Last week, we told you that the one roster decision that we were absolutely positive about for the Toronto Blue Jays this offseason.

And that was that right-handed pitcher Jose Berrios will pick up his two-year, $48 million player option.

A decision we're far less sure about is the $8 million club option that the Blue Jays hold on outfielder Myles Straw.

Let's examine a little deeper.

Now 31 years old, Straw was a 12th-round pick of the Houston Astros in the 2015 MLB Draft. He made his major league debut in 2018 with the Astros, establishing himself as no-power hitter who was also a good defender and ran well.

He played in 196 games for the Astros over four years from 2018-21 and then was traded to the Cleveland Guardians in 2021. In parts of four years with the Guardians, he hit .240 with 56 stolen bases. He won a Gold Glove Award in 2022.

The Blue Jays acquired him in 2025, basically taking on the remainder of his salary in order to get more international signing bonus money with the hopes of signing Roki Sasaki out of Japan. However, Sasaki signed with the Dodgers.

Straw was a solid contributor for the American League champion Jays, hitting .262 in 299 plate appearances with 12 stolen bases. A solid clubhouse presence and a still solid defender, he hit .241 in 2026 in 330 plate appearances.

He's actually got team options after this season ($8 million) and 2027 ($8.5 million), meaning the Jays have team control for two more years if they want it.

1) He's a good clubhouse presence who has experience in the organization. He's been part of a winning culture, and he still plays solid defense, which every contender needs. As a fourth outfielder, you could absolutely do worse than Myles Straw.

2) The Blue Jays outfield is too left-handed with Addison Barger, Brett Bateman and Nathan Lukes. We've advocated for signing Randy Arozarena or Seiya Suzuki, but that's not a guarantee. Maybe the team shouldn't get rid of Straw and should elect to keep him as a fourth outfielder, or maybe he could form a platoon with Lukes should they strike out on Arozarena or Suzuki. 

I discussed the possibility of moving on from Lukes recently as well.

He's 31, and he'll be 32 later in October. Do you want to allocate nearly $10 million to an aging outfielder that is best served as a platoon bat or a bench bat? Especially in a world where we don't know what the financial landscape is going to look like for baseball in 2027?

The specter of the Collective Bargaining Agreement issues are looming everywhere in the sport, and it will influence nearly everything that teams do. Perhaps the Jays just want to reset the deck the way they can heading into the new baseball world.