Addison Barger and George Springer give Blue Jays much-needed good news

That matters because the Blue Jays have spent the first 2 weeks of the season patching together at-bats and outfield innings while the injured list keeps growing.

Springer's update was the cleaner one. His toe is doing better, he is still swinging in the batting cages, and the next checkpoint is obvious even if it has not arrived yet.

He has not started running, which is the line Toronto still needs to cross before this turns from rehab maintenance into a real return push. That fits the club's earlier read on Springer's broken left big toe, with Schneider hoping the outfielder could miss only the minimum stint.

Barger's progress sounds a little more layered. He is still hitting and throwing, and he has even started taking groundballs hit right at him, which tells you the Blue Jays are testing how much ankle stability he can handle.

The bigger note with Barger is the next step. The expectation is that he will begin running next week, and that is the point where this rehab starts looking less like waiting and more like movement.

The visual from this update says plenty on its own: Springer working in the cage without pushing the lower half, Barger fielding balls right at him and building back one controlled rep at a time.

Springer's absence has cut into more than one spot on the lineup card. He was placed on the IL on April 12 with a fractured left big toe, and Toronto has already had to rethink the leadoff spot and designated hitter mix without him.

Barger's injury created a different problem. He landed on the IL on April 7 with a left ankle sprain after hurting both ankles on the same play, leaving the Blue Jays to rotate corner-outfield help while waiting for his bat to get another shot.

That is why Saturday's update landed well for Toronto even without a return date attached. Neither player sounds stuck, and on this roster, simple forward progress has started to count as good news.

Springer still needs to run. Barger still needs to prove that groundballs and straight-line work can turn into full baseball movement. But the tone is better now than it was when each injury first hit.

For Schneider, that is the real takeaway. The Blue Jays are not talking about setbacks here. They are talking about steps, and for a club already juggling too many injuries, that is enough to keep both George Springer and Addison Barger in the near-future picture.