The Toronto Blue Jays have five games on the Spring Training docket before Opening Day rolls around, and the team still has some question marks when it comes to the roster.

The Jays are dealing with some injuries – Yimi Garcia, Shane Bieber, Bowden Francis, and Anthony Santander won’t be ready to go for Opening Day – and both Francis and Santander will be out for a good chunk (if not all) of the regular season. With these injuries and with some open spots in both the bullpen and the bench, there are a few players who are going to use this last week as an audition of sorts to try and land on the Opening Day roster.

There’s no guarantee any of these players will last the season on the Jays – Richard Lovelady and Jacob Barnes from last season being good examples – but making the team to start the season beats having to either find a new home or heading to Triple-A. Here are four players sitting on the roster bubble.

Right-hander Spencer Miles was the Jays’ Rule 5 Draft pick this past winter, and the reliever is looking to make an astronomical jump.

Injuries have limited the Giants’ reliever to just 14 2/3 innings since being drafted in 2022, and he’s never appeared over Single-A baseball. The Jays still selected him because they fancied his stuff on the mound and his strikeout capabilities in the small sample size (13.5 K/9), and he’s getting a shot to break camp.

Through five relief outings, he’s allowed eight hits and three earned runs with five walks across 6 2/3 innings. The walks and hits are a bit more elevated than what the Jays likely want to see, but those are the lumps you take for the raw talent, as well as his strikeouts (nine so far this spring).

Considering the Jays have to keep Miles on the roster all season long as part of the Rule 5 Draft process and with another R5 candidate in camp (see below), the Missouri product might be on the outside looking in. He will likely be heading back to the San Francisco farm system in the near future.

Angel Bastardo is in the same boat as Miles, but with a slight caveat. While Bastardo was also an R5 selection, because he was taken during the 2024/2025 offseason and spent all last year on the IL, the Jays are only required to keep him on the roster for 90 days versus a full season. That does provide some advantages if the Jays are thinking long term with the 23-year-old, but at the same time, the Venezuelan product is doing a solid job in trying to earn a spot on the Opening Day roster.

Through five outings, the right-hander has allowed just four hits and two earned runs through 5 2/3 innings. He is also experiencing some issues with the walks (five) similar to Miles, but he’s been able to keep the opposing bats off balance and generate weak contact. He has yet to allow an extra base hit this spring and has six groundball double plays to his benefit, so while the strikeouts (two) lack compared to someone like Miles, he’s been effective in different ways.

The man who is out of options.

Tommy Nance and Connor Seabold are the two relievers who are out of options heading into the new campaign, although Nance is on the 40-man roster compared to his right-handed counterpart.

Nance has been with the Jays since they picked him up in early August of 2024 from the San Diego Padres. While he was fine down the stretch to round out the season, he really made a mark in 2025 when he was brought up from the minor leagues in mid-July, tossing a stellar 1.99 ERA and a 1.87 FIP through 31 2/3 innings. He dropped his walk rate, saw an uptick in his K/9 to 9.1, and didn’t allow a single longball to finish out the season.

His spring training numbers have not fared as well, as the right-hander has struggled to keep opposing bats from reaching base. Across 5 1/3 innings, he’s allowed eight hits and four earned runs with three walks and six strikeouts also on record.

While these stats are eerily similar to his 2025 spring with Toronto, the drawback is that he will be DFA’d if he doesn’t make the 2026 squad and could be picked up on waivers. Nance was DFA’d last spring and passed through without being claimed, so there is a chance lightning could strike twice, but the Jays likely won’t get lucky a second time around. Does John Schneider bank on Nance finding his 2025 form? Or does the team risk sending him to Triple-A in hopes he squeaks through?

Cuban product Yariel Rodriguez is fighting for a spot in the Jays’ bullpen this spring. After signing a multi-year deal with the Jays two winters ago, an up-and-down 2025 season saw the front office designate him for assignment and essentially put the onus back on him to find his mojo again.

His 2025 season wasn’t too bad as an overall picture (3.08 ERA and a 4.40 FIP through 73 innings), but he really struggled in August and found himself off the World Series roster after getting beaten around by the Seattle Mariners. Fast forward to today, and Rodriguez is in a unique spot with just a few games remaining.

He made just two appearances this spring before departing for the World Baseball Classic, allowing seven hits, seven earned runs, and three walks across 1 2/3 innings. With Team Cuba, he found some success again in the form of six innings with just one earned run allowed off four hits while leading the team in strikeouts (10) and not allowing a free pass.

Rodriguez will likely get a couple of chances to throw in front of the Jays coaches as the spring comes to a close, and it could be make or break for the right-hander when it comes to his Opening Day spot. There’s no guarantee he’s pencilled into the bullpen at this time.

One of the first moves the Jays made this winter was acquiring right-hander Chase Lee from the Detroit Tigers, sending left-handed pitching prospect Johan Simon the other way.

A sixth-round draft pick of the Texas Rangers in 2021, Lee rode the options bus for the Tigers last season in his debut year, posting a 4.10 ERA across 37 1/3 innings. He doesn’t overpower you with his sinker or fastball, sitting in the high 8os, but generates flyballs to get opponents out. He also mixes in a sweeper, which was hit around last season and produced a -9 pitching run value, but he’s finding better results this spring.

Through five outings with Toronto, he has allowed just one hit and two walks without a run coming across through 4 2/3 innings. Lee has held opponents to a .071 average while striking out four with a 0.64 WHIP, finding a strong groove this spring with the Jays.

With Yimi Garcia likely starting the season on the sidelines, Lee could easily slot into the bullpen to start the year. So far, he’s earned his spot, barring a couple of blowups to finish the next week.

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