There's no reason, IMO, to have a 9 man pen in at least the ALDS. Teams have off days every third day, so there is sufficient time for relievers to recover. The Jays should have four starters and eight relievers, with at least one being a long man/starter (from the Lauer, Berrios, Bassitt or even Yesavage mix).

Also, I don't think Nance is lock. He's pitching well, the advanced stats back it up, and they're increasing his leverage, but I think a couple of bad outings could change his trajectory in a way it wouldn't for Dominguez or Varland. It would be very hard to leave him off with another 10 innings of pitching to a 1.50 ERA.

However, if there are five locks and the team wants a long reliever (say Lauer or Bassitt) and there's an 8-man bullpen, both Fisher and Nance could make the team, but that leaves them without a second lefthander for short relief and no spot for Yesavage (which I think they are seriously considering).

A lot of this will depend on health and opponent, and which round of the playoffs it is, of course.

ESPN's latest power rankings are out. The Blue Jays are 6th, behind four teams with worse W-L records than them (Phillies, Dodgers, Cubs, Tigers). I imagine that will change if Toronto wins the upcoming series with the Yankees.

1-1 Yankees-Astros in the 4th.

Rice can't play 1B.

Astros were down 5 heading into the 9th but Bednar let in a run and now loaded the bases and the tying run is at the plate with 1 out.

MLB pipeline now has Jojo Parker number 40 overall and ahead of Nammala. He is the number 2 prospect in the Jays farm which means Trey Yesavage has moved up as well. He's now one of the top 5 pitching prospects in baseball (#25 in MLB Pipeline top 100).

Apparently his FB is down to 93 in his last start but his change up is insane (Keegan Matheson).

The nice thing is pretty much no one in consideration is useless. Everyone is basically average or better, with multiple choices around that average level. This is a lot better than when there has been clear black hole regulars locked into place.

Yeah, SS could be a lot of fun to watch in upcoming years. Like it hasn't been anyways with an all-star calibre guy there. Seeing if Nammala or Parker can take over in 2-3 years will be a lot of fun. Hopefully the Jays can bridge the gap from Bo to them well. I'm expecting they'll ask Gimenez about moving back to SS but he'll want to stay at 2B, then they'll debate the assorted internal stopgaps like Jimenez and Kasevich among others (also Clement maybe being put there). Can't fully write off resigning IKF to be at SS (bad idea imo, but not the worst). Heck, they might still resign Bo for a 5 year deal although I'm expecting an LAD/NYY battle for his services which will shoot his price far beyond what the Jays feel comfortable with. Hmmm... if the Yankees do sign him (ugh) maybe they dump Volpe (still just 24 this year and has a steady 80's OPS+ to go with solid defense which has declined probably partially due to the nightmare that playing in NY can be if you don't reach the levels expected of you). Very interesting winter coming, and even if Bo resigns the battle for short will continue with questions about moving him to the OF or elsewhere coming up as kids work their way through the system.

I'd love to see Bo have his full career here but not at SS. Robin Yount moved to LF at the age Bo will be next season, then to CF the following year and was quite solid and reached 3000 hits. Bo could do the same imo, but I doubt he'll be in CF as his speed has gone down a lot.

Agreed Michael - no useless parts here right now, even France has been useful. I can see a role for anyone on the current roster, and even for most others on the 40 man if they were allowed to use the full 40 man in the playoffs. The team is in much better shape than 20/22/23 when they made the playoffs. 2015 used a slot for Dalton Pompey to pinch run (did a great job at it too) who wasn't too useful otherwise. Ryan Goins had a 83 OPS+ and you really didn't want him hitting (0-17 vs Texas). Justin Smoak was pretty much Ty France (105 OPS+ in '15 with good defense at 1B) but was an everyday player. Looking at other bench options for '15 and I'm not impressed for the most part. So this could be the most solid top to bottom team since the WS years.