TORONTO -- When you’re one of the best teams in baseball, roster moves get tricky.
Joey Loperfido woke up this morning batting .358 with a .915 OPS over 30 games for the Blue Jays, but he’s been optioned to Triple-A for George Springer, who returns today from the 7-day concussion IL. Manager John Schneider has known some of these difficult conversations were coming, given all of the talent this team has to choose from.
“At this point, there’s not really a person deserving of being optioned to the Minors or sent down,” Schneider said. “He understood that. He got that. Joey handled it like a pro. He’s obviously bummed, but he understood that it’s where we’re at. It’s definitely a tough one, especially because what he’s been working on has translated up here.”
No one has been done wrong here, it’s just the reality of being an incredibly deep team with the best record in the American League at 72-51. Another one of these decisions looms when Shane Bieber makes his Blue Jays debut next week, along with the debate around whether the Blue Jays will pivot to a six-man rotation or push one of their veteran starters into a hybrid role.
These are great problems to have, but it doesn’t make Schneider’s job any easier. When associate manager DeMarlo Hale tapped Loperfido on the shoulder and brought him into Schneider’s office, they really wanted to hammer home that his progress matters.
“More contact and more confidence,” Schneider said. “That’s what we asked him to do out of camp. He’s really done that. The contact was the big part of it, not just with how we’re built this year, but for him and his career. That suits him a little bit better. Hopefully he can keep it going.”
There weren’t a ton of options here. Ty France could have been considered, but he’s hit well since coming over from the Twins along with Louis Varland at the Trade Deadline. Myles Straw is on the edges of that outfield group, too, but the Blue Jays love his defense, and with Springer primarily a DH now, that’s still valuable. This likely means we’ll continue to see Ernie Clement in the lineup more consistently, too, even against righties.
In all likelihood, this is just a two-week trip to Buffalo for Loperfido. He should bounce right back when rosters expand by one hitter and one pitcher on Sept. 1, and if an injury hits any sooner, he’s next in line.
There was another unexpected wrinkle to Saturday’s news, too. Springer is back in the leadoff spot for the first time in 2025.
Springer long called the leadoff spot home. At times, he’s been one of the best leadoff hitters in baseball, a unique power threat for the role through his years with the Astros and early days with the Blue Jays. In the middle of his renaissance season, what’s old is new again.
“I think he’s one of our best hitters,” Schneider said. “It’s a little bit different with a left-handed pitcher, obviously. We’ve been talking about it for about a week now. We’ll probably just keep him there. I like having Bo [Bichette] fourth. We’ll probably flip a lefty in between after George when we’re facing right-handed pitching to break up him, Vlad and Bo. He’s done this before.”
If Springer carries his success into the top spot, this lineup can take yet another step forward. Yes, the daily fluidity of a lineup is normalized across baseball by this point, but there’s still some value in consistency.
The season of surprises just keeps growing. All of this overlapping success leads to some difficult decisions, but these are the “good problems” that great teams want to have.