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  • Toronto Blue Jays Free Agent & Trade Rumors, Notes, & Tidbits

    The latest Toronto Blue Jays free agent and trade rumors, along with notes and tidbits about the team.
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    Leo Morgenstern
    On Saturday morning, Blue Jays manager John Schneider confirmed his starting rotation to begin the 2026 season.
    As we already knew, Kevin Gausman will take the ball on Opening Day against the Athletics. He will be followed by Dylan Cease and Eric Lauer to close out the first series of the year. After that, when the Jays welcome the Rockies to the Rogers Centre, Cody Ponce and Max Scherzer will take the bump for the first two games, before (presumably) handing the ball back to Gausman.
    At one point, it seemed like Toronto had too many good starting pitchers to choose from. Yet, in the end, the Blue Jays and Schneider didn't have any difficult decisions to make. Shane Bieber, José Berríos, and Trey Yesavage will all begin the season on the IL, leaving five starters left for five jobs. 
    Michael Coyle
    On Saturday morning, Toronto Blue Jays manager John Schneider announced that right-hander Kevin Gausman will be the club's Opening Day starter when the Blue Jays’ season kicks off on Friday, March 27, at the Rogers Centre against the Athletics. 
    This marks the first time that Gausman has been tasked with the Opening Day role in a Blue Jays uniform, though it will be the third Opening Day start of his big league career. Gausman’s first Opening Day start came in 2017 as a member of the Baltimore Orioles, then again in 2021 with the San Francisco Giants. 
    Speaking to the media this morning, Schneider touched on the decision to give the 35-year-old the ball for game one. 
    “Pumped for him, pumped for us. About time he got one, kind of what me and Pete [Walker] told him,” Schneider said (per Sportsnet). “Still figuring out the rest of the rotation, how that lines up, but I'm excited for Kevin to get us going.”
    Gausman is entering the final year of his five-year, $110 million contract, which he signed on December 1, 2021. Over his Blue Jays’ career,  Gausman has pitched to a 48-41 record, while posting an ERA of 3.48. 
    Last season, Gausman was brilliant for the Blue Jays, producing an ERA of 3.59, a FIP of 3.41 and a WHIP of 1.06. Across 32 regular season starts, Gausman struck out 189 batters over 193 innings pitched, relying on his devastating splitter to leave hitters in knots at the plate. Gausman held opponents to a .216 batting average, the second-best mark of his career. 
    During the Blue Jays’ run to the World Series, Gausman only got better. In six appearances, he pitched to an ERA of 2.93. The right-hander tossed 30 ⅓ innings, recording 26 strikeouts, while holding opponents to a .159 average. 
    As the Blue Jays are dealing with injuries to José Berríos and Shane Bieber, while also slowly bringing rookie Trey Yesavage along, Gausman will be tasked with leading a rotation that is hopefully going to be a strength for the team in 2026. 
    Leo Morgenstern
    On Thursday, Blue Jays manager John Schneider revealed that Jose Berríos has been diagnosed with inflammation in his pitching elbow (per MLB.com's Keegan Matheson). Fortunately, no one seems overly concerned, and Berríos will not be shut down from baseball activities. 
    "I've been feeling great and throwing the ball well," Berríos told reporters (including Sportsnet's David Singh). "But the MRI says something, so now we have to take care of that."
    Indeed, both player and manager seem surprised by the results of the MRI. After all, just a few weeks ago, Berríos spoke about how healthy he was feeling: "Last year, at this time, I had doubt in my mind already. Today, I felt like nothing's on my mind. I'm clear."
    Schneider was clear to note that it was "different inflammation" than anything Berríos dealt with last season. Whether that's good news or bad news is hard to say.
    "We're kind of still in the information gathering stage," Schneider explained (per Singh).
    Leo Morgenstern
    Trey Yesavage and Ricky Tiedemann are two of the Blue Jays' top pitching prospects. Yesavage will play a key role for Toronto in 2026. Tiedemann could make an impact of his own. Yet, with just over two weeks left until Opening Day, neither has pitched in a spring training contest. 
    The Blue Jays are taking things extra slow with Yesavage to increase the chances that he's strong and healthy when the games matter most. That has meant keeping him out of Grapefruit League play thus far. However, MLB.com's Keegan Matheson reported on Tuesday that the young right-hander will pitch two innings in a minor league spring training game later today. It remains unclear what the plan is after that, but at least Yesavage will finally see some game action. As much as the team wants to protect him, pitching in actual competitive spring training baseball games is necessary if he's going to be ready for the start of the regular season.
    Meanwhile, Tiedemann was shut down with elbow soreness in late February. Tests came back negative for anything serious, but considering he hasn't pitched since July 2024 (Tommy John surgery), the Jays weren't going to take their chances. The lefty is on the 40-man roster now and has a very good chance to join Toronto's bullpen at some point in 2026, but rushing him back to the mound (and rushing him up to the majors) would be short-sighted.
    The good news is that, according to Matheson, Tiedemann started throwing again on Monday. He'll need time to ramp up safely, but this is a step in the right direction. He has already been optioned to Triple-A Buffalo, so it's safe to say he's officially ruled out for Opening Day. Still, it might not be long before we see Tiedemann on the mound at the Rogers Centre.
    Leo Morgenstern
    Caleb Freeman was getting ready to start the 2026 campaign in the Mexican League before the Blue Jays came calling. After seven years in the White Sox organization, Freeman elected free agency this past fall. He spent a few months on the open market before he landed with the Rieleros de Aguascalientes, but it turns out he won't be playing in Mexico after all. According to his transaction log on MLB.com, the right-hander signed a minor league contract with Toronto earlier this week.
    Freeman, 28, made his MLB debut with the White Sox in 2025, facing 16 batters over five appearances and recording 10 outs. He struck out three, walked one, and gave up two earned runs on five hits. While the sample was tiny and the results were mediocre, the righty hit 97 mph with his fastball and flashed a genuinely nasty slider against same-handed hitters.
    With that said, raw stuff has never been the problem for Freeman. His command has always been shaky, and he owns a 14.2% walk rate in his six minor league seasons. While he only walked one of the 16 batters he faced at the big league level in 2025, his 15.7% walk rate in 43 games between Double and Triple A suggests his control issues haven't gone away.
    Freeman has already been assigned to the New Hampshire Fisher Cats, so he will presumably begin the year at Double A. He's an arm to keep in mind should the Blue Jays need a short-term stopgap in the 'pen, but he'll have to cut down on the walks if he wants an extended look in Toronto.
    Leo Morgenstern
    Veteran left-hander Joe Mantiply re-joined the Blue Jays today, signing a new minor league contract. Unsurprisingly, his deal includes an invitation to spring training.
    Mantiply, now 35, was a late bloomer. Following several years in the Tigers, Yankees, and Reds organizations, he broke out in his thirties with the Diamondbacks. From 2021-24, he pitched in 236 games for Arizona, putting up a 3.63 ERA and 3.49 xERA. He did an exceptional job of keeping the ball on the ground and limiting home runs. More than half of the batted balls he allowed in those four years were on the ground, and he kept his opponents to just 12 home runs in 820 trips to the plate.
    The lefty had a strong season in 2024 but struggled terribly in 2025. The D-backs optioned Mantiply in April after he gave up 13 runs and 20 hits over his first eight games. His struggles continued at Triple-A and in his brief return to the majors. Eventually, on June 1, the team for whom he made an All-Star appearance in 2022 and pitched meaningful postseason innings in 2023 released him, less than one year removed from a 75-game, 1.2 fWAR season. 
    After six weeks in the wilderness, Mantiply found a new home in the Blue Jays organization. He looked much more like his old self over two months with Buffalo, producing a 3.45 ERA and 1.90 FIP in 15.2 innings, striking out 19, walking none, and giving up just one home run. 
    Presumably, Mantiply was hoping to parlay that strong finish into a major league deal. Evidently, however, he was unable to land a guaranteed contract, so he chose to re-up with the organization that bought stock in him last summer. He will most likely start the season back at Triple-A, but if he performs anything like he did in his last stint in Buffalo, he'll get his chance in the big league bullpen eventually.
    Leo Morgenstern
    On Monday, Baseball Canada named first baseman Josh Naylor the captain of Team Canada for the World Baseball Classic.
    Naylor, 28, was born and raised in Mississauga, Ontario and grew up a fan of the Toronto Blue Jays. However, he's not necessarily popular with Jays fans after his performance last October; playing for the Seattle Mariners, he went 10-for-24 with three home runs in the ALCS, doing everything in his power to try to stop Toronto from reaching the World Series. He became the first Canadian-born player to hit a postseason home run in Canada for a team other than the Blue Jays.
    This will be Naylor's second time participating in the WBC. He played for Canada in the 2017 tournament two years before he made his MLB debut, but an ankle injury kept him from suiting up in 2023. With veteran Freddie Freeman sitting out this year, the young, multi-talented Naylor is an excellent choice to lead Team Canada in 2026.
    Team Canada will play an exhibition match against the Blue Jays this afternoon in Dunedin.
    Leo Morgenstern
    Max Scherzer will need a 40-man roster spot once his signing becomes official, and the Blue Jays freed up that spot this weekend by designating Ben Cowles for assignment. The Cubs, his former team, swooped in to claim him back.
    Over the past six months, Cowles has been DFA'd by the Cubs and claimed by the White Sox, DFA'd by the White Sox and claimed by the Cubs, DFA'd by the Cubs and claimed by the Blue Jays, and DFA'd by the Blue Jays and claimed by the Cubs. Talk about a whirlwind.
    The reason the Cubs DFA'd Cowles in February was to make room for free agent signing Shelby Miller on the 40-man roster. Today, they made room to re-add Cowles by placing Miller on the 60-day IL.
    I wrote about the Blue Jays claiming Cowles in mid-February, explaining why I liked the addition, minor as it was. With that said, Cowles never had a great chance of making much of an impact for Toronto, so it's not particularly surprising he was the casualty for Scherzer.
    Cowles went 0-for-9 with five strikeouts in five Grapefruit League games. He'll now head to Arizona to play in the Cactus League with the Cubs. 
    Leo Morgenstern
    Speaking to the Toronto Star's Mike Wilner, manager John Schneider divulged that the Blue Jays never had any intention of re-signing Bo Bichette to play shortstop. This new information conflicts with the front office's public messaging while Bichette was still a free agent.
    A week after the World Series ended, The Athletic's Mitch Bannon wrote: "The Jays, [GM Ross] Atkins said, are comfortable with [Andrés] Giménez as their long-term shortstop, if needed...If Bichette is set on a return to shortstop, though, the Jays are open to that configuration, too."
    Yet, per Schneider's latest comments, the team didn't take long to inform Giménez that he would not be returning to second base. “We communicated that to him in November so he could get physically ready for it,” the skipper explained.
    It's not surprising that the Jays wanted Giménez to be their shortstop, whether they re-signed Bichette or not. Giménez has been the best defensive second baseman in MLB for the past four seasons, and he proved last fall that he could handle the transition to short. Bichette, meanwhile, was arguably the worst defensive shortstop in the league last year, and he ended up signing with the Mets to play third base. 
    Still, it's interesting to learn that Giménez's full-time move to shortstop was always the plan. Bichette's bat will be missed, but there's no doubt that Toronto's up-the-middle alignment of Giménez, Ernie Clement, Alejandro Kirk, and Daulton Varsho (plus Tyler Heineman and Myles Straw on the bench) will be one of the team's biggest strengths in 2026. 
    Leo Morgenstern
    Before he could make his first official appearance in spring training, left-hander Ricky Tiedemann suffered a setback: soreness in his pitching elbow. Thankfully, an MRI did not find any structural damage, but the top prospect will not throw for at least the next week (per Sportsnet).
    Tiedemann, 23, sat out all of 2025 after undergoing Tommy John surgery. He was expected to slowly build up his strength and compete for a role in Toronto's big league bullpen at some point this season. This latest news doesn't necessarily change that, but it's hard not to be worried about an update like this concerning a hard-throwing young pitcher.
    The latest update on right-hander Chay Yeager is even less encouraging. According to Sportsnet's Shi Davidi, the 23-year-old met with Dr. Keith Meister on Tuesday, and he could require surgery. Meister is a well-known specialist when it comes to UCL reconstruction.
    Yeager is coming off a strong season in which he pitched to a 2.75 ERA and 3.45 FIP in 55.2 innings between High-A and Double-A. He was invited to MLB spring training for the first time this year.
    Leo Morgenstern
    Speaking to Sportsnet's Shi Davidi at spring training, Blue Jays manager John Schneider addressed his contract status. The team exercised its option for his services in 2026 last spring, but he will become a free agent next winter without a new deal.
    “We're talking,” Schneider told Davidi, regarding the possibility of an extension. He went on to express that there is "nowhere else" he'd rather be – and the team knows how he feels.
    "We've had some discussions about it, and if there's a way to do it for both sides that makes sense, that'd be great...We'll continue to talk, and there's no place I'd rather be than with this group," said Schneider.
    After the World Series, general manager Ross Atkins told reporters he was discussing an extension with Schneider. Evidently, those conversations are still ongoing.

    As Davidi notes, Atkins is also in the final year of his contract, while president Mark Shapiro recently signed a five-year extension. Given the Blue Jays' success in 2025, and their aspirations for the coming year, it would be highly surprising if Shapiro lets his GM and manager go through the season in a lame duck position. However, Schneider said that he is currently "focused on right here, right now," rather than worrying about his status for 2027 and beyond.
    Leo Morgenstern
    Speaking to Sportsnet's Shi Davidi, Blue Jays right-hander Yimi García confirmed that he will open the 2026 season on the injured list.
    García, 35, had elbow surgery last September. He has not suffered a setback, but the Blue Jays are simply taking things slow with the veteran reliever, who also dealt with elbow issues in 2024. The righty has not yet thrown off a mound this spring, though he's hoping to do so soon.
    While it once seemed as if the Blue Jays would have some tough decisions to make regarding their Opening Day bullpen, that might not be an issue anymore. Barring a particularly impressive spring training from Chase Lee or one of the Rule 5 guys (or a last-minute Max Scherzer signing), Toronto's Opening Day bullpen is likely to include Jeff Hoffman, Tyler Rogers, Louis Varland, Brendon Little, Eric Lauer, Tommy Nance, Braydon Fisher, and Mason Fluharty.
    Bryan Jaeger
    Max Scherzer has had an exceptional 18-year career, which includes three Cy Young Awards. However, his first season with the Toronto Blue Jays didn't live up to Mad Max's standards. He suffered a career-worst ERA (5.19) and his second-worst WHIP (1.29), and an injury was an issue. The 41-year-old made one start last season before going on the 60-day injury list with right thumb inflammation. 
    Scherzer would return in late June, but he just wasn't his usual self. His up-and-down performance could have been due to the thumb injury or simply to the fact that he was 40. Despite the struggles, he still looked like his fiery self at times, including in a World Series Game 7 start, in which he threw 4 1/3 innings of one-run baseball against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
    News regarding Scherzer has been limited this offseason, as expected for a player of his age, but things may be heating up. Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet has reported, "The Blue Jays' talks with Max Scherzer have gotten more serious in the last week." This comes a day after the news that Shane Bieber, who will start the season on the injured list, is hoping to begin throwing off a mound in the next week or two. 
    The Blue Jays have a loaded starting rotation, even with Bieber not throwing yet. Kevin Gausman, Dylan Cease, Trey Yesavage, José Berríos, and Cody Ponce currently form their starting five, with Eric Lauer available as depth. So, it will be interesting to see how the rotation works out if Scherzer is added. Will Ponce get moved to the bullpen, or will Berríos be traded? There are many different ways the Blue Jays could utilize Scherzer.
    Leo Morgenstern
    Last week, news broke that Blue Jays outfielder Anthony Santander will miss the next five to six months recovering from surgery to repair a torn labrum in his left shoulder. That's the same shoulder that kept him out for most of the 2025 campaign.
    Considering Santander first hurt his shoulder all the way back in May, it would be fair to ask why he didn't get this surgery a whole lot earlier. The outfielder addressed that question yesterday, telling reporters (including MLB.com's Keegan Matheson) that his original MRIs did not show a tear. That's why he and the Jays chose to take a rest and rehab approach instead of going the surgical route.
    Yet, when Santander started swinging a bat again this winter, he still felt uncomfortable. He went for testing, and this time, the tests showed his shoulder was in worse shape than he thought. 
    As John Schneider pointed out, an MRI “usually paints a pretty good picture.” Perhaps that means the tear is a newer development. Perhaps not. 
    “It’s nobody's fault, it just didn't show up,” said Santander. 
    To fill in for the injured slugger, the Blue Jays brought in Jesús Sánchez in a trade with the Astros. They'll also hope Santander can return on the earlier end of his projected timeline. That could have him back in the lineup by mid-July. Yet, Santander has already acknowledged he might not be ready so soon.
    "Obviously, the other option is to wait until next year," said the switch-hitter. "But I hope it doesn’t go that way.”
    Leo Morgenstern
    Right-hander Jesse Hahn will be heading to Blue Jays camp in Dunedin. According to the team's transaction log, they signed the 36-year-old to a minor league contract with a spring training invite on Saturday. 
    From 2014-17, Hahn made 50 starts (53 games) for the Padres and Athletics, pitching to a 4.19 ERA with 212 strikeouts and a 49.7% groundball rate in 286 innings. After tearing his UCL in 2018, he was one of the first pitchers to receive an internal brace procedure. Upon his return, he made a handful of relief appearances for the Royals from 2019-21, putting up a 4.62 ERA in 25.1 innings of work. 
    A shoulder injury ruined most of Hahn's 2021, and he did not pitch professionally for the next two seasons. He made his return to affiliated ball with the Dodgers organization in 2024, and in 2025, he finally made it back to the majors, appearing in three games and tossing five innings for the Mariners. All told, across an unusual career, the righty has pitched 316.1 innings with a 4.24 ERA and 3.4 FanGraphs WAR. He's never been one to overpower hitters, and control has often been an issue, but he's always excelled at inducing groundballs.
    Hahn will join names like Jorge Alcala and Connor Seabold as righty NRIs in camp with MLB experience. 
    Earlier last week, the Blue Jays also reportedly signed first baseman Juan Yepez, according to Eric Treuden of Just Baseball. He, too, will presumably report to big league spring training, but the team has not yet announced his deal. 
    Yepez, 27, hit 20 home runs with a .730 OPS and a 103 wRC+ in 166 games for the Cardinals and Nationals from 2022-24. The righty batter did not appear in the majors last year, as injury and ineffectiveness kept him at Triple-A. 
    Initially a utility player with experience at first, third, and the corner outfield spots, Yepez has mostly played first base and DH the past two years. He'll have a better chance of making it back to the majors in 2026 if the Blue Jays think he can handle outfield work, so it will be worth watching where he plays in the coming weeks and months.
    Leo Morgenstern
    Last week, Eric Lauer and the Blue Jays argued their cases in front of an arbitration panel. Earlier today, Sportsnet’s Shi Davidi and Ben Nicholson-Smith reported that the Jays won the hearing. That means Lauer will earn $4.4 million for the 2026 season instead of the $5.75 million figure he filed at.
    Ultimately, $1.35MM in savings is pocket change for the Blue Jays, as is the $1.215 million this will save them on their 2026 luxury tax bill. 
    However, this result is interesting because of the precedent it sets. As I wrote last week:
    The fact that Lauer will make less money in 2026 (his third year in the arbitration system) than he earned in 2023 (his second year in the system) is bad news not just for Lauer, but for future players who find themselves in a similar position.
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