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  • Toronto Blue Jays Trade & Free Agent Rumors

    Follow the latest Toronto Blue Jays trade and free agent rumors, along with quick notes on the big league club, the minor leagues and the draft.
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    Leo Morgenstern
    According to Jon Heyman of the New York Post, the Blue Jays are "expected" to meet with Tarik Skubal next week in California. Heyman lists the Mets, Dodgers, and Padres among the other clubs that are currently preparing to meet with the top free agent on the market.
    Skubal is arguably the best pitcher in baseball. Over the last four years, he has produced a 2.47 ERA in 103 starts, striking out 31.1% of his opponents. He won the AL Cy Young Award in 2024 and '25.
    In a weak free agent class, Skubal stands head and shoulders above everyone else. He is widely expected to sign a record-breaking contract for a starting pitcher. The Blue Jays are one of a handful of teams that could realistically pay his asking price, but fans in Toronto might not be ready to get their hopes up. The Jays have been burned by the top-ranked free agents in each of the last three offseasons. 
    Leo Morgenstern
    Reporting from the Aria Hotel in Las Vegas, Sportsnet's Shi Davidi and Ben Nicholson-Smith suggest there is "a little mutual interest" between the Toronto Blue Jays and Brandon Lowe. However, they note that any talks between the two sides are "still in their initial stages."
    The second baseman makes a lot of sense as a target for Toronto. His 35 home runs, 96 RBI, 121 wRC+, and 4.9 fWAR would have led all Blue Jays hitters in 2026. Even better, he hits from the left-hand side, while the team's top three projected hitters for 2027 (Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Alejandro Kirk, and Kazuma Okamoto) all bat righty. Defensively speaking, the Jays have room at the keystone. Ernie Clement started at second this past season, but he is best-suited for a utility role. 
    The downside when it comes to Lowe is that he received a qualifying offer from the Pirates. The Blue Jays will likely sign one QO free agent this winter, but it's harder to imagine they'd sign two. That means adding Lowe could prevent them from pursuing any of the other seven players who received qualifying offers.
    Leo Morgenstern
    The results of the BBWAA's Jackie Robinson Rookie of the Year Award were announced this evening. Sal Stewart of the Reds won in the National League, while Kevin McGonigle of the Tigers won in the American League.
    Toronto Blue Jays third baseman Kazuma Okamoto finished seventh in the AL. He was named on 11 of 30 ballots, receiving one third-place vote, four fourth-place votes, and six fifth-place votes.
    Okamoto set franchise rookie records with 33 home runs and 92 RBI in his first MLB season. Unfortunately, he also set a new franchise record – and not just a rookie record – with 183 strikeouts. Nonetheless, it was overall a very successful campaign, and the down-ballot Rookie of the Year votes he received reflect that. 
    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. 
    Leo Morgenstern
    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.
    Leo Morgenstern
    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. 
    Leo Morgenstern
    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. 
    Leo Morgenstern
    The Blue Jays released infielder Lenyn Sosa yesterday, a month after they sent him outright to Triple-A Buffalo. He's now a free agent.
    Toronto acquired Sosa from the White Sox in April. He appeared in 28 games for the Jays, splitting his time between first and second base. He slashed .188/.205/.275 with a -0.5 fWAR. In late May, Sosa landed on the injured list, and he never made it back to the majors. In 17 games for the Buffalo Bisons, he hit .257 with an 87 wRC+. 
    Leo Morgenstern
    The Blue Jays announced a transaction ahead of their game tonight against the Rangers. Michael Lorenzen has been designated for assignment after six appearances for Toronto. He gave up 11 runs on 18 hits in 11.2 innings. He took the fall for two losses, but also earned his first save since 2023.
    In place of Lorenzen, the Blue Jays have added 25-year-old José Rodríguez to their bullpen. If he gets in a game, it will be his MLB debut. The right-hander owns a 3.79 ERA and 3.56 FIP in 38 innings this year between the Blue Jays' and Dodgers' minor league systems. Toronto acquired him earlier this month in exchange for fellow minor league right-hander Sebastian Rodriguez.
    Bryan Jaeger
    The Jesús Sánchez experiment has ended. He’s been a liability on defense, with routine fly balls being dropped. At the plate, he’s been a decent addition, hitting .260/.318/.416 with eight home runs, 24 runs, and 35 RBIs. However, with the Blue Jays fighting for a Wild Card spot, the poor defense couldn’t be ignored any longer, and he couldn’t be moved to DH, with George Springer implanted in the role.
    The Blue Jays have plenty of outfield depth, which made DFA'ing Sánchez an easier decision. In a corresponding move, Toronto has called up Rudy Martin Jr. for his MLB debut. He's a 30-year-old who has played 12 seasons in the minor leagues. He was traded from the Kansas City Royals to the Baltimore Orioles on July 18. Two days later, he was DFA’d, and on July 23, the Blue Jays claimed him. 
    Since joining Triple-A Buffalo on July 25, he’s posted a .730 OPS with three home runs, 16 runs, and 11 RBIs. He also has 12 stolen bases in 27 games. Martin brings more speed to a team that has improved its running game. In August, they stole successfully on 20 of 22 attempts, which was the first time they attempted more than 20 steals in a month since April 2025. The most important part of this move is that the defense drastically improves. Martin, a left-handed bat, will likely share a platoon role with Myles Straw.
    Leo Morgenstern
    In a rare Rodriguez-for-Rodriguez trade, the Blue Jays have sent minor league right-hander Sebastian Rodriguez to the Dodgers in exchange for José Rodríguez, himself a minor league right-handed pitcher.
    The younger Rodriguez, 20, made his professional debut for the Blue Jays Blue squad in the Dominican Summer League this year. He pitched nine innings over seven games, giving up six earned runs but striking out 11.
    The elder Rodriguez, 25, had been in the Dodgers' system since 2019. He owns a 4.16 ERA with 100 strikeouts in 71.1 career innings at the Triple-A level. The Blue Jays have assigned him to Triple-A Buffalo for now, but it's certainly possible he could make his MLB debut at some point later this month. 
    Leo Morgenstern
    The Blue Jays have placed Shane Bieber on the 15-day injured list with right teres major inflammation. Chad Dallas has been recalled to take his place on the active roster.
    With just over a month left in the 2026 regular season, there's no small chance this marks the end of Bieber's tenure with the Blue Jays. He will be a free agent at the end of the year. 
    Toronto is still in the postseason picture, sitting just two games back of the final Wild Card spot, but pulling off a comeback will be even harder without Bieber in the rotation. The 2020 AL Cy Young winner dominated the Yankees and Rays in his last two starts.
    Dylan Cease and José Soriano are a strong top two, but now the Jays will have to rely even more heavily on 42-year-old Max Scherzer and the just-off-the-IL Spencer Arrighetti. They'll also hope that Jameson Taillon and Trey Yesavage can return from the IL at some point in September. Of course, Bieber himself could return in September too, but we won't know more about the severity of his injury until the team provides an update.
    Leo Morgenstern
    The Blue Jays swapped out an experienced righty for a rookie southpaw earlier today. Matt Waldron has been designated for assignment after a couple of weeks with the Jays. The 29-year-old made four appearances, pitching 4.1 innings and giving up five runs. Taking his place will be Brendan Cellucci, who is looking to make his MLB debut.
    Cellucci, 28, signed a minor league contract with Toronto over the offseason. He spent the first several years of his professional career in the Red Sox's system. The lefty owns a 3.68 ERA and 4.24 xERA in 44 innings for Triple-A Buffalo this season. 
    Leo Morgenstern
    Yeah, I know, I'm a little late to the party on this. But we couldn't just not have anything on the site about all the news from before today's game. Here's the rundown:
    Ricky Tiedemann was promoted for his MLB debut. Chase Lee was optioned back to Buffalo. That's option number five for Lee this season.  Vladimir Guerrero Jr. is in concussion protocol. He's out for at least a week. Daz Cameron had his contract selected from Triple-A Buffalo. He's on the roster now. Lazaro Estrada was designated for assignment. Similar to Lee, he had been optioned the maximum number of times, which limited his flexibility. A player can't be optioned more than five times in a season. Tiedemann made his debut this afternoon, tossing 1.2 innings. He gave up one run on two hits and struck out two. 
    Jesse Burrill
    The Toronto Blue Jays have claimed right-handed pitcher Paul Sewald, who was designated for assignment by the Diamondbacks earlier in the week.
    Sewald, a veteran of 10 MLB seasons, has a 6.23 ERA this season. He has 110 major league saves in his career.
    The righty will join a Blue Jays bullpen that has thrown more innings as a unit than any team in baseball since August 1 and is in need of reinforcements.
    Sewald is primarily a fastball-slider pitcher. He had a 3.18 ERA entering June 23rd but has allowed 17 earned runs in 14 innings since then. He now gives John Schneider another veteran option with major league experience in the back end of the bullpen.
    Leo Morgenstern
    The Blue Jays placed right-hander Jameson Taillon on the 15-day injured list today with right forearm tendinitis. He exited yesterday's game early, citing tightness in his pitching arm. He had thrown four scoreless innings against the Red Sox.
    Taillon is the latest member of the Blue Jays' rotation to hit the IL. He joins Trey Yesavage, Patrick Corbin and fellow trade acquisition Spencer Arrighetti on the shelf, as well as José Berríos, Cody Ponce, and Bowden Francis, all of whom are out for the season. Dylan Cease, Shane Bieber, and Max Scherzer also spent time on the IL earlier this year.
    The Blue Jays recalled Chase Lee to take Taillon's spot on the active roster. The team has several candidates to take Taillon's next turn in the rotation, including Spencer Miles, Simeon Woods Richardson, and Matt Waldron, who are all currently pitching out of the bullpen. More starting depth in the minors includes Lazaro Estrada, Chad Dallas, and CJ Van Eyk.
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