Blue Jays Discussion Thread (2026)

[glory]

I think Keys will be traded. His best position is probably 1B, and that position is taken until 2067 when Vlad's contract ends. This team values defense way too much to throw him in LF and hope he sticks, and they barely played him in September. So on this team he's really DH-mainly. That makes him a bit less valuable to the Jays and possibly more valuable in a trade as other teams could use him at 1B or possibly 3B depending on how he looks there. 

Davidi mentioned Abrams, Marte, and Neto as potential trade targets. I don't think the Jays have enough expendable prospect depth to get any of those players but Keys would probably be involved in a deal like that for someone. If Arizona hates Marte enough to sell low then maybe that's an option. 

 

[Terminator]

 

[Terminator]

• Sounds crazy to non-tender Ernie but slap hitting utility infielders often don't get as much as that on the open market. I suspect they'll bring him back though.
• Smith is probably back.
• Francis and Schneider could be DFA candidates.
• The rest are no brainers.

 

[Forever92]

On 10/1/2026 at 10:14 AM, Brownie19 said:

You can just say you're not willing to pay Gausman enough to sign him.  It's OK.

Back of rotation starter is Gausman's caliber now

[hanton]

on  Cease

“I’m going to southern India, where Sadhguru, a Yogi, his ashram is,” he said. “I’m going to maybe spend like two weeks there, or something like that. They have such an interesting spiritual culture there, up and down the country. It's incredible.”

[hanton]

I don't get what "his ashram is" means but this is interesting as f

[hanton]

1 hour ago, Terminator said:

 

this is out already?  cool

varland and soriano look like bargains, ernie seems a bit much

[John_Havok]

1 hour ago, hanton said:

this is out already?  cool

varland and soriano look like bargains, ernie seems a bit much

Varland is a super 2 whos going to be closing for the forseeable future. He won't be a bargain for long.

[Brownie19]

1 hour ago, Forever92 said:

Back of rotation starter is Gausman's caliber now

I'm sorry - but do you follow baseball?  Michael Lorenzen got 1 year $8M last offseason.  Bassitt got 1 year $18.5M

Gausman is getting more than $7M.

Information is readily available for you to make more informed comments.  Just sayin'

[Eat My Shatkins]

2 hours ago, Forever92 said:

Back of rotation starter is Gausman's caliber now

 

24 minutes ago, Brownie19 said:

I'm sorry - but do you follow baseball?  Michael Lorenzen got 1 year $8M last offseason.  Bassitt got 1 year $18.5M

Gausman is getting more than $7M.

Information is readily available for you to make more informed comments.  Just sayin'

Not to mention, Gausman had 3.2 fWAR this season which ranked him 28th in MLB. If you think he's "back of the rotation" caliber, your math ain't mathing properly.

[jaysblue]

Gausman, despite some of his struggles, was still worth 3.2 fWAR this season after putting up 4.1 fWAR in 2025. To me, he’s absolutely worth bringing back on a one-year deal in the $18–20M range.

Obviously it would be nice if he gave the Jays a bit of a hometown discount, but even if he doesn’t, I’d still be completely fine with that kind of deal. He raises the floor of the rotation, and his durability has real value over a 162-game season.

And who knows, maybe there’s still some magic left in the bottle. Even if he’s no longer the consistently elite arm he was in 2022 and 2023, he might still be capable of putting together a 5–10 start stretch where he looks like that guy again. On a one-year commitment, I’d gladly take that chance.

[Brownie19]

2 hours ago, jaysblue said:

Gausman, despite some of his struggles, was still worth 3.2 fWAR this season after putting up 4.1 fWAR in 2025. To me, he’s absolutely worth bringing back on a one-year deal in the $18–20M range.

Obviously it would be nice if he gave the Jays a bit of a hometown discount, but even if he doesn’t, I’d still be completely fine with that kind of deal. He raises the floor of the rotation, and his durability has real value over a 162-game season.

And who knows, maybe there’s still some magic left in the bottle. Even if he’s no longer the consistently elite arm he was in 2022 and 2023, he might still be capable of putting together a 5–10 start stretch where he looks like that guy again. On a one-year commitment, I’d gladly take that chance.

I'd be surprised if we have the budget to sign him. I agree, he's going to cost $18M+

We need go address the offense more.  If we sign Gausman, I suspect it's a sign we missed out on the offensive guys we wanted.  I hope I'm wrong - would love to see him back.

[Spanky__99]

6 hours ago, Forever92 said:

Back of rotation starter is Gausman's caliber now

Wat? lulz

[Jays24]

19 hours ago, Brownie19 said:

We're a last place team man.  Obviously we're aiming to get back in the playoffs, but this isn't a team that's a piece or two away from being a WS contender.

Depending on who we add, I could certainly see Keys getting a lot of PA's from the DH position next year.  If we do add Lowe or Jazz to play 2nd and we add another OFer, I don't think there's going to be much money spent on a DH.

Keys is probably a trade possibility as well - we have a lot of LH batters who can't hit LHPing and you can't platoon everyone...

I realize what we are but id like to be optimistic about where this franchise wants to go.  Then again, I know you guys will warn me to not go crazy when the offseason doesnt meet my expectations but thats the fun part about being a fan lol.  

I agree that he could be a trade chip to land us a 2B or corner OFer because we dont have too many of those currently. 

My point was that i just cant see this franchise making any moves this offseason because they want to get Keys playing time.  He'll have to earn that the same way Barger did is by forcing the issue.  

[Omar]

 

[jaysblue]

22 hours ago, glory said:

I think Keys will be traded. His best position is probably 1B, and that position is taken until 2067 when Vlad's contract ends. This team values defense way too much to throw him in LF and hope he sticks, and they barely played him in September. So on this team he's really DH-mainly. That makes him a bit less valuable to the Jays and possibly more valuable in a trade as other teams could use him at 1B or possibly 3B depending on how he looks there. 

Davidi mentioned Abrams, Marte, and Neto as potential trade targets. I don't think the Jays have enough expendable prospect depth to get any of those players but Keys would probably be involved in a deal like that for someone. If Arizona hates Marte enough to sell low then maybe that's an option. 

 

Between free agency - Jazz, Bo potentially, Lowe, Arraez, Torres - and some of the trade candidates mentioned like Abrams, Neto and Marte, there should be plenty of middle-infield options available. The Jays really should be able to come away with one of them.

I did read on Yahoo that one MLB executive predicted Arraez could get something like 5 years/$100M this winter, which I find hard to believe but who knows: https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/tigers-linked-signing-100-million-174735101.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAMZWGHPfaSnE-S_0JsXU5n905i0PdPNAb0G9husCvKbKBYPIQDZTSStxf40QkLGvX3uzlYne9cEjibrkISzbwyZ1rHr2XRZxf-Hlt8NatPYgAN2ivMHNaXatgfedo5neIpQ8EuG6IOebb4mrt2IeeABeLYvcBPp7lpSc0f14RJko

[John_Havok]

How about Drew Rasmussen as a trade target? 

20 million option is pretty steep for Tampa and he's at the height of his value which... is exactly when Tampa tends to trade guys like him. 

Purely speculative of course amd i know the liklihood of an in division trade isnt likely... but what should it take to trade for 1 year of Rasmussen?

For me, Parker is off the table completely simply because its 1 year of a pitcher and im not trading a possible star SS for that.

Lets say its a 3 prospect only deal. 

Go.