Now that we know what the Blue Jays’ roster will look like on Opening Day, the lineup is starting to come together a little more clearly. Chances are manager John Schneider will do plenty of mixing and matching with his versatile roster, and we now know the pieces that he’ll be working with at least.

The biggest revelation of Sunday’s announcements, at least for me, was the inclusion of Alan Roden’s name on the list to head north with the team. Roden will be making his MLB debut when Opening Day comes around, and it’s expected that he’ll see the majority of playing time in one of the outfield corners, and possibly an occasional look in centre field as well. The 25-year-old has earned the opportunity based on how he’s performed over the last few years he’s spent in the minor leagues, but also with the way he swung the bat during Grapefruit League action.

His inclusion on the roster does have some interesting trickle-down effects, though.

With Roden playing in one of the outfield corners, that means we’ll likely see a job share between George Springer and Anthony Santander to cover the other corner and also the DH spot in the lineup. If Roden didn’t make the team, then the DH role would be a much bigger question mark, and probably would have been filled by Will Wagner, at least to start the year. With Roden making the team, that likely now means that Wagner will fight for playing time with Ernie Clement at third base, and/or the two could platoon at the hot corner. Davis Schneider also made the team and will surely get some opportunities, especially against left-handers, so these guys are all going to have to perform to play.

In addition to the names that make up the big league roster, there are a few players to keep an eye on that will start their year in Buffalo. The first name that comes to mind is Addison Barger, who was a bit of a surprise omission from the final 26-man roster but will begin the year in triple-A, where he can get regular at-bats. Another could be Orelvis Martinez, still rated as one of their top prospects, and a bat that could eventually push its way into the MLB lineup with some of the biggest raw power in the organization.

Add it all up, and even though there are a lot of questions about the future of this franchise, there are several young players with some pretty reasonable upside. There are only so many at-bats to go around as well, and for a win-now franchise like the Blue Jays, they would be well served to let performance dictate playing time as much as possible. With that in mind, there are a few veterans that are going to have to contribute more than they did in 2024, and that list probably starts with George Springer’s name.

The 35-year-old is entering his 12th season in the big leagues, and, understandably, he’s not quite the player that he was during the peak of his prime. However, Springer’s output has regressed to the point where he finally lost his trademark spot as the leadoff hitter in the lineup in 2024, and these days, I think it’s fair to wonder just how much he has left to offer in general. Last year, he slashed just .220/.303/.371 with 19 home runs, 19 doubles, and 56 RBI over 564 at-bats. He managed just 1.1 bWAR and posted a below-league-average OPS+ of 92, both the worst marks of his career.

There are plenty of reasons to believe that Springer could bounce back and have a better year than he managed in 2024, especially if he spends more time as the designated hitter and saves his legs a bit. However, for every player that manages to find a second wind later in their career, there are dozens more who continue their downward trend toward the end of their playing days.

I’m not saying Springer is on the verge of retirement here or that the Jays are trading/releasing him tomorrow, but he’s a lot closer to the end than the beginning.

He also has more than 48 million reasons to play at least two more seasons, so he’s not going anywhere any time soon. However, if the Blue Jays are serious about winning in 2025, then they might have to include Springer on the list of players that will need to earn their at-bats.

That’s not an easy thing to consider for a veteran with four All-Star appearances and a World Series MVP on his resume, and especially a player that will make more than 24 million per year until the end of the 2026 season. However, John Schneider and the Blue Jays have no choice but to treat the 2025 campaign as a must-win year because it’s just that for a core that could potentially lose Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Bo Bichette, Chris Bassitt, and more to free agency at season’s end.

I’m not suggesting that this will or even should happen right away, and I’m confident that Springer will be a lineup regular in the early part of the season. However, if the two-time Silver Slugger award winners’ numbers continue to slide, and players like Roden, Wagner, and more are earning playing time of their own, it’s going to be harder to write his name on the lineup card on the regular. For what it’s worth, I hope Springer plays well enough that we can all look back on this article and laugh in a few months.