Which Blue Jays Enter 2026 Without Minor League Options?

While we might have the World Baseball Classic on our minds, once the tournament ends, the Toronto Blue Jays have some tough roster decisions to make. Of those decisions, a few of them centre around players without minor league options (some no-brainers, and the others not so much).

No-Brainers

Ernie Clement

It’s safe to say ErnDog isn’t going anywhere. One of the best defensive infielders in the sport, and a man who broke an MLB record for most hits in a single postseason, Clement will be the Blue Jays’ starting second baseman this season, with the potential to move all over the diamond. While he might be out of minor league options, it’s not like the team would send him down anyways.

Safe… For Now

Jesús Sánchez

The man brought in to mash righties has all but secured his spot on the roster, but I wonder just how tight the leash will be on the power-swinging Dominican. Toronto seems confident that they can return Sánchez to his numbers from Miami, but if he struggles again, he might not be awarded a longer opportunity.

Toronto also has a couple of strong outfield prospects waiting in Triple-A (RJ Schreck, Yohendrick Pinango, and Jonatan Clase), and has Anthony Santander (hopefully) returning towards the latter half of the season. If Sánchez can hit for a slash of .250/.320/.420 (or around there), with solid defence and baserunning, he’s going to see a lot of playing time. If he puts up numbers like the .199/.269/.342 in Houston, we’ll be looking back at this trade and wondering if it would’ve been better to just keep Joey Loperfido.

Tyler Heineman

The only reason Tyler Heineman is on this list is the emergence of Brandon Valenzuela. There’s no real reason that Valenzuela should win the backup catcher job over Heineman (who would likely get claimed off of waivers), but that’s not discrediting the fact that it could happen later in the season. Heineman had a phenomenal season by his standards and was everything the Blue Jays wanted (offensively, defensively, and magically) from his position.

Realistically, Heineman won’t be able to replicate everything he did in 2025, including that 2.0 fWAR and 120 wRC+, so a mid-season swap of the catchers could be on the table. Ideally, Valenzuela isn’t needed, but don’t discredit the fact that he could be up at some point this season. If Toronto were to waive Heineman, it would be the third time the organisation has put him through that process, which is a credit to Heineman for making his way back every time.

Dangerous Waters

Tommy Nance

While he’s already been DFA’d by Toronto once (March of 2025), Tommy Nance showed in his 30 appearances for the Blue Jays last year that he can be an important piece of their bullpen. Coming off a season where he had a career-best ERA and FIP (1.99 and 1.87, respectively), Nance struggled towards the end of the year, posting a 4.66 ERA in September, and only appeared twice during the postseason. All told, his playoff showing consisted of Nance allowing two runs in 1.1 innings against the Yankees.

Unfortunately for him, his strong stretch from his recall in July until August might not be enough to earn him a spot against some new additions and players they have to roster. Of the eight spots available, Tyler Rogers, Jeff Hoffman, Louis Varland, Brendon Little, and Braydon Fisher have all pretty much locked down positions.

With the surplus of starters Toronto has on its roster, it’s likely moves Eric Lauer to the ‘pen as well. Toronto also has to Rule 5 players on their team: Spencer Miles and Angel Bastardo, who would need to be returned to their former squads if they didn’t make the roster out of spring training. That is all eight spots covered. As spring goes on, Nance might force Toronto to return one (or both) of the pitchers, but the 34-year-old could also very well be on his way out.

Leo Jiménez

Signed as a 16-year-old by Toronto way back in 2017, Leo Jiménez has had a tumultuous journey to reach the majors, and faces a significant battle in his quest for a roster spot come Opening Day. After a rather unspectacular stretch for Panama during the World Baseball Classic where he went 0-for-5 while only playing in two of the four games, Jiménez will return to the Jays in spring training.

Last year had some significant woes for Jiménez, as while he did slash .304/.437/.375 in Triple-A, it was only in a small sample of 71 plate appearances across 19 games. All in all, Jiménez only appeared in 26 games total, with a three-month IL stint due to a bout of mononucleosis, a month in the majors during which he went 2-for-29, and multiple other IL stints in the minors.

He has a chance to rebound with Bo Bichette gone, and there might be a role for him as a backup infielder, but he’d be competing for playing time with Andrés Giménez, Ernie Clement, Kazuma Okamoto, Davis Schneider, and Addison Barger.

Unfortunately, Jiménez’s odds of making the team seem to be the slimmest out of everyone listed, as Toronto DFA’d Otto Lopez in 2023, a player in a similar situation to Jiménez. To give Lopez credit, the Canadian has made the most of his opportunity with the Miami Marlins, so a similar move for Jiménez might be the most beneficial for his career.

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