Late Tuesday afternoon,  manager John Schneider revealed that several Blue Jays were going to miss significant time due to injuries for the 2026 season.

Of those, it was announced that Anthony Santander is going to miss 5-6 months as he is set to undergo left labral surgery on Wednesday morning. Santander, 31, is entering year two of a five-year, $92.5 million contract he signed with Toronto last January, and so far, he has only made 54 regular-season appearances for the club, hitting .175 with six home runs and 18 RBIs with a handful of postseason at-bats before finishing the year on the IL again.

With Santander out till at the very earliest August, that leaves a lot to be desired in the offensive department.

Losing a guy who had 44 home runs two years ago is a huge blow, and leaves many to believe what the team do to recover?

Per Sportsnet’s Ben Nicholson-Smith, the team is not heavily engaged in outfielder replacements, which makes sense given the likes of Myles Straw, Nathan Lukes, Addison Barger, Jonatan Clase, and Joey Loperfido filling out the depth charts. The team also has players like Davis Schneider and George Springer, who can also pick up the pace in the outfield if need be. As well, prospects R.J. Schreck and Yohendrick Pinango can step up and earn some big league playing time with strong performances this spring and in Buffalo.

The team is now losing a guy who was projected to at least hit 30 home runs and 80+ RBIs, and factoring in losing Bo Bichette’s production, who can pick up the pieces?

Addison Bargers’ 2025 breakout season was absolutely a breath of fresh air. To have someone explode the way he did in 2025 at the best possible time gave the Blue Jays another key piece to build off of in their batting lineup.

On the Jays’ last season, Barger finished third in home runs, as well as fourth in doubles and RBIs. In the postseason, he was third on the team in batting average, batting .367 with three home runs and nine RBIs.

The issue with Barger is more his consistency. He was a very streaky hitter in 2025, as after a hot .261 average in the first half, he only batted .223 in the second half. He was a much more comfortable hitter at Rogers Centre last season as he hit .256 at home vs. .232 on the road. As well, only hitting .217 vs. left-handed hitting saw his production plateau, which is a bit concerning considering opponents like Garrett Crochet, Max Fried, and Carlos Rodon fill the AL East.

While he did show some progress in the postseason for hitting off lefties, the Blue Jays need Barger to avoid a slow start out of the gate to truly break out in the big leagues and add some much-needed power with Santander now on the sidelines.

The Blue Jays’ biggest offseason addition on the position player front has some big shoes to fill.

Okamoto is likely going to be the name everyone looks at when comparing to the recently departed Bo Bichette. At 29, he is looking to make the jump to North America after a very impressive 11 seasons in Japan. Okamoto brings power in a big way as he’s able to pull the ball and deposit mistake pitches into the outfield seats. He absolutely crushes fastballs, and his plate discipline can provide the key to driving in more runners in scoring position, which the Blue Jays ranked the best in 2025.

The World Baseball Classic is going to be a good overview of what to expect from Okamoto, who is going to showcase how good his power is for Japan this winter. With an OPS of 1.014 (second in the league behind Munetaka Murakami), it just goes to show the Blue Jays got a player who can pick up and provide offence where Bichette and Santander left off.

2025 was a mixed bag for Daulton Varsho.

On one hand, he only played 71 games all season due to injuries. On the other hand, he saw a surge in his power numbers, collecting 20 home runs and 55 RBIs in that span, with a career-best .833 OPS. With a full season of Varsho on the horizon and also a contract year waiting in the wings, you best believe that the everyday centre fielder wants more pop in his bat.

Unlike Barger, Varsho had the reverse effect of a dominant second half of hitting 12 of his 20 home runs while slashing .256/310/551 with an .861 OPS. This is also factoring in the team missed Varsho for all of July with a calf strain. While his glove may be his best overall quality, he is someone the team is going to want to look to as a huge piece to up his pace in 2026.

Baseball reference has him slated to hit 17 home runs, 51 RBI and only hit .226 on the season, but seeing as how hitting coach David Popkins did great with working with George Springer during the spring last year, perhaps we can see him give Varsho a bit more of that extra work to fully unlock his back and carry the momentum towards March.

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