2025 Blue Jays Offseason Thread

[polo007]

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[Cyrus]

Regardless on model, we definitely paid most/ overpay maybe to land Cease.

Cease is Boras client, best believe we either offered most total value and term (years). No way Boras us leaving money on table, or years.. and agreeing to this deal now.

Jeff Blair even says this when hosts asked do you think vibes or jays generally making pitchers look good attracted Cease to jays. He pushed back saying it's Boras client, then definitely jays offering the best deal, and he speculated the jays paid the v play in Toronto tax by adding 1 extra year (like we did for springer, Ryu and countless others to sign here).

[xAIRNESSx]

Wonder if there’s any chance we could move Santander and Berrios to free up more salary.

Could allow us to still go after Bo and Tucker.

[Mr Swagtastic]

Wonder if there’s any chance we could move Santander and Berrios to free up more salary.

Could allow us to still go after Bo and Tucker.

Nobody is touching Santanders deal and Berrios' value is at a all time low you would probably have to eat a decent portion of it or attach a prospect to get him off the books if that's what your doing

[PushDaRock]

Wonder if there’s any chance we could move Santander and Berrios to free up more salary.

Could allow us to still go after Bo and Tucker.

There's deferrals in this Cease deal, will be interesting to see how much of it is deferred

[Mehar]

Wonder if there’s any chance we could move Santander and Berrios to free up more salary.

Could allow us to still go after Bo and Tucker.

Nobody is touching those deals. Berrios is owed 19 million next year, and 24 million each in 2026 and 2027. The Santander signing was awful which I hated at that time. No team was willing to go past three years for Santander, and the Jays foolishly came in with 5 years and 92.5 million for an overrated, slow, high strike out Santander.

[tanuki1031]

I feel like the Jays have actual leverage heading into this offseason in the sense that we were one play away from winning the WS against a Dodgers dynasty team that was already in the making, and being the team that the baseball world attributed to making baseball fans fall in love with baseball again and even more.

I think in the offseason discussions there were serious asks of "Do you fit here? Do you want to be here?" The Jays were literally a play away. This isn't a we need to throw the most money at the best FA to get us over the hump situation.

For the first time ever I don't think it came purely down to dollars. Cease taking deferrals and signing this early would suggest even as a Boras client this wasn't a strict financial decision, and a case of the Jays simply being the highest bidder.

[JN]

With big money on Cease, wonder if they sign Bo who will make less than Tucker and use the $ difference to bring back Bassitt as a #5/bullpen arm.

I think Bassitt will cost too much for that role. I'd imagine Bassitt is looking at 12-15,

If we get a depth starter from last year's staff, it might be taking a shot at Scherzer if he wants back at a low number around 1/5.

[JN]

Wonder if there’s any chance we could move Santander and Berrios to free up more salary.

Could allow us to still go after Bo and Tucker.

Nobody is touching those deals. Berrios is owed 19 million next year, and 24 million each in 2026 and 2027. The Santander signing was awful which I hated at that time. No team was willing to go past three years for Santander, and the Jays foolishly came in with 5 years and 92.5 million for an overrated, slow, high strike out Santander.

The fair value of Santander's remaining contract is apparently closer to 4/46... lots of deferrals in there. That's still a hard contract to move though without some eating.

I think if you eat 50% of Berrios contract he might be movable especially if you feel he will be passed for that #5. If you feel you can get something from spending the $10million saved in the pen, you get more value that way than paying Berrios $24m in the pen,

[Cyrus]

Wonder if there’s any chance we could move Santander and Berrios to free up more salary.

Could allow us to still go after Bo and Tucker.

Who is gonna take a guy who barely paid? Unless we are planning to eat half of his contract and if we are doing that, what's the point

[Randle McMurphy]

First big sign that the Jays are going all-in this offseason, which they absolutely should be doing.

Cease easily had the best stuff of any FA pitcher on the market, I bet they think they can get even more out of him.

[polo007]

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[Randle McMurphy]

Wonder if there’s any chance we could move Santander and Berrios to free up more salary.

Could allow us to still go after Bo and Tucker.

Why would they need to free up money to do anything?

The Jays can spend like the Dodgers if they choose to and always could have.

[JN]

If Berrios was a free agent, what is the most he presumably gets 2/20, 3/27?
I may have been low in saying that we can move him by eating 50% of his 3/67. Probably closer to 60%+.
Only worth doing if you don't think he will be a rotation guy ever again,

[polo007]

The deal for Dylan Cease will cost the Toronto Blue Jays their 2nd and 5th round selections in the 2026 Major League Baseball draft!!

[Mehar]

First big sign that the Jays are going all-in this offseason, which they absolutely should be doing.

Cease easily had the best stuff of any FA pitcher on the market, I bet they think they can get even more out of him.

Crochet who is arguably the best pitcher in MLB, signed a 6 year 170 million deal with Boston last year. I like Cease, but 6 years in the 150 million range was my max for him.

Talk about an overpay for a guy whose numbers are nowhere good as Crochet. That is what this front office does best. Overpay for players like Santander, Gimenez, and now Cease.

[Randle McMurphy]

First big sign that the Jays are going all-in this offseason, which they absolutely should be doing.

Cease easily had the best stuff of any FA pitcher on the market, I bet they think they can get even more out of him.

Crochet who is arguably the best pitcher in MLB, signed a 6 year 170 million deal with Boston last year. I like Cease, but 6 years in the 150 million range was my max for him. Talk about an overpay.

#1. Crochet was and is not the best pitcher in baseball.
#2. Crochet was not a free agent when he signed that contract, so it was an entirely different scenario in which one of his arb years was being bought out while he wasn’t on the open market.
#3. Cease is not an overpay, he has the best stuff of any pitcher in baseball (and even if he was, why would anybody give a damn?).

If you actually want to compete with the Dodgers, this is what it takes to do it. Your max wasn’t getting one of the best pitchers in the game on this team.

[Randle McMurphy]

Anybody who doesn’t like this signing either doesn’t have an appreciation for how good Cease or are way too worried about how much money Ed Rogers is spending on this baseball team for some reason.

[Mehar]

First big sign that the Jays are going all-in this offseason, which they absolutely should be doing.

Cease easily had the best stuff of any FA pitcher on the market, I bet they think they can get even more out of him.

Crochet who is arguably the best pitcher in MLB, signed a 6 year 170 million deal with Boston last year. I like Cease, but 6 years in the 150 million range was my max for him. Talk about an overpay.

#1. Crochet was and is not the best pitcher in baseball.
#2. Crochet was not a free agent when he signed that contract, so it was an entirely different scenario in which one of his arb years was being bought out while he wasn’t on the open market.
#3. Cease is not an overpay, he has the best stuff of any pitcher in baseball (and even if he was, why would anybody give a damn?).

If you actually want to compete with the Dodgers, this is what it takes to do it. Your max wasn’t getting one of the best pitchers in the game on this team.

Crochet was a finalist for the AL CY Young, was Number 1 in MLB with 255 Strikeouts, ERA of 2.59, 1.03 WHIP. If you do not want to say he is the best pitcher- he arguably is a top 3 MLB pitcher. Look at his numbers and look at Cease. Cease's numbers do not scream best pitchers in baseball. I like him. He is a solid Number 2 Starter. No way he should be paid what he did, and more than Crochet.

This front office has a fetish for overpaying players. I hate the fact this front office is paying the ridiculous amount of money it is already paying Gimenez for the next 4 years, along with an overrated Santander. You can say "it is not your money", but if this signing prevents them from shoring up other areas like the bullpen with an elite closer, and targeting another Outfielder like Bellinger or even Tucker- then I would have passed on Cease. Last I heard, this team is not going to spend 350 million in payroll like the Dodgers, 340 million like the Mets, or even 300 million like the Yankees. Even Rogers has a limit.

[xAIRNESSx]

Wonder if there’s any chance we could move Santander and Berrios to free up more salary.

Could allow us to still go after Bo and Tucker.

Why would they need to free up money to do anything?

The Jays can spend like the Dodgers if they choose to and always could have.

If they get both Bo and Tucker then you're still probably looking to move Santander. I don't think they're trading Barger and Clement is still going to be an every day infielder.

Ownership probably could've been spending more but I've still been happy with how Rogers has run the team and I actually do think most players have been more than open to coming here. I've never been one to buy into the opinion that Toronto isn't a free agent destination. People act like Ohtani and Soto took significantly less money than what the Jays offered when they probably took more. Toronto is a great place to be in the summertime and now the stadium and facilities are actually nice.