The Blue Jays have a real roster crunch coming, and the Rule 5 Draft is right in the middle of it.
The deadline is listed as November 17, though that date may not even hold if MLB decides to cancel it because of the looming lockout and labor talks. That uncertainty hangs over everything Toronto has to do with its prospects, because any eligible player left exposed can be taken by another team and potentially cost the Blue Jays talent.
Five names stand out as the club works through those decisions.
Nolan Perry looks like the clearest call. Toronto’s pitching situation already has enough question marks, and walking away from a promising arm would be a tough move to justify.
Perry, 22, put together a strong 2026 season, finishing with a 2.50 ERA over 82 2/3 innings. He also missed plenty of bats with a 36% strikeout rate.
Even better for Toronto, he did it while coming back from Tommy John surgery. There’s no way the Blue Jays would leave Perry unprotected.
Gage Stanifer is a much murkier case. His 2026 season was uneven from start to finish, and the numbers reflect that.
He ended the year with a 4.83 ERA across 100 2/3 innings. He began in Double-A, where he made 19 starts, then moved to the bullpen and appeared in nine more Double-A games before finishing in Triple-A Buffalo.
His time there was limited to three games, and he posted a 4.91 ERA. That line doesn’t exactly demand protection, but the upside is there, and that kind of profile can tempt other organizations.
Toronto has a real decision to make here.
Then there’s Guerra, who feels like the more compelling bullpen piece to protect. He can miss bats, and that matters. In 2026, he struck out 32.3% of the hitters he faced while working 78 1/3 innings and finishing with a 3.33 ERA.
Jay Harry took a big jump in 2026, moving from Single-A all the way to Triple-A over the course of the season. He also showed plenty of defensive flexibility, spending most of his time at shortstop but also seeing action at second base, center field, designated hitter, and both left and right field with Triple-A. At the plate, he put together a .298/.343/.495 slash line with 14 home runs in 105 minor league games.
Josh Kasevich brings a different profile. He doesn’t have Harry’s power, but he does have more Triple-A experience and a solid hit tool.
Over 130 games, he hit .282/.364/.363. Defensively, he bounced around the infield, though most of his time came at third base and shortstop.
Toronto’s challenge doesn’t stop with Rule 5 alone. The 40-man roster already needs sorting out, and the Blue Jays also have to account for players coming off the 60-day injured list. Nine players were on that list when the season ended, and while two are set to become free agents, seven others will need to be added back to the 40-man.
All of that makes the situation even messier, especially with the possibility of an MLB lockout threatening to reshape the whole process. Nothing about this feels settled yet, but Perry, Stanifer, Guerra, Harry and Kasevich are the five worth tracking as Toronto sorts it out.
In Other News...
Blue Jays Could Force Brett Bateman Into A Tough Roster Fight
Brett Bateman arrived in Toronto at the 2026 trade deadline and wasted no time carving out a real role, moving into the leadoff spot and handling center field with the kind of steady defense the Blue Jays have valued for years. Over 41 games, the former Cubs farmhand showed enough at the plate and in the field to look more like a fixture than a stopgap, giving Toronto a jolt in a stretch when every at-bat seemed to matter.
The challenge now is that the Blue Jays are expected to spend the offseason looking for more power in the outfield, and that kind of search can change a roster picture quickly. Batemans speed and defensive reliability still fit what Toronto wants, but a crowded outfield and a push for bigger bats could make 2027 a tougher place for him to claim the same everyday runway he earned down the stretch. [Read more 🡒]
Blue Jays Have A Rotation Gamble Fans Will Instantly Debate
Michael Sorokas name is going to draw plenty of attention on the pitching market again, especially for a Blue Jays team that always has to balance upside with durability. The Alberta-born right-hander put together a strong 2026 season after signing a one-year deal with the Arizona Diamondbacks last offseason, reminding teams of the talent that once made him a Rookie of the Year runner-up, a Top 10 Cy Young finisher and an All-Star.
For Toronto, the appeal is obvious: a Canadian arm with front-line pedigree and a recent season that suggested he still has plenty left. The question is how clubs value that against the injury interruptions that kept his innings down from 2020 through 2023, and whether his next contract reflects the promise he showed in 2026 or the workload concerns that have followed him for years. [Read more 🡒]
Blue Jays Offseason Could Get Uncomfortable Inside The AL East
The Blue Jays may not be the only AL East club facing a tricky offseason after 2026, but they could be one of the teams with the most room to maneuver if they decide to get aggressive. Toronto has the kind of trade capital that can move the needle, with pitching and outfield prospects available to help address needs elsewhere, and the division itself could create unusual opportunities if rival clubs are forced to reshape their rosters.
Baltimore, Boston and New York all factor into the conversation because the Blue Jays are not shopping in a vacuum, and their front office has already shown it will at least consider dealing from strength to fill gaps. The tension is in where those conversations lead, since Toronto could try to solve one problem by trading for a player from a division foe, but doing so would also mean helping a direct competitor in the process. [Read more 🡒]