The Blue Jays made a great move last season when they traded for Troy Glaus. Glaus had another good season last year as he hit .252 with 105 runs scored, 38 homers, 104 RBIs and a .868 OPS. Look for him to even have better numbers this season now that Frank Thomas has been added to the offense. Glaus still showed good range in the field and he only made 14 errors at 3B last season. Glaus was so good on defense for the Blue Jays that they let him play 8 games at shortstop for them last season.

27 year old John Hattig will get a chance to make the Blue Jays this season but the odds are against him as his best position is 3B. He doesn’t have the power that teams look for in the majors at the hot corner. He hit .276 with 4 homers, 36 RBIs and a .736 OPS in 103 AAA games last season. He came up for a cup of coffee in September and went 8 for 24 (.333). He will likely start the season in AAA for the Blue Jays.

The Jays signed 37 year old Royce Clayton to start at shortstop this season. Clayton had an off year with the bat as Father Time is starting to sneak up on him. He hit .258 with 2 homers, 40 RBIs, 14 steals and a .648 OPS. He won’t hit much better than that this season for the Blue Jays. His range is a little bit below average and he made 18 errors which is a little bit too many.

32 year old John McDonald will likely be Clayton’s back up at shortstop this season. He got to play a lot more than usual last season and he showed great range at shortstop, but he made 14 errors in only 90 games there and that’s a few too many. McDonald is not much of a hitter as he only hit .223 with a .579 OPS for the Blue Jays in 260 at bats. Look for McDonald to make the team because of his defense, but he won’t hit much.

25 year old Ray Olmedo has been brought in by the Blue Jays but he has a similar skill set to John McDonald. He hit .205 with a .589 OPS in 44 at bats for the Reds last season. He did hit .282 with 17 stolen bases in AAA last season, but he never has had much success in the majors. Olmedo will likely start the season in AAA and be insurance in case of an injury at the major league level.

26 year old lefty swinging Russ Adams had a tough season for the Blue Jays and he doesn’t appear to be in their future plans. Adams only hit .219 with 3 homers, 28 RBIs and a .600 OPS in 251 at bats for the Jays. The real problem with Adams was that he was probably the worst defensive shortstop in the majors. He didn’t show much range and he made 10 errors in only 36 games. He will likely be in AAA most of the season.

24 year old Aaron Hill will get to concentrate on 2B this season after splitting his time between short and second last season. Hill hit .291 last season with 70 runs scored, 6 homers, 50 RBIs and a .735 OPS. Look for Hill’s offensive numbers to be a little better this season as he doesn’t have to worry about where he’s playing in the field. Hill was not too good at shortstop defensively, but he was excellent at 2B. Hill only made 7 errors there in 112 games and showed great range. Look for him to be outstanding on defense this season.

The Blue Jays selected 29 year old lefty swinging Jason Smith in the Rule 5 Draft. He will have a decent chance to earn a reserve job for the Blue Jays. He hit .263 with 5 homers, 13 RBIs and a .748 OPS in only 99 at bats for the Rockies last season. He has fantastic range at 2B and he made only 2 errors in 18 games there. He can handle any infield position on defense which will increase his chances of making the team.

The Blue Jays have put a lot of faith in the 38 year old Frank Thomas staying healthy. He had a great comeback season for the A’s as he played in 137 games last season and hit .270 with a .926 OPS, 39 homers and 114 RBIs. The Blue Jays would love to have Thomas produce like that for them. Thomas only played in 108 games in 2004-2005 combined so the odds are against Thomas getting a full seasons worth of at bats. He still has great power as he has hit 51 homers and knocked in 140 runs in his last 571 at bats, but he no longer can hit for a great average as he has only hit for a .261 average over that span of at bats. It’s doubtful that Thomas can repeat last season because of his age (38), his bum ankle and the fact that the Blue Jays play of artificial turf.

39 year old lefty swinging Matt Stairs is the Blue Jays insurance policy at DH. Over his last three seasons, Stairs has averaged a homer every 25.7 at bats and an RBI every 6.46 at bats so he would be more than capable of filling in if Thomas gets hurt again.

30 year old lefty swinging Lyle Overbay provided the Blue Jays with everything they wanted….and more! He established new career highs in batting average (.312), homers (22), RBIs (92) and slugging percentage (.508)! Look for that to continue this season as Overbay really likes hitting at the Rogers Center where he hit 17 of his homers. The Blue Jays are hoping for a repeat of his .880 OPS. If he can repeat that OPS his runs scored and RBIs should go up with Frank Thomas around this season. One area that Overbay needs to improve on is his defense as he made 9 errors last season and that’s just too many.

39 year old lefty swinging Matt Stairs would probably play first base for the Blue Jays if anything happened to Overbay and he had to miss some time. Stairs still has some power as he hit 13 homers and knocked in 51 runs in only 348 at bats. His average was only .247 but he had a solid .748 OPS. It’s likely that Stairs might be needed elsewhere on the diamond because some of the Blue Jays have problems with injuries. He played in 12 games at first base and didn’t make an error last season.

31 year old lefty swinging Kevin Barker will likely begin this season at AAA and be ready in case the Jays have injury issues. Barker hit .275 with an .859 OPS in AAA last season with 18 homers and 76 RBIs. He has a .245 career major league batting average with a .680 OPS in 253 at bats. He would do a decent job at first if the Blue Jays had a rash of injuries hit them.