jaysblue

Could be some concerns with Bieber possibly being ready for Opening Day, and probably the Jays wanted to ease him back to begin with. He might be good for only 15-20 starts during the regular season. Also, Yesavage is likely to have some sort of monitored workload in 2026.

Not that crazy about the Schwarber deal but he has become a fan favourite in Philly and fits that ballpark nicely. Can he repeat his 2025 season offensively? You're pretty much paying him based on that. Phillies better hope he ages like Ortiz. Otherwise, like some have said he's a similar bat to Santander from 2022-2024 where he's a 2ish+ WAR player. 5 years is also a lot for a player of his type.

Nice pickup for $7.5M on a one-year deal. Could start or pitch out of the pen as a multiple inning reliever. 9.54 K/9 and 1.1 WAR last season.

Must have been a slow day at the Winter Meetings yesterday lol.

Nice to have Yariel down in Buffalo as depth, even if at that salary. He can be stretched out again as a starter and come up either for rotation or BP help during the season. His numbers as a BP arm in the second half were garbage: 4.21 ERA, 4.93 FIP, 20 K's, 18 BB's across 25.2 innings. Definitely think he wasn't 100%. Hopefully he can tweak something where he becomes more consistent as a reliever. As a depth starter in Buffalo, you don't mind if he's given 10-15 starts during the regular season if there are injuries. Better than having arms like Urena, Lucas, or Turnball making those starts.

Big thanks to Term for making this all easy for us! He's not just a Sheriff but he's also a great teacher as well!

I loved Delgado, but I think he just falls short. I think 50 WAR is the threshold/minimum for the HofF and he's still behind that.

I think Berrios would have to be moved first though, both for financial reasons and for either Bassitt or Max wanting to sign here. Max or Bassitt likely still want to be starters for most of the regular season and Max for sure would want to be a starter in the Postseason. Bassitt is likely okay with moving to the pen again in October and could definitely be a valuable multiple inning pen arm. Right now the rotation is too crowded for either of them to consider the Jays an option at this time in the offseason. I'm sure Bassitt and Max will try to land deals where they're guaranteed a spot in the rotation. Maybe later in the offseason like January/February, if one of them are still unsigned or maybe someone like Max sits out until June/July and signs to pitch in the second half. But yeah, with Berrios still in the fold, don't see how spending $15M on either Bassitt or Max at this time makes sense.

I agree, but which team is going to take on Berrios and his contract? Jays likely need to be taking money back in any deal, unless they trade Berrios away with prospects.

If the Jays dump Berrios (which is highly unlikely given his contract), then posters on here will be saying there isn't enough depth for the rotation 😅 Not going to be a Negative Nancy, but Gausman did pitch 220 innings last season (including Postseason), is a year older and at times during the regular season looked meh. Bieber is still returning from missing a lot of time, so Jays will be cautious with him. Yesavage will definitely have his workload monitored and who knows if a sophomore slump is incoming. Ponce is coming from the KBO so we'll see how he adjusts back in the MLB, and Lauer can probably be relied on for just 10-15 effective starts. Not all of these are going to happen all together, but possibly one or two could. Gausman, Cease, Bieber, Yesavage, Ponce, Berrios, Lauer, and Tiedemann make you 8 starters deep and is definitely nice depth to have over the course of a 162 game season. The Ponce signing feels so good in that it stretches out the rest of the rotation in case of an extended injury or another arm struggles. Plus, not having to rely on Berrios right from the start as a No. 5 before ST. We'll see how things play out in Dunedin. Ponce at $10M AAV is also really nice since you weren't going to be able to sign a Bassitt or Scherzer at that amount. Ponce could also go back and forth between the rotation and pen throughout the season if need be.

Nah, not even close IMO. If the Jays also resign Bo or sign Tucker or trade for Marte + sign a top reliever like Diaz then sure. Still think the 2005/2006 offseason was up there: signing Burnett, Ryan, Bengie, and trading for Glaus/Overbay. Considering the Jays prior to that didn't spend any money and never were real big FA players. Also, even though a lot of the moves never worked out, it was exciting trading for Jose Reyes, Mark Buehrle, Josh Johnson and RA Dickey prior to the 2013 season. The offseason prior to 2015 trading for JD and signing Martin was exciting as well. The offseason before 2022 was exciting as well: trading for Chapman and signing Gausman.

Halladay, Burnett, McGowan and Marcum at the start of 2008 was very exciting. Jesse Litsch was pretty solid as well as the No. 5 guy lol. Unfortunately injuries to McGowan and Marcum in the middle of the season dampened that excitement. Definitely a fun rotation now, but it lacks a Halladay/Clemens type of arm at the top. Maybe Cease can be that guy. Regardless, 1 through 5 is very solid if everyone stays healthy and pitches to expectation!

Very solid rotation and nice depth.

Hopefully Christopher Lloyd and his crew are around next season.

I'm not that crazy about Robert Suarez to be honest. He's already 34 and prior to this season wasn't really an elite closer or anything special. His K/9 this season was decent but nothing elite like Diaz or Williams. Would rather save that money and target guys like Keller or Fairbanks at a fraction of the cost and years.

Mentioned Keller's name last week and he would be a great value addition to the pen if the Jays decide not to spend $ on the other top options.

Imagine the marketing Rogers could do for their cellphone and internet commercials!

Pretty much will be the Plan B for the teams who failed to sign Skubal. Luzardo is definitely in for a nice payday if he repeats his 2025 performance again. Bubic could be an interesting arm as well. Posted 3.3 WAR in 20 starts last season with a 2.89 FIP. If he stays healthy, definitely could be a nice add.

Yes very true.

The SP market next season will be lead by Tarik Skubal. Geez I wonder how much he will get...you'll probably have all the high payroll teams bidding for his services. Some other notable FA arms: - Luzardo - Peralta - Bubic - Gray - Rogers - Ray - Woodruff - Sale - Gausman - Bieber - Flaherty - Rasmussen - Pivetta (opt-out) Don't think the Jays need to go all nuts on Imai this offseason. Still a lot of arms available next offseason and you figure that the Jays could still possible resign either Bieber or Gausman at the end of next season if they want.

I think the Jays will still target one of Bo or Tucker or Belly or even Bregman, though only just one of those guys. They can't sign both Bo and Tucker, don't see it. Kim wouldn't be a bad fallback option if the Jays fail to resign Bo or an infielder like Bregman. I'm all for bringing Bassitt if he's willing to fill that kind of role, where he makes 20 or so starts during the regular season and the rest he's utilized out of the pen, especially come Postseason time. Depends on his price. If he remains unsigned through mid-to-end January, his price likely will fall. Soroka also could be a solid option. As for the pen, we'll see what happens. If they don't target someone like Diaz, Suarez or Williams, could see them going after guys like Hunter Harvey, Fairbanks or Phillips.

He's been a mid 4+ WAR arm a couple times already and posted a 4.7 WAR season in 2024. 5 WAR is definitely reachable. 6 WAR would be optimistic and Skubal level territory. Out of all arms that were available in free agency, he probably was the only one who had the potential to reach that mark.

Yeah Cease isn't an ace at the moment but he has the potential to be an ace if he puts it all together. Getting out of Chicago helped and hopefully now with the Jays system, they can help him work towards that. This signing kind of reminds me of when the Jays signed AJ Burnett during the 2005/2006 offseason. Burnett at the time was at a similar age and more of a No. 2 throughout his career, though had the stuff and all the potential to become an ace. The only difference between Burnett and Cease has been durability. At the time, health/durability was Burnett's issue as we saw in 2006 and 2007 he only made around 20-25 starts each of those seasons. Though in 2008, he pretty much developed into that ace Toronto envisioned during his opt out year lol, posting a 5 WAR season. Sucked with the Yankees after, though put together some solid years with the Pirates. The plus with Cease is durability and a healthy track record, so you know he's good for 30+ starts and around 170-180 innings and likely a floor of 3.5-4 WAR, which is still very good. Cease has the potential to turn in a 5-6 WAR season if he puts everything together and that is exciting!

I wouldn't think the Jays are done in terms of adding to their rotation. Like some on here have already said, they might try to build a rotation of all #1/2 arms. As well, they might try to replicate what the Dodgers did with their pitching to an extent during the regular season/postseason. Maybe they ease Bieber and Yesavage throughout the first half since they likely want to watch their innings totals with Bieber coming back from injury and Yesavage still only 22. As for Gausman and Cease, they make their 30+ starts each. Maybe Bieber and Yesavage around 20ish during the regular season, so they can be let loose in September and the Postseason. Berrios might be pushed to 6th on their depth charts, but he'll still be utilized throughout the regular season.