The start of spring training is a time when hope is supposed to spring eternal, when the records are reset, everyone's in the best shape of their lives and there's no reason why this year can't finally be the year. But the reality hasn't proven to be so kind, as the first day of pitchers and catchers reporting has resulted in a deluge of injuries to key players around the league — and for the Toronto Blue Jays, it may already have put their hopes of repeating as AL champs in doubt.
In his first media appearance of the spring, Toronto manager John Schneider revealed that Anthony Santander had recently reaggravated the shoulder injury that cut short his 2025 season. Santander will now need labrum surgery, and his estimated recovery time is 5-6 months, meaning the Blue Jays won't have him in their lineup until the second half at the absolute earliest.
“The hope is for him to definitely be back as soon as he can.”
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) February 10, 2026
John Schneider on Anthony Santander’s return timeline. pic.twitter.com/SKekNWm8Zs
At first blush, this might not seem like such a huge blow. Santander played just 54 games in his first season in Toronto, slashing a miserable .175/.271/.294 over that span, and the Jays rode an elite offense all the way to Game 7 of the World Series anyway. But last year is not this year, to state the obvious. And after an offseason of near-misses in free agency, Santander's injury might be the straw that breaks Toronto's hopes of another pennant.
Blue Jays offseason failures loom over Anthony Santander injury
The Blue Jays got their offseason off to an exciting start, overhauling their rotation by adding Dylan Cease and Cody Ponce. With a boatload of cash and plenty of post-World Series momentum, the offense figured to be next, with names like Kyle Tucker and Bo Bichette dancing in fans' heads.
Instead, Toronto got neither. The only meaningful bat the Jays added was Japanese import Kazuma Okamoto, and as a result, here's what their lineup looks like entering the spring:
Position | Player |
|---|---|
DH | George Springer |
LF | Nathan Lukes |
1B | Vladimir Guerrero Jr. |
RF | Addison Barger |
C | Alejandro Kirk |
CF | Daulton Varsho |
3B | Kazuma Okamoto |
SS | Andres Gimenez |
2B | Ernie Clement |
That's certainly not a bad offense. Heck, it might even be a very good one, if George Springer puts together another MVP-caliber year and Daulton Varsho picks up where he left off down the stretch last season. But there are a lot of ifs in that sentence, and while this lineup is long on solid, professional hitters, it sure seems to be short on pop.
Even Okamoto is more a gap-to-gap hitter than a power threat. But the Jays already have a ton of those. What they really needed was another big bopper to put next to Vladdy; as things stand, how many Toronto regulars do you trust to hit 25 or more homers next season? Two? Three, if we want to count on a breakout from Varsho or Barger?
That's almost certainly not going to be good enough, which is exactly why the Blue Jays were so aggressive in targeting one more elite hitter — there's a reason why they were broadcasting to anyone who would listen that Tucker was their No. 1 priority all winter long. Losing him, to the Dodgers no less, was a huge blow. And while there was no guarantee that Santander was going to rebound from his awful 2025 campaign, he was Toronto's best hope at approximating that sort of slugging potential. Now he's on the shelf for the foreseeable future, and suddenly the Jays look like all the other good but flawed teams in the AL right now.
The Blue Jays can no longer be considered clear favorites in the AL pennant chase
Again, I don't want to overreact too much here. I certainly don't think the Blue Jays are going to be anything close to bad in 2026; their rotation is still solid, even with Shane Bieber battling elbow fatigue already, and their lineup is still full of guys 1-9 who can pass the baton and make a pitcher's life miserable.
But so much went right for that Toronto team to get within two outs of a championship last season, from an out-of-nowhere season from a 35-year-old Springer to best-case outcomes for darn near every role player. It wasn't a fluke, but it's also hard to count on that repeating, which is why GM Ross Atkins wasn't content to rest on his laurels. He knew he needed to keep adding talent; he just came up short, at least offensively, and now this team looks more good than great — plenty talented, but with some fairly evident weaknesses as well.
Combine that with everyone around them improving, and the AL race just got thrown into even more chaos. The Seattle Mariners added Brendan Donovan to their lineup, and have top infield prospect Colt Emerson banging down the door. The Boston Red Sox have lineup questions of their own, but they have a ton of pitching depth and a budding superstar in Roman Anthony. The Baltimore Orioles could have one of the best lineups in the sport if things break right. The Detroit Tigers added Framber Valdez and Justin Verlander to a rotation that already included Tarik Skubal.
And we haven't even mentioned the New York Yankees yet, who largely stood pat this offseason but who could have as much talent as anyone if they can get and stay healthy. None of those teams are perfect, but then again, neither are the Blue Jays, especially now that they've downgraded from Bichette and lost their most likely answer to a pressing problem.