The Jays have a HUGE decision on their hands...

It just got very real. As we are now inching closer and closer to the beginning of the regular season, it is the time where moves are going to be made as the Jays finalize their roster. But one player in particular has not only continued to shine all the way through spring training, but has forced the Jays into a very difficult decision surrounding his future with the team specifically as it pertains to him making the opening day roster. And then one player who currently has not only struggled in spring training, but has the potential now to be on the outside looking in, and that is David Schneider. We're going to break down some new updates that have emerged, some new reports surrounding Jay's decision-making and what their plan is going forward, as well as a ton of other updates, including Vladimir Guerrero Jr. going crazy in the WBC and more. You're going to want to stay tuned to the very end of the video, but before we get into it, a very quick reminder, folks, to hit that subscribe button. You guys have been an absolute beast with the support. Now, ladies and gentlemen, a lot to go over today, of course, and we're going to be touching in on a player who I brought up a couple weeks ago, and that is Eloy Jimenez, and he has continued to mash. He did good. I mean, he's been doing really well. But it has brought up a question now between him and David Schneider. And I want to start with this. And this was a tweet from a few, about a week ago. And it goes to Eloy, or maybe a couple weeks ago at this point. But I want to start with this. And we're going to dive into some updates from, you know, today, yesterday, etc. The Eloy Jimenez situation is quite interesting to me. Generally, or generally, sorry, the Blue Jays prioritize defensive versatility and consistent contact skills. That being said, the pop against lefties would be nice to have. Curious to see how it plays come opening day. and of course I had a video on this I started covering it and how Eloy Jimenez was looking really good all these different things and you look at it now he has been really really good in spring training like scary good and you can see back on March 13th he had a 937 OPS this spring and Daniel Franceschi of Sportsnet says I've been exceptionally intrigued by Eloy Jimenez this spring could end up being a great lottery ticket piece for the Jays I like his odds of finding some playing time this year so as we are now less than two weeks away we're 11 days away from opening day he's forcing his way onto this team and he's somebody who's had good years in the past I've covered that before he obviously transformed his body when the Toronto Blue Jays signed him they did so as a lottery ticket and then Hector Gomez came out and said that he again has been transforming his body in the offseason and really getting himself in good shape it's translated he looks fantastic and all of a sudden now you look at you know what a lineup could look like we look back to February 25th started playing around with the idea of Eloy Jimenez making making the opening day roster and the fallout for the lineup as a result this is my first crack at predicting how it would all shake out now of course this was a month ago ish a bit less than a month ago and if you get Eloy Jimenez in you could potentially be looking at you know some areas where here you're keeping Davis Schneider but the point is people have been talking about this all spring long they're going to have to make a decision soon so let's look at his current stats as of march 16th now his ops has dropped a little bit since that tweet it's down to an 861 it's in a such a such a small sample size to where every little no over because over three over two it'll drop a lot but still a very good 861 ops finishes with two home runs thus far so finished obviously yesterday with that and has been really solid incredibly solid now you're looking at what other players he's going up against you could argue davis schneider you could argue some other guys you never really know the you know Ross Atkins thinking and the plans of what he has behind the scenes davis schneider in spring training three for 28 with a 385 ops now last time i made a video on this a lot of you guys were kind of going at me saying the jays aren't gonna you know give up on davis Schneider and that they were you guys said a lot of valid points he's continued to struggle a little bit better than what he was when i think his OPS was 100 a couple weeks ago when i covered it it is small sample size like I say I had to be fair both sides and he's coming off a very good regular season I'm not saying they're gonna you know cut Davis Schneider but what I am saying is it is a very intriguing decision to make now especially and Eloy might start the season in AAA he came out and said as much a couple weeks ago he said whatever the Jays have in store for me I'm ready to work he obviously has been somebody who struggled at times was once a highly touted prospect at the same time you look at what he's done this year in spring he's looked extremely extremely solid and that's not something that you can overstate too much but it's also let's keep in mind it is spring training right but these decisions for guys like Eloy Jimenez for guys like Davis Schneider are based specifically off of mainly Eloy Jimenez right like they're basing their decision off of how he looks both at spring training and behind the scenes when you pull the curtain back now a good tweet here from Damon if Eloy ends up making the roster the odd man out is either a Nathan Lucas trade or Davis Schneider starting the year in AAA. So you can send Davis Schneider down to AAA if they want to start it there. You're not losing the asset. I think they're more likely to keep Davis Schneider up and start Eloy in AAA and then see how things happen. Because, you know, Schneider was on the team last year, was a part of the World Series team, the playoff run, and ultimately was a very, very solid piece and contributor in certain instances to the team. In the same vein, you look at what he did in spring training, struggled a little bit. now the regular season looked pretty darn good you can I'm fine with you know the Jays giving David Schneider the chance to start you know off rip but again he's also their backup second baseman at this juncture it's a decision that has that has to be made with very very you know with urgency I guess is the best word to use because if you go out and David Schneider continues to struggle in the regular season I'm hoping he doesn't I'm not I don't want to be portrayed as you know I don't want to portray myself rather as a David Schneider hater I'm a huge fan of David Schneider the problem is and maybe somebody else can get you know sent down and do all these different things i'm really high on Eloy Jimenez right now it seems like he made some big tangible changes when the signing happened i talked about how David Popkins is going to be able to be a very useful piece for him like he has been since joining the team in general and you can make some really dominant lineups against lefties that include potentially both Schneider and Eloy Jimenez but just a lot of players that can really really hit the left handed pitching especially now that Bo Bichette's gone you're gonna have to figure that out somewhere so it's pretty exciting stuff and I found this tweet from March 2nd he started off the spring and has tailed off a little bit look at these exit velocities and these are the things that you can look at especially when you're starting to dive into the real decision making behind the scenes he hit so many balls over you know 90 miles per hour three over 100 let me know though down below do you see the Jays picking Eloy Jimenez over Davis Schneider I'm not saying it's going to happen right away but it's something you have to keep an eye out on especially because Keegan Matthews came on my show there like a month or so ago and said in spring training Davis is going to have to earn it that's what the reporter of MLB.com Keegan Matthews said he hasn't earned it yet is there somebody else behind the scenes they're looking at as well could it be a RJ Schreck a Josh Pastner type maybe probably eventually though i think the first guy up knocking on the door is Eloy Jimenez and he's going to be ready to go especially if Davis Schneider continues to struggle and then ultimately struggles at the MLB level let me know down below what your thoughts are on all this folks it's going to continue to be pretty exciting stuff a couple other updates here Kevin Gausman yesterday pitched in a minor league game against the Phillies and ultimately threw over 70 or through exactly rather 70 pitches lots of change ups and sliders he wants to use more change ups in 2026 which is intriguing he didn't use them a ton last year he's obviously mainly a fastball splitter guy I'm loving Kevin Gausman in his mid-30s still looking at ways to improve and still trying to figure out ways to get better i mean you look at that some of the other i mean this starting rotation is extremely extremely uh experienced i guess the best way to invest word to use they are a veteran group and they can bounce off of each other whether that be Max Scherzer, Dylan Cease, Kevin Gausman all feeding information to each other, Cody Ponce when he's overseas all these guys and the best part is about this Gausman's the opening day starter we're gonna see change-ups in 11 days from now which is uh which is super exciting to me and ultimately i'm excited to see what this team is able to to do especially to start the year and speaking of guys who are going to start the year hot quick wrap up here before we quick note on Vlad before i wrap up his first World Baseball Classic he finished with a 1.400 OPS, 14 balls over 100 miles an hour best hitter on a loaded Dominican team the best hitter in the WBC i'm going to go as far to say and obviously you had some other guys who are you know monsters just in the WBC in general you have Crazy, crazy talent there. It sucked the game ended on a horrible strike called by the umps. They should have implemented, obviously, the ABS challenge system there. But, man, Vladdy, if he has a dominant year like he did in 2021, and then you pair that with Kazuma Okamoto, you pair that with a guy like Eloy Jimenez who could potentially be a flyer, who comes out and absolutely surprises everyone, this team all of a sudden could have a loaded offense. But that'll wrap it up. Let me know down below what your thoughts are. Cheers.