The Toronto Blue Jays came out of the All-Star break and promptly lost 12-4 to the White Sox, dropping to 45-52. They sit on the outside of an American League Wild Card race that nobody seems interested in winning, and the trade deadline arrives Aug. 3. Every healthy body matters. Addison Barger is not a healthy body, and the clock is about to run out on his season.
Barger has been shelved with back and right elbow injuries. He has taken 22 at-bats all year. He has not begun any level of rehab activity. That combination — two ailing body parts, zero baseball movement, a calendar flipping toward August — has the Blue Jays approaching what manager John Schneider called a “go or no” decision.
“We’re still hoping for the best,” Schneider told the Toronto Star‘s Gregor Chisholm. “I think we’re getting to the point where we either say go or no. Dealing with those two things has been tough. He’s frustrated.”
Chisholm laid out the math plainly: even if Barger resumed a structured rehab plan this week, he would not be game-ready until at least mid-August. Once the earliest possible return drifts into September, the conversation shifts from “how soon” to “why bother.”
“Once the earliest return date slips into September, conversations will turn to whether they should just wait until 2027,” Chisholm wrote.
Keegan Matheson of MLB.com reinforced the same timeline after the break, noting that Barger’s lack of any rehab activity is “getting worrying” for a player the organization viewed as a significant source of upside this season. Matheson compared a potential return to a shortened spring training — Barger would need weeks just to build back into playing shape before any rehab assignment could even begin.
That sets up early August as the functional deadline. If Barger cannot show meaningful progress in the coming days, Toronto will likely shut him down, prioritize a full recovery, and redirect his focus toward 2027.
The decision carries weight beyond one player’s health. Barger, 25, was part of Toronto’s young core entering the season — a left-handed bat with power who figured into the club’s plans at multiple positions. Losing him for the year would further deplete a roster already missing key contributors and would compound the difficulty of any second-half push the Blue Jays attempt to mount.
Toronto’s front office also has to weigh the trade deadline against the injury picture. Adding pieces for a Wild Card run makes less sense if the players you’re supplementing keep disappearing from the lineup. The Blue Jays have 66 games remaining and a steep climb ahead. Barger’s situation is one more obstacle in a season that has produced more bad news than good since Opening Day.
Schneider’s “go or no” framing tells you where this is headed. A kid who can’t start a rehab program in late July isn’t walking back into a pennant race in August. The film doesn’t lie.
