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None of this is to minimize the accomplishment of Carrera last season or to say that it’s not worth allowing him to make his case in spring training for a platoon role or better. And there’s a case to be made against Upton given that he’s in the decline phase of his age curve and that his best production in the recent past were in the quiet obscurity of San Diego. But Upton has a decade worth of history as a moderate contact hitter with above average pop in his bat, which drags his OPS into the league average range. His last two seasons in San Diego were partials (injury in 2015, trade in 2016) and he was heading toward being a 2.0+ WAR player both years. He’s also in the final year of the huge contract he signed with Atlanta five years ago, a contract that turned him into a deeply flawed asset (so flawed that San Diego was willing to trade him for almost nothing and retain all but $1 million of his remaining salary). If you believe in the impetus of an expiring contract on a player’s production, he’ll need to prove his worth. A return to his San Diego production in 2017 could be one of the things that takes the Jays from wild-card fringe into stronger territory.

3. Joe Biagini

It makes sense to use the spring to prepare him for a starter’s workload, even though there’s no way he wouldn’t be in the bullpen if the regular season started right now. With R.A. Dickey and Drew Hutchison gone, there’s a gaping chasm in the Jays system for reliable starters if one of the five front-liners gets hurt. You have Mike Bolsinger, a trade pick up from the Dodgers last season, and Mat Latos, who was signed on Thursday. But after the trade frenzy of July 2015, the Jays’ best starting pitching prospects (Sean Reid-Foley, Jon Greene, T.J. Zeuch) are still well away from being ready. Biagini had one pretty good season as a starter in Double-A with San Francisco in 2015, although it wasn’t good enough for them to keep him from being exposed in the Rule 5 draft, where the Jays got him. You have insurance for a reason and Biagini’s policy is low risk.