The Blue Jays made a few surprising decisions in naming their final roster ahead of the 2025 regular season. To be fair, they had some difficult choices to make, but I was surprised by at least a pair of the paths taken.

For starters, I was all but certain that Addison Barger would make the team one way or another, but on Sunday the Jays announced that he was among the final roster cuts. Barger had been tearing the cover off the ball this spring, slashing .367/.429/.733 with three home runs and six RBI over 30 at-bats. Granted it’s a small sample size, but the 25-year-old has been hitting the ball with authority, and I assumed that his versatility would also help him to earn a big league roster spot.

Instead, the Blue Jays decided to take both Myles Straw and Nathan Lukes north with them to begin the season. A big part of the reason for that is the absence of Daulton Varsho to begin the year and the need for coverage in centre field. There’s a good chance the pair will form a platoon up the middle until Varsho is ready to return from the injured list, and I can understand the thinking to some degree. However, in Straw’s case in particular, he had to be added to the 40-man roster, which meant that someone else has to be removed. With all due respect to Straw, I’m not sure making that addition was worth the moves that will follow even if he’s played well during Grapefruit League action. As of this writing, the only DFA that has been announced is Tommy Nance, but there will be more to come after the Blue Jays also notified Alan Roden he would be making the trip to Toronto, and he too needs a 40-man roster spot.

As much as I’m questioning the thinking of the Blue Jays’ front office here, I’ll admit that I was pleased to see the news that Roden will break camp with the team, and I’ll acknowledge that likely had a more direct impact on Barger’s fate than anything. Roden will make his MLB debut and chances are he’ll get an every-day opportunity out the gate. That likely means he’ll be starting in one of the outfield corners, and Anthony Santander and George Springer will play in the other/serve as the designated hitter. With Will Wagner and Ernie Clement looking at a potential job share at third base, I can understand why there isn’t a lot of opportunity for Barger at the moment. I just thought they’d find a spot for him one way or another, even if they meant George Springer had to turn back the clock and make a couple of starts in centre field.

The pitching side of the roster also didn’t turn out as I thought it would.

For example, Ryan Yarbrough was informed on Sunday that he was not going to make the Opening Day roster, which is a decision that likely surprised the majority of Blue Jays fans, myself included. The veteran southpaw looked very good last year as a Blue Jay, and with his ability to throw multiple innings, his presence made a lot of sense alongside Yariel Rodriguez in the bullpen to cover any long-relief duties. That’s especially the case with the questionable health of Max Scherzer, who has battled issues with his thumb this spring.

It also never hurts to have a surplus of left-handed relievers available either, especially in an AL East division with several dangerous hitters from the left side like Rafael Devers, Gunnar Henderson, and many more. To be fair, they did keep a second lefty in Richard Lovelady along with Brendon Little, but I was still surprised to see Yarbrough let go.

In addition to keeping Lovelady as a second lefty, the Jays elected to hang on to Jacob Barnes as they prepare for the 2025 campaign. Barnes was another non-roster invite that has to be added to the 40-man roster, although he’ll likely have to perform well to keep his job throughout the entire season. The 34-year-old was reasonably useful to the Washington Nationals last year with a 4.36 ERA and a 1.32 WHIP over 66 appearances, and he’ll likely work in mostly low-leverage situations to begin the year. Still, I’ll admit that his inclusion on the Opening Day roster was not something I expected.

All that said, the players that make up the roster on day one certainly won’t be guaranteed a long-term spot in many cases, and guys like Straw, Lukes, Roden, Barnes, Lovelady and more will have to perform in order to stick around for the long haul.

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