Arden Zwelling

At least we have a plan for him, and we know that the clock is ticking, and we know how the Blue Jays are trying to build him up, and he's making his next rehab start after he made his last one.

Uh, that's really encouraging progress.

And it seems like by the end of June, you're going to be seeing Bieber in this rotation, which is going to be huge for the blue Jays.

Um, and when it comes to the bullpen guys, we'll see.

Uh, but to your point earlier, like Farland Hoffman, Rogers flew already Fisher.

These guys have all been used a ton and they are on track for like mid to high 70s appearances this year.

It's completely unsustainable and it does make you somewhat trepidatious or somewhat worried that maybe somebody's shoulder, elbow, arm, hips, legs, neck, whatever is going to start barking at some point because these guys have just thrown so much.

Yeah, he just fits the lineup so well when it comes to his contact ability, the way that he can battle at the plate, a pretty preternatural ability to find holes around the diamond and to get bat to ball on some pretty bad pitches to hit.

The Blue Jays might just like lead baseball this year in bad balls for hits, considering how much they're chasing and how much they're playing guys like Lucas and Clement and even like Varshow can kind of get after that in that regard as well.

So, yeah, I mean, welcome to have them back.

I'm sure like the Blue Jays are looking for any kind of offensive spark that they can get right now.

And Nathan Lucas is hoping to provide it.

Yeah, the Blue Jays outfield defense in 2024, it was like the best in baseball by an absolute mile.

And last year it took a step back without like a Kevin Kiermaier out there and with Varshow missing a lot of the season, but it was still top 10, even top five in a lot of categories.

And this year we're talking bottom half of the league, bottom 10 in certain metrics.

So getting Lucas back out there more regularly is only going to help improve that situation.

He's not a flashy defender.

I don't know how many insane highlight reel catches you're going to see him make.

He's just a very confident and competent defender.

10 defensive runs saved last season, which I don't know how many people would have liked that.