Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.
Chapter 1: What significant challenges do the Blue Jays face against the Yankees?
Hey everyone, and welcome to At The Letters for Friday, June the 12th, 2026. Ben Nicholson-Smith here with you, along with Arden Swelling, back again to talk about the Toronto Blue Jays. Arden, how's it going today?
Not bad.
Not bad. How are you? Good. All good over here. And look, this is a big series. First time the Yankees are back in Toronto in 2026.
Chapter 2: How is Brandon Valenzuela impacting the Blue Jays' roster decisions?
And unfortunately for the Blue Jays, the difference in the standings is quite substantial. They are nine games behind the Yankees. There's no chance of catching the Yankees in the standings in this series. So ideal world, of course, you would love to see two heavyweight teams competing in for supremacy in the American League East. Not the case this time.
Going into this series, it's really a question of the Blue Jays making sure they hang around in the wildcard race. And that's the challenge in front of them this weekend.
Yeah, even without Aaron Judge, I mean, the Yankees still have Ben Rice and Trent Grisham sitting really well. I mean, Cody Bellinger has been a real thorn in the side for the Blue Jays this year.
Chapter 3: What are the implications of Alejandro Kirk's return for the Blue Jays?
Even Ryan McMahon has come around lately and is hitting well. So, yes, this is going to be a highly competitive series over the weekend.
Yeah, it's it's always fun when the Yankees are in town. I'm sure the crowd will be intense. I mean, the crowds have been incredible at Rogers Center all season. But it's still a chance to just create a little bit of momentum. And you just got to win games if you're the Blue Jays at this point. You've just got to bank as many wins as you can.
And with that, they are approaching a very interesting roster decision. And as we record this, we don't know what the Blue Jays will decide to do with Alejandro Kirk, whether he'll be active on Friday.
Chapter 4: How do the Blue Jays plan to manage their catcher situation?
And if so, what the corresponding move will be. But let's dive into that a little bit, Arden, because ultimately it's a good thing to have Alejandro Kirk back. He's one of their best players. But this is a really interesting discussion when it comes to Tyler Heinemann, Brandon Valenzuela, how to handle this when it comes to the roster short term and long term.
I think it was pretty interesting until Brandon Valenzuela just went and took the job, honestly. At this point, I'd be really surprised if Blue Jays optioned Valenzuela when Kirk's ready to come off the IL on Friday, I'm assuming. Although maybe they give him an extra day and do it on Saturday, you never know, but. It's going to be this weekend.
So yeah, at this point, it seems pretty clear that Valenzuela is sticking around in the majors. And although you could go with three catchers, I think that just hamstrings your roster flexibility too much, your lineup flexibility too much.
Chapter 5: Which Blue Jays players are likely candidates for the All-Star game?
It's not like any of these guys play a different position. And you already have George Springer eating up DH days. And obviously you can throw him in right or you could just not start him at all. But I just don't. I think it's so far from optimal to be carrying three catchers and to just have Heinemann kicking around not playing at all.
So it's either Tyler Heinemann has a back issue and goes to the IL or Heinemann gets designated for assignment and exposed to waivers.
Yeah, there was a time where I actually wondered if they might put Varshow on the IL and backdate him and potentially carry three catchers for a short period. Now we've seen Varshow back on the field. It seems like they expect him to be able to avoid an IL stint, which is good, of course, for Dalton Varshow. But it probably means that that's not going to happen.
Chapter 6: What factors influence All-Star selections in Major League Baseball?
And so I would agree with you. Predicting what's going to happen... I would predict that Brandon Valenzuela stays on the team and he has definitely earned it. He is playing at a extremely high level and offensively, defensively stepping up. Hard to believe that this was their third string catcher entering the season because he is performing like an everyday player.
and an impact everyday player at that. I mean, it's actually been incredible what he has done for this team, especially offensively for a ball club that really hasn't had very many positives on offense this season. He's been great. So I would predict that he will stay in the major leagues. I would endorse that as a decision.
Chapter 7: How does fan voting impact All-Star game outcomes?
I'm not going to be, like, stunned if they go in a different direction because... I just think in the course of a baseball season, lots of weird things happen and teams sometimes try to preserve depth. And, you know, if the Blue Jays were 10 games above 500 right now, I think they might option Brandon Valenzuela.
But given where they are on the standings, given that it's as close as it is and they need every single win that they can possibly get. Yeah, I think he's staying. And I think that, as you said with Heinemann, it's an IL or it's a DFA.
If Heinemann was DFA'd, do you think he would be claimed? Yeah, I think so. What do you think? No, I do too.
Chapter 8: What are the Blue Jays' prospects for the rest of the season?
Look, there's no guarantee. You never know. He could get through. But I likely think that he would. And that's just something the Blue Jays will likely have to swallow if they do go the DFA route. It sucks when you lose depth. It sucks when you lose somebody who's as familiar with your pitching staff and everything. your organization and the way that you do things as Heinemann is.
It sucks that then you're going to have to change all your signs and change a lot of just the strategic stuff that you do on the field and change just a lot of your plays. It's going to be a lot of work, but I think that Valenzuela has just been that good.
And like, I mean, look, it is short term decision making because just as much as Valenzuela has had a really good three weeks, he could have a really bad next three weeks. That's entirely possible. We're dealing with a rookie player in the majors who is overperforming what was expected of him offensively. That's a credit to him.
He has been tremendous offensively for the Blue Jays, and I think he's gotten better defensively after overcoming some periods early on in his big league stage here where the game was speeding up on him and where he maybe wasn't just as refined as you'd like to see from a backup catcher who's going to need to be sound defensively.
But he's just been so good over the last three weeks that there's just no way you could option him, even if you don't think he's going to perform this well going forward, just because it would send such a poor message to your clubhouse and to the rest of the team. So I think for that reason, maybe even more than any, Valenzuela has to stay up in the big leagues.
I think if this was a scenario where Alejandro Kirk was going to be eating up like six games out of seven and you just knew there wasn't going to be any playing time for Valenzuela, then, hey, this is emerging. He's emerging as a really important player long term. In that scenario that there wasn't going to be any playing time, you could say he needs to be in the minor leagues getting reps.
Now, given that Alejandro Kirk is coming back from an injury, and given that George Springer is not performing the way they would want him to at DH, I think there are probably enough at-bats, at least for now, to justify keeping Valenzuela around and to... get him into the mix offensively, maybe he catches three days a week. Maybe Kirk catches four days a week to start.
And maybe Valenzuela even sneaks in at DH once. Maybe Kirk DHs once a week. Springer DHs five times a week. And everyone's getting enough playing time. And then you adjust from there in another couple weeks. I think that's a reasonable way to do things. And then, developmentally speaking for Valenzuela, That's fine. He's still getting enough reps.
You're not letting him rot on the bench in the major leagues in that scenario. You're actually getting him some challenges and some chances to build on the success that he has had.
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