The Blue Jays need to cut their roster from 30 to 28 players today. Who will be the odd men out?

The 2020 season is two weeks old, so it’s already time for teams to trim their active rosters from 30 players down to 28 players.

Originally, the plan was for teams to get two weeks with a 30-man roster and then another two weeks with a 28-man roster before getting down to the normal 26-man roster, but it was decided that teams would be allowed to carry 28 players for the entirety of the season.

So, from a Blue Jays perspective, the team needs to send a couple of players down to the Alternate Training Site and they’ll also have to make room on the active roster for Chase Anderson, who was apparently set to be activated at some point during the series in Atlanta.

We’ll start off with some names that obviously aren’t going anywhere. The entire starting rotation of Hyun Jin Ryu, Matt Shoemaker, Nate Pearson, Trent Thornton, and Tanner Roark will remain intact, and position players like Vlad Jr., Bo Bichette, Cavan Biggio, Lourdes Gurriel, Danny Jansen, Randal Grichuk, Teoscar Hernandez, Travis Shaw, Reese McGuire aren’t going to be sent down.

Given the way pitchers are dropping like mad due to injury this season, there’s a huge risk associated with putting any arm through waivers, so don’t expect any pitcher without options to be sent down. That means we won’t be seeing A.J. Cole, Wilmer Font, or Anthony Bass sent down. Also, given their key roles in the team’s ‘pen, it’s safe to assume Jordan Romano and Rafael Dolis won’t be going anywhere either.

Shun Yamaguchi could also be considered for a demotion, but he would have to agree to an optional assignment and the team is on the hook for his $6.35 million price tag. Finally, there’s Anthony Alford and Joe Panik, another couple of players who the Blue Jays would have a difficult time sneaking through waivers right now.

That would leave Brandon Drury, Rowdy Tellez, Santiago Espinal, Billy McKinney, Thomas Hatch, Anthony Kay, Ryan Borucki, and Jacob Waguespack as candidates to go down given the fact they have options.

Billy McKinney is a pretty obvious one to go given the fact he’s already bounced up and down a few times without appearing in a game. The more interesting decision will come when Derek Fisher returns from the 10-day Injured List. At that point, the team might be forced to make a decision on Anthony Alford.

Santiago Espinal seems like the next choice to go down. He originally cracked the roster because Brandon Drury was on the Injured List, but since Drury returned, Espinal hasn’t been seeing as much playing time. Espinal is the best backup shortstop option if Bo Bichette isn’t able to play, but Drury isn’t a slouch defensively either. He also has 48 innings of experience playing short in his big-league career.

There’s also Joe Panik, who’s been used on the left side of the infield despite being best known as a second baseman. Again, Panik doesn’t have options, so he would have to clear waivers to go down. It’s really hard to imagine the Jays taking that risk in losing a depth veteran at this point.

One more position player left to mention is Rowdy Tellez, who’s off to an ugly start at the plate with four hits through his first 25 plate appearances. Still, Tellez is one of two power bats (along with Travis Shaw) in Toronto’s lineup, so sending him down would be pretty surprising.

And, finally, we have the pitchers. Chase Anderson will likely join the bullpen in a long-man, middle-inning role, unless Charlie Montoyo decides to operate with a six-man rotation. Regardless, a pitcher is going to have to go down.

Thomas Hatch has been excellent for the Jays pitching multiple innings out of the ‘pen this year, so it’s hard to imagine he’s going anywhere. Anthony Kay and Ryan Borucki have also been great, and they have the added benefit of being Toronto’s only lefty relievers on the roster right now.

That leaves Jacob Waguespack, who has been perfectly solid through three outings, as the odd man out. My guess is that Waguespack will end up on the Taxi Squad while Anderson fills into his role as a righty who can pitch in middle relief.

We’ll see by noon ET time today who ends up getting sent down.