It feels like this time last year, and so that’s a blessing and a curse, I guess. You know, I’m not freaking out by any means, but I’m chomping at the same time, because I know I want to contribute as much as I can, as good as I can, but I’ve got to hit every step along the way and get closer and closer.”
That journey led Bieber to the Trop, where he threw a two-up bullpen session in front of Schneider and others Wednesday. The manager was impressed by the right-hander’s stuff and command and anticipates Bieber will be facing hitters by the middle of May.
If all goes well, that would lead to a minor-league rehab assignment that could last up to 30 days. In the meantime, Bieber’s keeping the big picture in mind and focusing on his daily work.
“You’ve just got to trust yourself, trust your program, trust everybody around you, and that’s what I’ve been doing,” he said. “I’ve been feeling good for quite a while, but I’m reminding myself that even though it feels like it’s been a long time, it’s only been 35 games or whatever it’s been, so there’s a long way to go on how we got a long runway to be able to contribute.”
The day before Vladimir Guerrero Jr. got a day off to reset mentally and physically, he connected for an RBI single in the top of the third inning on Monday. Facing Rays starter Nick Martinez with a 2-2 count, he reached out over the plate with an off-balance swing and hit a single to left that drove in Piñango.
The result was undeniably good. As for the process? Schneider liked the contact-first approach with a runner in scoring position and two strikes. But in a different situation — bases empty or 0-0 count, for example — he’d ideally like to see big swings from his slugger, who has now gone eight games without recording an extra-base hit.
“It looked like his dad a little bit on that swing,” the manager said, referencing Guerrero Jr.’s free-swinging Hall of Fame father. “I mean, an RBI situation is a little bit different. He’s one of the few hitters where you can zone up a little bit. Teams are going to pitch you pretty carefully, so keep taking your A-swing. Two strikes is a little bit different, runner in scoring position a little bit different, but when you’re starting or in the middle of your bat, you can still kind of just zone in where you want to get it. And if you don’t get it, you pass the baton.”
One way or another, the Blue Jays need more offence after scoring just four runs in three games against the Rays.