Leo Morgenstern

Earlier this week, Baseball America's Matt Eddy rounded up some minor league transactions from the beginning of the offseason. As part of his report, he noted that six players have re-signed with the Toronto Blue Jays on new minor league contracts: Lazaro Estrada, Josh Stephan, Adrian Pinto, Alexis Hernandez, Hedbert Perez, and Geovanny Planchart. Estrada, 27, is the only one of the six with MLB experience. He pitched 20.1 innings for the Jays between 2025 and '26. Injuries limited his playing time this past season, but when healthy, he can offer right-handed rotation/long-relief depth. Stephan, 25, came over along with Josh Smith at last summer's trade deadline, in exchange for Adam Macko. The righty made seven starts for Triple-A Buffalo in August and September. Pinto (2B), Hernandez (OF), Perez (OF), and Planchart (C) all reached Double-A New Hampshire last season. View full rumor

Shi Davidi of Sportsnet reported today that right-hander Jake Bloss has qualified for a fourth option year. This means the Blue Jays will not risk losing the 25-year-old if they do not have a spot for him on their Opening Day roster next March. Nearly every MLB player starts his big league career with three option years. He uses one up the first time he is sent down to the minors in a given season. He can then be optioned back and forth between the 26-man roster and the minors up to five times that year. Once a player has been optioned in three separate seasons, he is generally said to be "out of options," and his team can no longer send him down to the minors without first placing him on outright waivers. However, there is an exception to that rule. If a player has already exhausted his three option years before he has accrued five full seasons between the majors and minors, he is eligible for a fourth option year. The Astros selected Bloss in the 2023 draft and promoted him to the majors less than a year later. The Blue Jays optioned the righty to Triple-A Buffalo after they acquired him at the 2024 trade deadline and subsequently optioned him back to Buffalo at the beginning of the 2025 and '26 campaigns. Thus, he burned through three option years in only four professional seasons. That's why he has been granted a fourth option year, which the Jays will almost certainly use in 2027. Bloss has yet to pitch in the majors with Toronto. UCL surgery kept him out for most of 2025 and into 2026. A few weeks after he returned to Buffalo this past summer, he suffered a teres major strain that ended his season. Around those IL stints, he pitched to a 6.48 ERA and 5.64 FIP in 90.1 minor league innings in the Blue Jays organization. He is currently pitching in the Arizona Fall League, where he has given up 10 runs on 13 hits in 10.2 frames. Despite those unimpressive numbers, Bloss has a lot of talent in his right arm. There is a very good chance he will contribute meaningful innings for Toronto in 2027. Now, thankfully, there's no pressure for those innings to come straight away. So, he will most likely begin the season with the Bisons, honing his craft and readying himself for when the Blue Jays need the depth. View full article

The Blue Jays and Rudy Martin Jr. have agreed to a new minor league deal, according to Ari Alexander of 7News Boston. The contract includes an invitation to big league spring training. The 30-year-old made his long-awaited MLB debut with Toronto in September. Unfortunately, he only appeared in two games before suffering a season-ending hamstring strain. Now, he can hope to get a longer look with the Jays in 2027. His odds of making the Opening Day roster are slim, but he'll offer speedy outfield depth at Triple-A Buffalo. View full rumor

David Bell is leaving the Blue Jays after two years with the organization, reports Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. The former Reds manager joined the Jays as an assistant general manager and vice president of baseball operations during the 2024-25 offseason. Shi Davidi of Sportsnet confirmed the report, adding that Toronto is seeking a new executive to replace Bell in the front office. It's not yet clear if that new hire would take over all of Bell's previous duties. As assistant GM and VP of baseball operations. Bell managed two departments for the Blue Jays: player development and physical & mental performance. According to the Blue Jays' staff directory, the team still employs four VPs of baseball operations and two assistant GMs. View full rumor

On Monday, the Baseball Writers Association of America announced the top three vote-getters for each of its five awards: MVP, Cy Young, Rookie of the Year, Manager of the Year, and the brand-new Relief Pitcher of the Year. While no Blue Jays made the podium for MVP, RotY, or MotY, Dylan Cease and Louis Varland were named "finalists" for the Cy Young and the inaugural Relief Pitcher of the Year Award, respectively. The winners of both awards will be announced on Wednesday, November 11. Cease is likely to finish as the Cy Young runner-up, behind the Yankees' Cam Schlittler and ahead of the Guardians' Parker Messick. Varland has a better chance to win his award, unless it turns out the BBWAA voters value saves significantly more than anything else. Fellow finalists Bryan Baker of the Rays and Cade Smith of the Guardians tied for the MLB lead in saves, but Varland outperformed both of them in almost every other category. View full rumor

Earlier this week, Mike LeSage wrote about all the familiar faces on DiamondCentric's list of the top free agents. It got me thinking about three of them in particular: All-Star starters Kevin Gausman, Shane Bieber, and Max Scherzer. The Blue Jays' priority this winter will be upgrading an offense that finished last in MLB in runs and home runs. However, Ross Atkins will also look to lengthen a starting rotation that weathered more than a dozen IL stints in 2026. With Scherzer, Bieber, Patrick Corbin, and Jameson Taillon soon to hit free agency, the Jays will be short on proven big league arms. Dylan Cease, José Soriano, and Trey Yesavage make a strong top three. Hopefully, Cody Ponce will be healthy and ready to slot in as the No. 4 next March, but even he is a question mark. And after Ponce, the question marks only get bigger. Spencer Arrighetti. Ricky Tiedeman. Bowden Francis. Jake Bloss. Chad Dallas. That's a lot of depth, but it's still not enough, especially since José Berríos will be out recovering from his Tommy John surgery until mid-season. So, there's a high likelihood the Jays will add at least one experienced MLB starter this winter. It could be someone we've never seen in Blue Jays blue before. It could be an old friend like Chris Bassitt or Robbie Ray. But just for fun, let's say it's going to be someone who pitched for Toronto in 2025 and '26. If that's the case, should it be Gausman, Bieber, or Scherzer? I think you could make a compelling case for all three. The Case for Kevin Gausman If I were betting on one of these pitchers to have the best season in 2027, Gausman would be the easy choice. I wouldn't be shocked if Bieber turned in a sharper performance, but the odds are stacked against him, considering he hasn't pitched a full season since 2022. Gausman is Mr. Reliable. He made at least 31 starts in all five years of his $110 million contract, and he hasn't been on the injured list since 2019. By ERA, 2026 was his worst season since that injury-plagued 2019 campaign. However, his peripheral numbers were as strong as ever. In short, Gausman is easily the most valuable of these three pitchers. Indeed, of anyone available on the free agent market, I think he might be the best bet to give a team 30-plus above-average starts. The question is whether that's the kind of player the Blue Jays want to spend their money on. Gausman will be seeking an annual salary near $20 million and at least a two-year commitment. That's significantly more than Scherzer or Bieber will command. Now, I'm not saying the Jays can't afford to re-sign Gausman. Of course they can. But even Rogers' money isn't infinite, and Ross Atkins might prefer to direct more of his resources toward the offense. So, whether or not Gausman makes sense depends on how confident the Jays are in their internal starting pitching options. After the season we just lived through, I would happily welcome Gausman back in 2027. But if you have more confidence than I do in guys like Ponce, Arrighetti, Tiedemann, and Berríos, I can understand why you might see Gausman as superfluous. The Case for Max Scherzer Scherzer battled through numerous injuries to give the Blue Jays 35 starts across his age-40 and 41 campaigns. He was far more valuable to the team than his 9-14 record, 5.46 ERA, and 0.7 fWAR would have you believe. Not only was he beloved within the clubhouse, but he quickly connected with the fans, who were thrilled to watch a legendary pitcher polish his Hall of Fame resume in Toronto. Scherzer has not yet confirmed that he'll try to play in 2027, but if he does, he can continue compiling counting stats. Most notably, he has a good shot at moving up a few more spots on the all-time strikeouts list. At this point in his career, Scherzer's ceiling is much lower than Gausman's or Bieber's. In terms of on-field production, he really only offers depth. However, for the reasons I laid out above, he's worth more than just his numbers. The Jays can find the kind of production they might be hoping to get from Gausman or Bieber somewhere else, but there aren't any other free agents quite like Scherzer. Furthermore, Scherzer and the Blue Jays could do something similar to what they did last winter, when they stayed in touch throughout the offseason but didn't officially sign a contract until the Jays knew they needed extra depth. Such an arrangement would benefit Scherzer, who might not be capable of pitching a full season at 42, and the Blue Jays, who wouldn't have to make space for him on the roster right away. Signing Scherzer probably only makes sense if the Jays also sign another free agent pitcher, or they're far more confident than we realize in the arms they have at home. Still, there's no such thing as too much pitching depth, and I really want to see Scherzer pass Verlander in career strikeouts. The Case for Shane Bieber In some ways, Bieber is the compromise candidate between Gausman and Scherzer. From 2019-22, Bieber pitched to a 2.91 ERA and 16.0 fWAR in 93 games. He made two All-Star teams and earned Cy Young votes in three of those four seasons, highlighted by a unanimous victory in 2020. At his best, he can lead a rotation just as capably as Gausman. Unfortunately, injuries have thrown his career off course. Unlike Gausman, he isn't in a position to seek a multi-year deal or a $20 million salary. Last offseason, he picked up his $16 million player option instead of collecting a $4 million buyout. In other words, he agreed to stay with Toronto in 2026 for a net payment of $12 million. Now, he's coming off another injury-shortened season, and one in which his performance was much worse. I'm not sure he could even command eight figures. So, with Bieber, you get a player with top-of-the-rotation upside, but his contract could look closer to Scherzer's than Gausman's. That means Bieber is the best target of the three if Ross Atkins doesn't want to spend Gausman-level money on a starting pitcher and he isn't convinced Scherzer has enough left in the tank. Personally, I'm least interested in bringing Bieber back. I wish him the best wherever he signs, but the Jays already have enough promising question marks. What they need now is the kind of insurance that the injury-prone Bieber just can't offer. View full article

Since Alejandro Kirk's rookie campaign in 2021, Blue Jays catchers have averaged just over 5.0 fWAR per year, more than any other team's backstops. This past season was more of the same. Blue Jays catchers produced 4.8 fWAR, the third-most in MLB – despite the fact that Kirk only played in 79 games. That was thanks to a spectacular defensive showing from Brandon Valenzuela. In just over 600 innings, the rookie ranked second among all catchers in FRV and fourth in DRS. So, the Blue Jays will enter 2026 with one of the strongest catching tandems in the sport. Kirk is one of the most well-rounded catchers in the game, and Valenzuela looks like a worthy backup. Yet, as we learned in 2026, having two catchers isn't always enough. That's why I'm starting this year's Depth Check series behind the plate. Starting Catcher: Alejandro Kirk In his worst offensive seasons, Kirk was still an average hitter for his position. At his best, he blends contact skills, plate discipline, and pop into a very productive package. Defensively, he is consistently one of the league's most talented pitch-framers, while his pitch-blocking skills are unparalleled. In 2026, he took to the ABS system naturally, to no surprise. I could easily argue that Kirk is a top-five catcher in baseball. Backup: Brandon Valenzuela If there is any knock on Kirk, it's that he hasn't proven he can consistently handle a heavy workload. The 2025 campaign was the first year in which he started more than 90 games or fielded more than 800 innings. That isn't Kirk's fault; he shared his job with Danny Jansen from 2021-24, and the thumb injury he suffered in 2026 could have happened to anyone. Still, it's worth keeping in mind. Thankfully, Valenzuela's breakout means Kirk's durability is much less of a concern than it could be. Don't get me wrong – the Blue Jays are better off with Kirk's bat in the lineup than Valenzuela's. Kirk uses a sharp eye and great timing to make the most of a slower swing. Valenzuela has yet to show the same skills. However, Valenzuela looked every bit Kirk's equal on the other side of the ball. Valenzuela still needs time to develop in the majors and show us who he really is. That said, I believe in the glove, and I think the Blue Jays do too. I'm more skeptical about his offense, but all things considered, that's low on my list of concerns. When your backup catcher plays Gold Glove-calibre defense, anything he does with the stick is just a bonus. 40-Man Depth Right now, the Blue Jays only have one other catcher on their 40-man roster: 27-year-old Shawn Ross. It's anyone's guess how long they will keep him around – 40-man spots are valuable in November – but for now, he's the third-string catcher. Ross started his pro career with the Pirates and worked his way up their system until he made his MLB debut this past summer. He appeared in two games for Pittsburgh before he was designated for assignment. While he only had one hit in his five trips to the plate, it was a big one. Facing future Blue Jay Jameson Taillon, Ross hit a go-ahead two-run home run, getting his first big league hit, run, RBI, and home run out of the way with one swing. The Mets claimed Ross off waivers in August and subsequently DFA'd him a month later. That's when the Blue Jays swooped in. He caught seven games for Triple-A Buffalo. If I had to guess, I'd say that Ross isn't in the Blue Jays' plans for 2027. It made sense to claim him in September to have some experienced depth around in case of emergency, but he hasn't done enough to hold on to a 40-man roster spot through the offseason. Maybe if he goes unclaimed on waivers, he will return to the Jays on a minor league deal. Rule 5-Eligible Depth The Blue Jays have two catching prospects who will be eligible for the Rule 5 draft this winter: Edward Duran and Jacob Sharp. The Jays acquired Duran from the Marlins in 2022. FanGraphs currently has him ranked as the No. 21 prospect in the organization, with a 40 FV. Before the season, their evaluators praised his framing and arm strength but questioned his bat and other defensive skills. Brendan Gawlowski wrote that he "projects as a solid backup." Unfortunately, the 2026 season was a step backward for Duran. The 22-year-old finished the season with a .605 OPS and 61 wRC+ in 65 games, mostly at High-A Vancouver. He fell off Baseball America's list of the top 30 Blue Jays prospects after their July update, and I wouldn't be surprised if he's lower on the next FanGraphs ranking as well. All of this to say, I would be very surprised if the Blue Jays protected Duran from the Rule 5 draft. He might be ready to debut at some point in 2027, but no other team should be willing to guarantee him a 26-man roster spot. Sharp joined the Jays in 2024. He came over from the Mariners with Jonatan Clase as the return for Yimi García. Now 25, he's about three years older than Duran, and he has more experience at the Double-A level. However, he's never been a ranked prospect. It's highly unlikely he would be selected in the Rule 5 draft, and even if he were, the Jays could stomach that loss. More Minor League Depth Aaron Parker spent the 2026 season with Double-A New Hampshire. He was a three-true-outcomes hitter, knocking 19 homers with a 12.3% walk rate and a 32.3% strikeout rate. It all added up to a 115 wRC+. The 23-year-old is currently playing in the Arizona Fall League, where he's continued to hit well in a handful of games. Parker is a bat-first catcher, which goes against the Blue Jays' MO, but he's probably the closest to MLB-ready of any of the prospects in Toronto's system. We could see him in 2027 if the Jays need an emergency stopgap behind the plate, though I think they're more likely to sign a veteran on a minor league contract to play that role. View full article

The Blue Jays worked Mason Fluharty too hard in 2026. The sophomore made a league-leading 83 appearances. He became one of only three pitchers in the last decade to pitch in more than half the season's games. Fluharty also became the first pitcher since Jonathan Broxton in 2007 to pitch at least 83 games in his age-24 (or younger) campaign. I should be clear that Fluharty was up to the task. He finished the season with a 7-1 record, a 3.30 ERA, and 19 holds. His 2.83 expected ERA (per Statcast) was especially impressive; only five AL pitchers threw more innings with a lower xERA. Even so, it's not sustainable to ask one reliever to take on so much responsibility. While Fluharty's surface-level numbers were stellar in August and September, I grew more and more nervous during his outings later in the season. From March through July, he posted a 27.3% strikeout rate, a 9.6% walk rate, and a 38.6% groundball rate. In August and September, his strikeout rate plummeted to 18.4%, his walk rate climbed to 13.2%, and he induced groundballs at just a 29.4% clip. Somehow, he only gave up two runs in 27 appearances during that stretch, but the signs of fatigue were there. His average arm angle fell as the year went on, and with that, the release point on all three of his pitches dropped and moved farther toward the first base side. That could help to explain why he struggled to locate his pitches and put hitters away. Having said all that... I didn't actually plan to write about Mason Fluharty today. What I really want to discuss are the Blue Jays' other left-handed relievers. Fluharty dominated left-handed hitters this past season. He held them to a .189 wOBA and a 1.83 xERA. That's why John Schneider called on him so often. Well, that and the fact that Schneider didn't have enough other lefty relievers he trusted. So, if the Jays are going to give Fluharty a bit of a break in 2027, they'll need some more left-handers they can count on. Here's my question: Are those lefties already in the building? Brendon Little was Toronto's best southpaw in 2025. He looked completely lost early in 2026, but he figured things out by the end of the year – though you wouldn't know it by looking at his overall numbers. Little's 6.35 ERA and negative fWAR obscure just how good he was in the second half. Post-All-Star break, Little looked every bit as dominant as he was before the break in 2025. In 23.2 innings this July, August, and September, he worked to a 2.28 ERA, a 2.47 xERA, and a 37% strikeout rate. His walk rate was still astronomical, but that's just who Little is. He doesn't need to get his walk rate down – he just needs to rack up enough strikeouts that the walks can't hurt him. Another lefty flashed terrific stuff for Toronto late this past season: Brendan Cellucci. The 28-year-old rookie only threw 8.2 innings, but in that tiny sample, he struck out 11 batters. His four-seam and sweeper made a perfect pair. The Blue Jays aren't going to save a spot for Cellucci on next year's Opening Day roster. Yet, he has earned the right to stick on the roster this winter and compete for a job in the spring. The fact that he has two option years remaining will hurt his chances to break camp, but it's great that the Jays could have some optionable left-handed depth with big strikeout stuff. That description also applied to Ricky Tiedemann, the last piece of this puzzle. The Blue Jays presumably want Tiedemann to stretch out as a starter in 2027. That means he'll probably start the year with Triple-A Buffalo. However, if the big league club needs a new lefty for the bullpen, Tiedemann will be another option they can call on. So, do the Blue Jays need to bring in another left-handed reliever? Well, it all depends on their internal evaluation of Little, but I'm leaning no. Barring an injury or a surprising trade, Fluharty will be on the Opening Day roster next season. Little is out of minor league options, and his stuff is too good for the Jays to just let him go. So, I'm guessing he makes the OD roster too. It will be a bit of a gamble, but giving up on him would be a gamble too. And with Cellucci and Tiedemann as backup plans, I think gambling on Little is the right move. Ross Atkins will still need to look for bullpen depth this offseason. He should hand out several low-risk minor league contracts, and I expect he'll add one veteran on a guaranteed deal as well. Could that veteran be a southpaw? Sure. It's not like the Jays are starved for righty relievers. But I don't think they're going to be seeking a lefty specialist for the middle innings. The guys they already have have got that covered. View full article