It’s now been six games since the Toronto Blue Jays have scored more than four runs in a contest. While they’ve split those games with three wins and three losses, that level of run production isn’t going to cut it for a team that has playoff aspirations and the fourth-highest payroll in MLB. The Jays rank 23rd with their 3.87 runs per game line.

A constant with John Schneider’s lineups this season – and the Jays roster as a whole – has been players batting higher than they probably should be.

When looking at players like Daulton Varsho, a speed/power mix with a lower batting average, they’d be ideal at the bottom of the order. As of now, the Jays have players like Varsho, Alejandro Kirk, and George Springer batting in the middle of the order with streaky-at-best production. Anthony Santander was in the third spot, but he got bumped down while Varsho, Springer, and Kirk have seen more playing time ahead (more on that below).

Varsho is currently hitting .125 out of the third spot through 25 plate appearances, Springer is hitting .202 out of the cleanup spot in 89 at-bats, and while Kirk is hitting .283 this year, his slugging percentage sits at a very poor .377. The home runs are there at times, but it’s mixed with less-than-stellar results for two of the three mentioned. All of these players have shown flashes of great hitting, but haven’t been consistent enough to bat in the middle of the order as protection for Bo Bichette and Vladimir Guerrero Jr.

Santander heating up would certainly be a great help (.187 average to start the year), and shuffling players around in the batting order based on who is playing well could work. Some internal options might be a surprise candidate (or two) to break out and provide that power or spark, such as Addison Barger, or someone in triple-A like Davis Schneider, Joey Loperfido, or Alan Roden. That’s a pretty risky gamble to take, especially when postseason aspirations are on the horizon.

Signing a free agent or trading for a player seems like it would have the most immediate impact to address these run and power concerns.

Of course, the free agent pool is thin with the season being well under way.

A name that, surprisingly, no team has even taken a flyer on is still available in J.D. Martinez. While he is almost 38, he still smacked 16 home runs in 2024, and was an All-Star from 2021-2023. If the price is right, there’s seemingly little downside to taking a chance on a player who amassed three WAR over the past two years as a DH, although that would mean Santander has to play more in the field and fewer days in the DH spot for Springer as well. The free agent pool drops off from there, with Anthony Rizzo, Whit Merrifield, and Adam Duvall being the remaining bats that stick out.

The more likely outcome seems to be a trade, with any slugger making sense to fill in the aforementioned middle-of-the-order gap the Jays have. This would be more likely to happen closer to the trade deadline, though, as the team continues to monitor which players become available and which players they can realistically ship off.

Toronto does have some prospect depth to play with should they wish to entertain some trades, as the farm system has been heating up to start the year compared to their preseason rankings. Until then, the Blue Jays will have to tread water to get to that point and stay in the playoff hunt.

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