2025 Blue Jays Offseason Thread

[vaff87]

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Can somebody explain this trade from Milwaukee’s perspective for me? I don’t get it…

[polo007]

Can somebody explain this trade from Milwaukee’s perspective for me? I don’t get it…

Brewers trade Isaac Collins and Nick Mears to Royals for Angel Zerpa - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

By making this deal, the Brewers are projecting somewhat of a step back from Collins and Mears in 2026 while believing that they can get more out of Zerpa, who throws in the upper 90s (96.6 mph average sinker) and has some of the best pure stuff of any left-handed reliever in baseball.

Collins possesses excellent plate discipline, which fueled his breakout campaign a year ago, but he also faded after returning from paternity leave in late August. He's also part of a deep outfield group that includes Sal Frelick, Jackson Chourio, Garrett Mitchell, Brandon Lockridge, Blake Perkins and now Baddoo.

Mears, meanwhile, held a high-leverage role early in the season and finished with solid results but saw his swing-and-miss numbers decline dramatically in 2025. His strikeout rate dipped from 29.3% in 2024 to 20.8% as he struggled to get whiffs on his four-seam fastball.

Mears was ultimately left off the roster for the National League Championship Series. The 29-year-old right-hander, acquired via trade from Colorado at the 2024 trade deadline, had an expected slugging percentage on his fastball of .522, more than 100 points higher than the actual figure.

Zerpa has three years of club control remaining as well as one minor-league option left, which gives Milwaukee additional flexibility with its bullpen.

He immediately slots into the back end of the Brewers' bullpen alongside Abner Uribe, Trevor Megill and Jared Koenig – though it's quite possible the Brewers also find a trade partner for Megill in the near future as well with Uribe assuming the closer's role.

[Hottie McShotty]

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Can somebody explain this trade from Milwaukee’s perspective for me? I don’t get it…

Neither do i. Milwaukee got fleeced in this trade.

[LBJKB24MJ23]

I pass on Tucker. Good player, but not great.

What the hell are you even talking about? Since 2021, only 9 position players have put up more fWAR than Tucker. He has basically been a consistent ~5 fWAR player for 5 seasons in a row. Since 2021, he has the exact same wRC+ as Vlad Jr: 143. He is the definition of an elite player, and a consistent one at that.

Your take is so absurdly wrong, I cant but wonder if you even bothered to do any research at all?

I would take Tucker at a heartbeat at the maximum amount teams are willing to pay. I don't want the Jays to pay him 400 because they can. if some other team offered 300 and we offer 325, for example, i'll be happy with that. not 400 and the next closest team is 300 lol

[COY0607]

I’m guessing Tucker deal probably happens in the next 3-4 days. This is right around the time Othani, Judge, Soto signed, about 1-2 weeks before Christmas. And market is now set with with Alonso and Schwarber deal’s

[Cyrus]

I’m guessing Tucker deal probably happens in the next 3-4 days. This is right around the time Othani, Judge, Soto signed, about 1-2 weeks before Christmas. And market is now set with with Alonso and Schwarber deal’s

Got a feeling he takes the max short term contract with opt outs...40 mill or whatever, with the Dodgers.

Its also funny you don't really hear much from Dodgers, until it's time and they strike (they are silent in the shadows), reminds me of the raps, barely any leaks and then it happens. Where as Jays, remind me of the knicks or something, you know right away who their interested in, who they went after, what they are offering, etc.

[Hottie McShotty]

Got the same feeling too. Let's see.

[Mehar]

I pass on Tucker. Good player, but not great.

What the hell are you even talking about? Since 2021, only 9 position players have put up more fWAR than Tucker. He has basically been a consistent ~5 fWAR player for 5 seasons in a row. Since 2021, he has the exact same wRC+ as Vlad Jr: 143. He is the definition of an elite player, and a consistent one at that.

Your take is so absurdly wrong, I cant but wonder if you even bothered to do any research at all?

I would take Tucker at a heartbeat at the maximum amount teams are willing to pay. I don't want the Jays to pay him 400 because they can. if some other team offered 300 and we offer 325, for example, i'll be happy with that. not 400 and the next closest team is 300 lol

I agree with this thinking.

[COY0607]

I’m guessing Tucker deal probably happens in the next 3-4 days. This is right around the time Othani, Judge, Soto signed, about 1-2 weeks before Christmas. And market is now set with with Alonso and Schwarber deal’s

Got a feeling he takes the max short term contract with opt outs...40 mill or whatever, with the Dodgers.

Its also funny you don't really much from Dodgers, until it's time and they strike, reminds me of the raps, barely any leaks and then it happens. Where as Jays, remind of the knicks or something, you know right away who their interested in, who they went after, what they are offering, etc.

With his injury history and a looming lockout - there’s considerable risk for him. But it wouldn’t surprise me if he signs with the Dodgers

At any rate, as long as Jays can get one of Bo or Tucker they’ll be good. I don’t there there’s a significant difference in impact - but they’ve got to get one

[Hottie McShotty]

Guerrero’s pitch for Tucker to join Toronto??

[Hottie McShotty]

I’m guessing Tucker deal probably happens in the next 3-4 days. This is right around the time Othani, Judge, Soto signed, about 1-2 weeks before Christmas. And market is now set with with Alonso and Schwarber deal’s

Got a feeling he takes the max short term contract with opt outs...40 mill or whatever, with the Dodgers.

Its also funny you don't really much from Dodgers, until it's time and they strike, reminds me of the raps, barely any leaks and then it happens. Where as Jays, remind of the knicks or something, you know right away who their interested in, who they went after, what they are offering, etc.

With his injury history and a looming lockout - there’s considerable risk for him. But it wouldn’t surprise me if he signs with the Dodgers

At any rate, as long as Jays can get one of Bo or Tucker they’ll be good. I don’t there there’s a significant difference in impact - but they’ve got to get one

With the looming lockout, wouldn't it be wise for Tucker to consider a longer-term deal with guaranteed money? I know I would if I were in his position.

[Parataxis]

Refreshing to see the Jays bullpen going into Spring Training 2026 compared to 2025, when you had stiffs like Lovelady, Barnes, Swanson and Green on the roster.

I'm still annoyed that we cut Yarborough for Barnes.

[COY0607]

Refreshing to see the Jays bullpen going into Spring Training 2026 compared to 2025, when you had stiffs like Lovelady, Barnes, Swanson and Green on the roster.

I'm still annoyed that we cut Yarborough for Barnes.

I think we underestimate the impact cutting Yarborough had. Little and especially Hoffman were so good early in the season, till they started abusing them with aall they injuries to the SPs and all the close games. It could’ve been a vastly different bullpen if they had a decent long man.

Was a baffling move

[Cyrus]

Guerrero’s pitch for Tucker to join Toronto??

Hopefully it's more in background than an eye emoji

[JN]

Give me Bellinger who had similar numbers to Tucker last year offensively, is arguably a better defender while playing all outfield positions and even first base; and will cost half of what Tucker is looking for on a long-term deal.

Bellinger has performance / inconsistency risk.
Tucker has much more injury and contract term risk.
I'll role the dice on injury and term risk and prefer Tucker. And since my attitude is **** the 2030's, I'm not letting the term bother me. But I'm starting to get worried about totally whiffing on Bo/Tucker/Bellinger, so I'll take any of the 3.



Bellinger was awful in 2021, 2022 (way worse than Varsho for example) and average in 2024. He was really good in 2023 and pretty good in 2025. Tucker has been far more consistent, and a way better hitter every year since 2021 using OPS+ (except for 2023 when he was ahead but it was very close). But banged up in 2024 and 2025, and had a bad second half in 2025.

I think its close to a draw defensively.

We need one of the 3 (Bo, Tucker, Bellinger), so I'll take Bellinger if need be.

Unless its
Bo and Bellinger
vs
Tucker + smaller piece.

Then i would take Bo and Bellinger. But I can't see us getting 2 of the 3.

It was well documented that Bellinger was terrible in 2021 and 2022 due to his multitude of injuries, and he himself admitted he was never totally healthy in those years. Look at his numbers before 2021/2022 and he was arguably one of the best players in baseball in 2019 (NL MVP, Gold Glove, Silver Slugger in that year). Bellinger was very good in 2023 and in the past year, had similar numbers to Tucker.

Due to the fact he will be making half of what Tucker will do on a long-term deal, I would go with Bellinger. The injury history of Tucker these past two years simply cannot be ignored if you are going to fork over 400 million for a decade for Tucker, who also had a subpar second half of 2025 like you mentioned.

Making half the money over term. Or in terms of AAV? If the AAV is fairly close, again not worried about the 2030's (our window is now). Should we be choosing to pay high AAV to someone who was salary dumped at the end of 2024 with no buyers offering up any prospects? That being said for me if no Bo, no Kyle, then yes go with Bellinger. But that's my my oder.

Its not just 2021/2022. He wasbarely above average as recently as 2024. Bellinger was straight salary dumped last offseason --- given h perceived 1/32 obligation to the market -- the Cubs (and apprently others) did not think they would exercise him after 2025 and would need to pay him $25 million in 2025 and then pay him $7 million to leave. 2024 was really average (108 WRC+), his defence had declined , and his 2023 season (135+) was deemed pretty fluky based on his hard hit ball metric. His 2025 season was nice but it was still a 125+.

If we average the last 3 years, Tucker is still fairly well ahead.

Bellinger (WRC+ last 3 years) = 135, 108, 125 (average of 123)
Tucker (last 3 years) - 139, 179, 136 (average of 146**)

** In Tucker's average, I only valued 2024 as a half-season in calculating the average.

[JN]

Refreshing to see the Jays bullpen going into Spring Training 2026 compared to 2025, when you had stiffs like Lovelady, Barnes, Swanson and Green on the roster.

I'm still annoyed that we cut Yarborough for Barnes.

What made it more baffling at the time was that our #5 starter Scherzer was an injury risk and we had no organizational pitching depth at starter behind the top 5. It got worse when Scherzer pitched 3 innings to start the season, and then immediately got hurt for 3 months. I still believe "it was decently possible", but just a theory, there was some sort of mutual understanding between the 2 parties that Yarbrough could leave for another team upon request which is not uncommon for non roster players. Otherwise I don't understand given our lack of starting depth If you remember, on March 23rd (when he was released) our 5 man rotation was locked, and the Yankees rotation was already in injury hell, so there was a clear path for him with the Yanks to getting some starts.

On the bright side though if we had Yarbrough, perhaps Eric Lauer never happens, and Lauer was far more valuable in 2025 than Yarbrough.

But man that rotation was tough to start the season after Scherzer went down. Easton Lucas for 6 starts, running a 4 man rotation for a while. We had no choice but to leave Bowden Francis start close to 15 times. The Spencer Turnbull and Julio Urena era. Thankfully Eric Lauer did come up and succeed, but even then until Scherzer came back in Late June, and we could dump Bowden Francis.

[LoveMyRaps]

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Ready for disappointment on the Tucker front. Just hope we don't let Bo go.

[Jerry Lucas]

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Ready for disappointment on the Tucker front. Just hope we don't let Bo go.

Passan >>> Shi and it's not even close.

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Until a Passan bomb or another Passan update, this most recent update from him is the best we've got.

[bartron_44]

“Certain level of interest” on Bo sounds like he is likely gone. They went after Cease, and made sure Vlad didnt reach FA. .. When they want someone, its a lot more than “a certain level of interest”.

I have always wondered all season if the Jays are OK with Bo leaving. You would think if they were willing to overpay Vladdy to make sure he didnt go anywhere, they would have at least made an offer to Bo if they really cared about losing him.

However, it also fits the narrative that they are letting other teams set the market for him before making their “official offer”. Now, maybe Bo is ok with this, or maybe that treatment pisses him off and he signs somewhere else just to spite them because of it.

[Parataxis]

“Certain level of interest” on Bo sounds like he is likely gone. They went after Cease, and made sure Vlad didnt reach FA. .. When they want someone, its a lot more than “a certain level of interest”.

I have always wondered all season if the Jays are OK with Bo leaving. You would think if they were willing to overpay Vladdy to make sure he didnt go anywhere, they would have at least made an offer to Bo if they really cared about losing him.

However, it also fits the narrative that they are letting other teams set the market for him before making their “official offer”. Now, maybe Bo is ok with this, or maybe that treatment pisses him off and he signs somewhere else just to spite them because of it.

They're absolutely okay letting Bo walk. I don't think it's what they want, but with the signing of Cease, Vlad, and potentially Tucker/Cody, I think they want to stay rational on Bo's contract.