Sorting out the postseason roster

A debate about playoff rosters is not something Blue Jays fans have had to deal with for a long time, but the day has finally come where we get to fight tooth and nail for which player should be the last one included in the squad. The Blue Jays have helped fans out a fair bit in the guessing game as Mark Buehrle has confirmed he's not on the roster and it's been reported that the team is carrying only 11 pitchers. That leaves five bench spots for the team, who is lacking pretty badly in the depth department right now. For Alex Anthopoulos and company, it really only comes down to two or three choices which is certainly easier than most decisions they've had to make in the front office this year. To make it very clear, Darwin Barney is not eligible for the postseason due to his acquisition taking place after the August 31 deadline.

The Locks (21)

With the team remaining as almost the same unit since the beginning of August, the locks are plentiful. The entire starting lineup is already pencilled in:

(R) Russell Martin C
(S) Justin Smoak 1B
(L) Ryan Goins 2B
(R) Troy Tulowitzki SS
(R) Josh Donaldson 3B
(L) Ben Revere LF
(R) Kevin Pillar CF
(R) Jose Bautista RF
(R) Edwin Encarnacion DH

To go along with those nine men are the four starting pitchers who will go up against the Rangers in the next two weeks:

(L) David Price
(R) Marcus Stroman
(R) R.A. Dickey
(R) Marco Estrada

It remains to be seen who will pitch Game 4 (if it occurs) for the Blue Jays as it's possible that David Price goes on three days rest, despite a good amount of evidence suggesting it's best to avoid that course of action.

Anyway, beyond those players there's also a good amount of locks in the bullpen:

(R) Roberto Osuna
(L) Brett Cecil
(R) Aaron Sanchez
(R) LaTroy Hawkins
(R) Mark Lowe
(R) Liam Hendriks

That leaves one spot in the 'pen that will be discussed later. Continuing with the two locks on the bench:

(S) Dioner Navarro C
(R) Chris Colabello 1B

Should Get A Spot (3)

With only three bench spots and one reliever left to select, the bulk of the Blue Jays roster is set. But as we see every year in the playoffs, sometimes it's the 25th man on the team that ends up deciding the biggest moment in the series. The most glaring hole on this team is the lack of an backup utility infielder. Despite Cliff Pennington doing his best to play his way off of this team, he's fortunate to be surrounded by a lack of any real alternatives. Munenori Kawasaki hides his lack of any real talent behind an eccentric persona, which has a lot of people pencilling him in as the first man off the bench in case of injury to an infielder. Munenori Kawasaki...as the first man into a playoff game if someone gets hurt. Munenori Kawasaki. No. Just no. Despite similar slash lines in their handful of plate appearances with the Jays this season, Pennington has superior positional flexibility, a better defensive track record, the ability to switch-hit and a small amount of postseason appearance.

(S) Cliff Pennington IF

The next order of business is finding a backup outfielder and this is where the real debate begins. Dalton Pompey has an immense amount of value in terms of base stealing and defensive ability, which should give him the inside edge to making this team. On the other hand, Ezequiel Carrera was an okay fourth outfielder for large portions of this season and would definitely be considered more reliable than the young Canadian. In all likelihood, both players make this team with very different roles as Pompey will be the Blue Jays version of Terrance Gore while Carrera will be the more traditional fourth outfielder who should never find his way into the game. To keep things interesting, only Pompey will get pencilled in to the lineup at this point because you NEED a guy like him. He has the ability to change games and strike fear into a poor Rangers bullpen.

(S) Dalton Pompey OF

There's another thing you NEED in a series with the Rangers. Two lefties in the bullpen. Aside from Brett Cecil, it's important for the team to have another guy to get lefties out since the majority of the high-leverage RHP in the bullpen profile more as ROOGY's. Against some teams that might not be a problem, but let's just do a quick eye test. Sorted by games played this season, below is the Rangers roster with stars designating a left-handed hitter. This is just a rough visual as Josh Hamilton (LHH) and Mike Napoli (RHH) didn't crack the top 9.

Holy moly. Aaron Loup, you're in.

(L) Aaron Loup

In The Mix (1)

Although this is a different category, there's isn't many options left for the Blue Jays for their sole remaining bench spots. The aforementioned Carrera and Kawasaki are joined by Matt Hague as potential selections. Hague mashed in the minors this season and would be a fine pinch hitter, but he only has 43 games of major league experience and can't play much defense aside from first base. In a National League series Hague would be a perfect guy on the bench, but it's tough to say how much value he'll have in the coming matchup with Texas. This selection is really a tossup, but I imagine the Jays go with Carrera due to their clear lack of trust in Dalton Pompey doing anything other than running from white square to white square.

(L) Ezequiel Carrera OF

This section also has to feature Drew Hutchison, despite the righty doing everything possible to not end up on this roster. There's almost no time in a playoff game where Hutchison would be called upon, making his placement on this team completely useless.

Outside Looking In

On most playoff teams, there's a good amount of players in this category but for the Blue Jays there isn't much to choose from. Kawasaki and Hague still remain as options along with Josh Thole who has a slim chance of sniffing the postseason. In the bullpen there's all of the 40-man guys who have an outside chance including Ryan Tepera, Bo Schultz, Steve Delabar, and Jeff Francis. HAHA okay not Jeff Francis. Tepera had the best chance of cracking the team but gave up some garbage time home runs recently and just doesn't bring enough value to crack the squad as another right-handed reliever.

So the final roster according to yours truly looks something like this:

LINEUP
(R) Russell Martin C
(S) Justin Smoak 1B
(L) Ryan Goins 2B
(R) Troy Tulowitzki SS
(R) Josh Donaldson 3B
(L) Ben Revere LF
(R) Kevin Pillar CF
(R) Jose Bautista RF
(R) Edwin Encarnacion DH

BENCH
(S) Dioner Navarro C
(R) Chris Colabello 1B
(S) Cliff Pennington IF
(S) Dalton Pompey OF
(L) Ezequiel Carrera OF

Rotation
(L) David Price
(R) Marcus Stroman
(R) R.A. Dickey
(R) Marco Estrada

BULLPEN
(R) Roberto Osuna
(L) Brett Cecil
(R) Aaron Sanchez
(R) LaTroy Hawkins
(R) Mark Lowe
(R) Liam Hendriks
(L) Aaron Loup

In the next few days I'm sure the postseason roster selection will be a huge debate, but there really isn't a ton to discuss. A few bench spots are up for grabs, which just goes to show how strong the main nucleus of the Blue Jays has been this year. The players seeing 95% of the action in the playoffs are the exact same guys who saw 95% of the action in August. Let's hear who's on your roster now that the Blue Jays know their opponent in the ALDS.