Leo Morgenstern

This afternoon, the Toronto Blue Jays announced they had placed left-handed pitcher Easton Lucas, 29, on unconditional release waivers. This will free up another space on the 40-man roster, giving the front office three open spots to work with. Lucas made his MLB debut with the Athletics in 2023 and bounced from the A's to the Tigers to the Blue Jays in 2024. He made a pair of excellent starts for Toronto this past April, striking out 11 in 10.1 scoreless innings. Unfortunately, he struggled after those two outings and could not stick with the major league club. As is often the case when a team releases a player seemingly out of nowhere, it is believed that the Blue Jays granted Lucas his release so he could sign a contract with a foreign professional team (per Sportsnet's Ben Nicholson-Smith). According to reporter Francys Romero, that team will be in Japan's NPB. Featured image courtesy of Mitch Stringer, Imagn Images. View full rumor

In a move that's more procedural than anything else, Bo Bichette officially rejected his $22.025 million qualifying offer this afternoon. He is expected to sign a long-term, nine-figure contract in free agency – far more than the value of the QO. So, his decision today comes as no surprise. Now that Bichette has rejected the offer, the team that eventually signs him – unless it's the Blue Jays – will have to forfeit a draft pick (and possibly also international bonus pool space). Speaking to our own John Bonnes at the GM Meetings, Ross Atkins made it clear that the Jays are interested in re-signing Bichette. However, they will have competition. Most recently, the Red Sox have emerged as a potential suitor for his services (per Rob Bradford of WEEI.com). Featured image courtesy of Nick Turchiaro, Imagn Images. View full rumor

Major League Baseball introduced a brand-new award last night and bestowed the inaugural prize on Toronto Blue Jays superstar Vladimir Guerrero Jr. Vladdy is MLB's very first Entertainer of the Year. It's a well-deserved honour for one of the most delightful personalities in the sport, both on the field and off. Guerrero was not present at the awards show on Thursday, so his godfather, Hall of Famer Pedro Martínez, accepted on his behalf. In other Blue Jays awards news, Guerrero was also named to the All-MLB First Team, winning over Athletics first baseman Nick Kurtz. In even more of a surprise, Bo Bichette earned Second Team honours, beating out shortstops like Geraldo Perdomo, Trea Turner, Francisco Lindor, and Jeremy Peña. Featured image courtesy of Nick Turchiaro, Imagn Images. View full rumor

Speaking to DiamondCentric's John Bonnes at the GM Meetings on Wednesday, Blue Jays general manager Ross Atkins said the Jays "definitely, definitely have interest" in extending Daulton Varsho, who is entering his final season of arbitration eligibility. "The interest is definitely there," said Atkins. "I can't say enough about Daulton, the player, the person, the teammate. He checks all the boxes we're looking for." The GM did not want to speak about any potential negotiations, but from his tone, it certainly seems like an extension for Varsho will be one of the team's priorities this winter. Varsho, widely considered one of the best defensive outfielders in the league, is coming off an injury-shortened but highly promising 2025 campaign. Tapping into his power like never before, he hit 20 home runs in 71 contests, with a career-best .833 OPS, .341 xwOBA, and 123 wRC+. He finished with 2.2 fWAR and 2.8 bWAR in less than half a season of games. Featured image courtesy of Kiyoshi Mio, Imagn Images. View full rumor

The AL Silver Slugger Award winners were announced on Friday, with George Springer taking home the prize at DH. This is his third career Silver Slugger, after previously winning in 2017 and '19 with the Astros. Springer led the AL's primary designated hitters in home runs (32), runs scored (106), stolen bases (18), and FanGraphs WAR (5.2). His victory over fellow finalists Yandy Díaz and Brent Rooker comes as little surprise. Springer was also a finalist for a Silver Slugger as an outfielder but lost to Aaron Judge, Riley Greene, and Byron Buxton. Toronto's other two finalists, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Bo Bichette, came up short as well, with Nick Kurtz claiming the honors at first base and Bobby Witt Jr. winning at shortstop. Meanwhile, the Blue Jays lost the Silver Slugger Team of the Year Award to the Yankees, who won for the second year in a row. Featured image courtesy of John E. Sokolowski, Imagn Images. View full rumor

To no one's surprise, the Blue Jays have extended the $22.025 million qualifying offer to All-Star shortstop Bo Bichette. Bichette technically has until November 18 to decide whether or not to accept the offer, but it's all but a guarantee that he will reject it and seek a long-term contract in free agency. Once he rejects the offer, any team that signs Bichette – except for the Blue Jays – will have to forfeit a draft pick (and possibly also international bonus pool space). That could give Toronto a leg up on the competition for his services. Featured image courtesy of John E. Sokolowski, Imagn Images. View full rumor

Don Mattingly is leaving the Blue Jays. As first reported by the New York Post's Jon Heyman, Mattingly, who served as Toronto's bench coach for the past three seasons, is stepping down from his role. However, he is not yet retiring and would consider taking on a role with a new team. To that point, Phillies insider Jim Salisbury reports that Philadelphia has had internal discussions about bringing Mattingly on as a bench coach. It's not yet clear if Mattingly would be willing to take on the same role with a new organization. Featured image courtesy of John E. Sokolowski, Imagn Images. View full rumor

Great point. Although different sources seem to have different ideas about the exact yearly breakdown of what Vladdy is earning. This Sportsnet article from April suggests he's only earning a $13M signing bonus and $17M salary (total $30M), which would actually be significantly less than he made in 2025 ($28.5M salary + $20M signing bonus). But RosterResource says he's making $40.2M in 2026. It's all complicated, but ultimately, I'm just glad we can come back to that idea that ownership won't be hand-wringing over dollars and cents for next year's payroll. Hopefully, there's quite a bit of money freed up from last year, but even if there isn't, the FO should be aggressive.

The Blue Jays ran a record-high payroll in 2025. According to Cot’s Contracts, their final commitment came in just over $254 million, and just under $279 million for luxury tax purposes. Only four teams, the Dodgers, Mets, Yankees, and Phillies, spent more. Toronto’s payroll estimates from RosterResource were a little higher ($258 million and $283 million, respectively), but the overarching point remains: The Blue Jays spent more money on player salaries in 2025 than ever before. And it worked. That record-high payroll carried the Jays to their most successful season in more than thirty years. Now, just days after that magical season came to a disappointing close, it's already time to talk about what the payroll will look like in 2026. The Blue Jays have a good deal of money coming off the books this winter, with Chris Bassitt ($22M), Bo Bichette ($17.6M), Max Scherzer ($15.5M), Seranthony Domínguez, Isiah Kiner-Falefa, and Ty France (about $4M combined) hitting free agency. Shane Bieber (about $3M) will presumably join them. (Scratch that!) Others like Chad Green ($10.5M), Erik Swanson ($3M), and Spencer Turnbull ($1M), who Toronto cut earlier in the season, have also collected their final paychecks from the Blue Jays organization. Several players still under contract are due raises in 2026, which will cancel out some of the savings from those expiring contracts. The biggest raise (almost $12 million) is for Vladimir Guerrero Jr., whose 14-year, $500 million extension officially kicks in next year. Andrés Giménez ($5M raise), Jeff Hoffman ($5M), Alejandro Kirk ($4.1M), Anthony Santander ($3M), and Myles Straw ($1M) will also earn pay bumps, as will arbitration candidates Eric Lauer (estimated $2.6M raise), Ernie Clement ($2.33M), Daulton Varsho ($1.5M) Nick Sandlin ($370K), and Tyler Heineman ($219K). So, RosterResource currently estimates a $219 million payroll for the Blue Jays in 2026 – $39 million below their final figure from 2025. However, keep in mind, that $219 million figure uses the estimated arbitration salaries from MLB Trade Rumors and presumes the Jays will tender contracts to both Sandlin and Ryan Burr, which is no guarantee. My guess is they’ll keep Sandlin and non-tender Burr, so I’ll go with that for the sake of this article. Subtracting Burr would bring the RosterResource estimate down by about one million. But that total doesn’t line up with my own calculations, which I came to using the individual numbers from RosterResource. The sum of all of Toronto’s guaranteed contracts on RosterResource is about $201.9 million. Add another $21.4 million for arbitration salaries, and you get $223.3 million. Combine that with RosterResource’s estimated $12.5 million for pre-arb salaries, and the total is just under $236 million. The difference between $236 and $218 million is a lot more than just chump change; that's a mid-rotation starter right there. As for the luxury tax, the Blue Jays either finished just above or just below the third tier of penalties in 2025, depending on whose estimate you look at. Next year, the third threshold climbs to $284 million. If RosterResource is correct, the Blue Jays have more than $50 million of room before they hit that point. Though in truth, I think they have a bit less to play with than RosterResource suggests. Thankfully, the exact numbers probably don't matter all that much. The Blue Jays proved in 2025 that they have the resources to be one of the top spenders in the sport, and that was before they made it to the World Series. Rogers earned a ton of extra revenue this October – almost half the country tuned in to Game 7 at one point or another – and they should have every incentive to pour that money back into the team. (It's almost as if spending money on talented players is good for business. Who could have guessed?) So, Ross Atkins and his front office really should have all the flexibility they need this winter as they work to re-sign Bichette, replenish the rotation, and upgrade the bullpen in an effort to build an even stronger contender in 2026. It might take another record-high payroll, but that shouldn't be a problem – ownership can and should make it happen. View full article

In pleasantly surprising news, the New York Post's Jon Heyman reports that Shane Bieber has exercised his player option with the Blue Jays for the 2026 campaign. The right-hander will collect a $16 million salary instead of a $4 million buyout. Because of that buyout, Bieber would have only had to earn $12 million on the open market to match his guarantee from the Blue Jays. Thus, many thought it was a foregone conclusion that he would opt out and return to free agency. Instead, the 2020 AL Cy Young winner will return for at least one more year (and one more shot at a title) with Toronto. Featured image courtesy of Kiyoshi Mio, Imagn Images. View full rumor

The Baseball Writers Association of America announced the finalists for its big four end-of-season awards today: MVP, Cy Young, Rookie of the Year, and Manager of the Year. While no Blue Jays players will be taking home any of the BBWAA hardware, skipper John Schneider is in the running for the AL's highest managerial honour. His fellow finalists are Stephen Vogt of the Guardians and Dan Wilson of the Mariners. As a reminder, the finalists for the BBWAA awards are not nominees. The winners are decided upon immediately following the regular season, and the three finalists in each category are simply the three highest vote-getters. The 2025 Managers of the Year will be announced on November 11 on MLB Network. Featured image courtesy of John E. Sokolowski, Imagn Images. View full rumor

The primary incentive is extending them beyond their arbitration years. The Red Sox and O's now have three more years of club control over Anthony and Basallo than they otherwise would have. The Jays could do the same with Ernie, but he'll be entering his age-33 season by the time he reaches free agency, and as much as I love him, I'm doubtful they want to commit guaranteed money to a utility player in his mid-thirties so far in advance. The arbitration system also undervalues players who provide more of their value on defense. And raises are always based on a player's arb number from the previous season. So if a guy isn't a star in his first arb year (like Ernie), he's probably never going to make a ton in arbitration. Even if he doubles his arb salary in 2027, that's still only $9 million. Whereas someone like Roman Anthony could be earning upwards of $20 million by his third arb year.

I just don't think the Jays have much incentive to do that. The arb system tends to undervalue players like Clement, so the Jays can just keep bringing him back on below-market-value contracts for the next three seasons without having to lock themselves into a longer commitment.

Agreed on Bichette. Keeping him and Vladdy together as the long-term faces of the franchise is worth a premium price. Putting the 2026 rotation together is a much harder question