3 Toronto Blue Jays who won’t be back after surviving MLB Winter Meetings
The Toronto Blue Jays will look to shake things up after failing to acquire a star at the Winter Meetings.
Few teams, if any, have had a more disappointing offseason thus far than the Toronto Blue Jays. Not only did they miss out on Shohei Ohtani, but they had to watch their division rivals, the New York Yankees, land Juan Soto in a deal that they could have (and likely should have) topped.
There are still high-quality free agents available for Ross Atkins to pursue, but Jays fans can't help but feel a bit underwhelmed thus far. The only way for this front office to earn the trust of their fanbase back is to be ultra-aggressive, and that means adding multiple players to fortify the roster.
Adding players means subtracting others, and these three could lose their spots entirely despite surviving so far.
1) Mitch White
Mitch White is a player the Blue Jays just can't seem to fully part with. Yes, they finally DFA'd him in July and kept him in the minors the rest of the way, but they added him back to their 40-man roster in early November. Why they did this remains a mystery.
White was acquired in the middle of the 2022 season in a trade with the Dodgers but has struggled mightily in a Blue Jays uniform, He had an ERA over 7.00 that season, and then had an ERA of 7.10 in 10 appearances and 12.2 innings pitched. He missed time due to injury and was ineffective as a long man when healthy. He pitched much better to finish his season in the minors, but that shouldn't wipe away what he's done at the MLB level.
White is back on the 40-man for now, but it's hard to envision that lasting much longer. As of now, he's pretty clearly the worst reliever the Jays have to offer, so if they add any relievers he'd be the roster casualty. The problem with that is he's out of options meaning the Jays would have to put him through waivers again.
The 28-year-old could be DFA'd or even traded considering the fact that he has five years of team control left and was a solid arm for the Dodgers. His days north of the border should be over, as he has not proven to their organization that he is worth keeping around.