2025 Blue Jays Offseason Thread

[Parataxis]

Projections have Ponce with a 2.2 WAR and 4.08 ERA in ~150 innings next season. I wouldn't take his old numbers seriously. There's an uptick in velo and pitch mix. Let's see how that translates to MLB. I don't think he was signed to be a swing man, but who knows. Maybe Berrios is more injured than they let on, or Bieber. Who knows. Depth is crucial. Even if everyone is healthy this is a more than rational signing. The Jays are going to be a $300M+ spending team, so make sure SP depth is bullet proof.

Could well be overly speculative, but that Bieber option always had a mysterious element to it that's never been fully resolved as of today. He could have still received a better deal, even with a discount, if "he loves it here"

It always made me wonder if there was an injury concern from the Bieber side.
Hope I'm wrong.

If there was an injury concern on Bieber's side, he'd want even more to opt out and sign a longer term deal.

[Parataxis]

The Blue Jays have absolutely terrible priorities. You signed Dylan Cease, that's great.

NOW GO FREAKING GET A BIG BAT. "Cody Ponce". You cannot be serious.

Your priority is, a big bat, a closer, or a reliever, you've already got Guasman, Yesavage, Bieber, Berrios, Lauer, and Cease.

We seriously are taking "Cody Ponce", and not looking at Kyle Tucker, or Bo Bichette, firstly.

Get those guys first. Cody Ponce isn't a priority. You have the money, make it work

You know they can have separate conversations at the same time right? When they speak with Ponce, they aren't limited by some MLB rule or by some universal constant that they can't then pick up the phone and talk to the other players agents.

The Ponce signing likely has little impact on either of the others. And what history has taught us is that you can't have enough arms.

I think you are failing to understand, what the word priority means.

Cody Ponce shouldn't be one. Bichette and Tucker are supposed to be our main priorities.

That's not how this works. The bigger bats are the bigger priorities, but the bigger bats also have more leverage. They are ABSOLUTELY speaking with Tucker, Bo, Bellinger, etc... It's not like they said to the universe "We need to sign a Cody... any Cody will do!"

Ponce has less leverage than Bellinger. He's more likely to say yes. When he agrees to a deal, you don't say "No, we're going to avoid agreeing for now until we've signed other people" You sign them when they agree, especially if it doesn't block your other signings.

[WuTang_CMB]

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[Los_29]

The Blue Jays have absolutely terrible priorities. You signed Dylan Cease, that's great.

NOW GO FREAKING GET A BIG BAT. "Cody Ponce". You cannot be serious.

Your priority is, a big bat, a closer, or a reliever, you've already got Guasman, Yesavage, Bieber, Berrios, Lauer, and Cease.

We seriously are taking "Cody Ponce", and not looking at Kyle Tucker, or Bo Bichette, firstly.

Get those guys first. Cody Ponce isn't a priority. You have the money, make it work

That’s not how it works.

Priority is to add talent, waiting around and doing nothing often gets you nowhere. Cease is an excellent addition, Ponce can be a great addition. Jays have done a great job of finding pitchers, there is reason to be optimistic this works out.

[Morris_Shatford]

And what history has taught us is that you can't have enough arms.

When I saw the Ponce signing, I thought exactly this.

[LoveMyRaps]

180 IP is no joke, he’s the fifth starter. You don’t give someone $10/year to be #6

Berrios is done with the Jays

Which may also imply money being freed up for another signing

KBO is the equivalent of AA/A+ ball. He's not gonna come in and replace Berrios lmao

This is a Yariel-like signing. A guy that can hopefully give you a couple innings of relief per game.

Ponce was better in the KBO than Yesavage was in AA. But the truth is, both sets of statistics are fairly useless. It’s just about judging arm talent. The Jays strongly believed Trey could move up, and they obviously believe Ponce can too. Will be interesting to see.

Low risk high reward type of signing imo.

[Cyrus]

Projections have Ponce with a 2.2 WAR and 4.08 ERA in ~150 innings next season. I wouldn't take his old numbers seriously. There's an uptick in velo and pitch mix. Let's see how that translates to MLB. I don't think he was signed to be a swing man, but who knows. Maybe Berrios is more injured than they let on, or Bieber. Who knows. Depth is crucial. Even if everyone is healthy this is a more than rational signing. The Jays are going to be a $300M+ spending team, so make sure SP depth is bullet proof.

Could well be overly speculative, but that Bieber option always had a mysterious element to it that's never been fully resolved as of today. He could have still received a better deal, even with a discount, if "he loves it here"

It always made me wonder if there was an injury concern from the Bieber side.
Hope I'm wrong.

If there was an injury concern on Bieber's side, he'd want even more to opt out and sign a longer term deal.

Not if he concerned he wouldn't pass physical, or would bring up red flags during the examination which could sour the deal...look what happened to Correra or hell Hoffman last year, he was basically done deal to Baltimore until the medical team flagged something.

[WuTang_CMB]

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[DelAbbot]

Projections have Ponce with a 2.2 WAR and 4.08 ERA in ~150 innings next season. I wouldn't take his old numbers seriously. There's an uptick in velo and pitch mix. Let's see how that translates to MLB. I don't think he was signed to be a swing man, but who knows. Maybe Berrios is more injured than they let on, or Bieber. Who knows. Depth is crucial. Even if everyone is healthy this is a more than rational signing. The Jays are going to be a $300M+ spending team, so make sure SP depth is bullet proof.

Could well be overly speculative, but that Bieber option always had a mysterious element to it that's never been fully resolved as of today. He could have still received a better deal, even with a discount, if "he loves it here"

It always made me wonder if there was an injury concern from the Bieber side.
Hope I'm wrong.

If there was an injury concern on Bieber's side, he'd want even more to opt out and sign a longer term deal.

Signing a FA deal will involve a physical examination. Bieber might have something after the WS

[Cyrus]

Remember former cup of coffee Anthony Kay, well he just signed 2 year deal for 10 mill, these were his stats in Japan:

The 30-year-old southpaw (31 in March) has pitched 291 2/3 innings since heading to Japan. In that time, he’s logged a 2.53 ERA with a 20.9% strikeout rate, 7.9% walk rate and 54.5% ground-ball rate in 48 starts out of the BayStars’ rotation.

So just saying, lets not expect much out of Ponace other than insurance and maybe a bullpen arm.

[COY0607]

Remember former cup of coffee Anthony Kay, well he just signed 2 year deal for 10 mill, these were his stats in Japan:

The 30-year-old southpaw (31 in March) has pitched 291 2/3 innings since heading to Japan. In that time, he’s logged a 2.53 ERA with a 20.9% strikeout rate, 7.9% walk rate and 54.5% ground-ball rate in 48 starts out of the BayStars’ rotation.

So just saying, lets not expect much out of Ponace other than insurance and maybe a bullpen arm.

I don’t think assuming that he’ll be the fifth starter is having high expectations. Fifth starter will give you 100-120 innings at maybe 4.5era - that would be reasonable expectation for Ponce.

But to say he’ll be a bullpen arm is changing his role entirely. It’s like signing a 3B to play at 1B

Ponce should be a starter, no reason to expect otherwise. He pitched nearly 200 innings last year, won the MVP doing that. As far as I can tell, he’s been a starter his entire career. Why would you sign him to a completely different role - setting him up for failure

[Michael Bradley]

Ponce's previous numbers in MLB and even his KBO numbers don't mean anything. It's about his stuff, pitch mix, and velocity, and whether all of those things can translate over to MLB.

[polo007]

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[WuTang_CMB]

Remember former cup of coffee Anthony Kay, well he just signed 2 year deal for 10 mill, these were his stats in Japan:

The 30-year-old southpaw (31 in March) has pitched 291 2/3 innings since heading to Japan. In that time, he’s logged a 2.53 ERA with a 20.9% strikeout rate, 7.9% walk rate and 54.5% ground-ball rate in 48 starts out of the BayStars’ rotation.

So just saying, lets not expect much out of Ponace other than insurance and maybe a bullpen arm.

I don’t think assuming that he’ll be the fifth starter is having high expectations. Fifth starter will give you 100-120 innings at maybe 4.5era - that would be reasonable expectation for Ponce.

But to say he’ll be a bullpen arm is changing his role entirely. It’s like signing a 3B to play at 1B

Ponce should be a starter, no reason to expect otherwise. He pitched nearly 200 innings last year, won the MVP doing that. As far as I can tell, he’s been a starter his entire career. Why would you sign him to a completely different role - setting him up for failure

I agree, that's probably the expectation from Jays front office. But we all know things change depending on performance. There has to be a Plan B and C for him since there is risk here. Those plans are him in bullpen roles.

[Cyrus]

Remember former cup of coffee Anthony Kay, well he just signed 2 year deal for 10 mill, these were his stats in Japan:

The 30-year-old southpaw (31 in March) has pitched 291 2/3 innings since heading to Japan. In that time, he’s logged a 2.53 ERA with a 20.9% strikeout rate, 7.9% walk rate and 54.5% ground-ball rate in 48 starts out of the BayStars’ rotation.

So just saying, lets not expect much out of Ponace other than insurance and maybe a bullpen arm.

I don’t think assuming that he’ll be the fifth starter is having high expectations. Fifth starter will give you 100-120 innings at maybe 4.5era - that would be reasonable expectation for Ponce.

But to say he’ll be a bullpen arm is changing his role entirely. It’s like signing a 3B to play at 1B

Ponce should be a starter, no reason to expect otherwise. He pitched nearly 200 innings last year, won the MVP doing that. As far as I can tell, he’s been a starter his entire career. Why would you sign him to a completely different role - setting him up for failure

I'm sure they'll try him a starter for sure - that would maximize the contract/value of the deal, but like Wu said, they will have back up plans if his KBO numbers don't translate in MLB, and the back up plan is either he's starting in the minors or ends up bullpen/swing man...

He'll be stretched out as starter in spring training doesn't mean he'll have that role as the season goes on.

[Morris_Shatford]

Remember former cup of coffee Anthony Kay, well he just signed 2 year deal for 10 mill, these were his stats in Japan:

The 30-year-old southpaw (31 in March) has pitched 291 2/3 innings since heading to Japan. In that time, he’s logged a 2.53 ERA with a 20.9% strikeout rate, 7.9% walk rate and 54.5% ground-ball rate in 48 starts out of the BayStars’ rotation.

So just saying, lets not expect much out of Ponace other than insurance and maybe a bullpen arm.

He was part of the Stroman deal I think?

[redraptor77]

Reports out saying Jose Berios on trade market

[WuTang_CMB]

Reports out saying Jose Berios on trade market

he has privately asked out

100%

[polo007]

Why Blue Jays keep adding pitching after historic deal for Cody Ponce - The Athletic

What does it mean for the rotation and José Berríos?

After signing Cease to the largest free-agent contract in franchise history, Toronto’s rotation was seemingly full. The former San Diego Padres righty joined Kevin Gausman, Shane Bieber, Trey Yesavage and Berríos. Then the Jays signed Ponce.

Toronto entered the offseason looking for both a top-of-rotation arm and some starting depth. You could argue that’s exactly what the Blue Jays acquired in Cease and Ponce. But with a $30 million commitment, Ponce is expected to be a clear starting pitcher for the Jays next year.

Perhaps the Jays bump one of the current starters to the bullpen or run a six-man rotation to mitigate the workloads of Yesavage (still a rookie) or Bieber (still just months after returning from Tommy John surgery).

Most likely, though, Ponce’s addition could instigate a significant winter trade, and the Jays, a league source said, are willing to listen on Berríos. The right-hander pitched through injury at the end of the 2025 season, lost his rotation spot, wasn’t on Toronto’s playoff roster at any point and departed from the team ahead of the World Series.

While Berríos has been a steady figure in Toronto’s rotation and clubhouse since 2021, a separation may be best for both sides. Adding Ponce, instead of a cheaper rotation depth option, signals that separation may be increasingly likely.

[redraptor77]

Reports out saying Jose Berios on trade market

he has privately asked out

100%

Seems like there was a falling out during the playoffs