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Blue Jays 2025 Off Season Report

The memory of yet another early playoff exit at the hands of the hated New York Yankees is still fresh in the minds of most Jays fans as the team gathers in Florida with Spring Training about to commence. The 2026 Blue Jays are going to have a very different look this year as a number of faces have departed as free agents and some new blood has been brought in. The Jays starting infield was pretty much decimated by free agency as 1B Cesar Melendez signed in Boston for 5 years and $99,500,000, 2B Chris Goodwin inked a 4 year deal worth $69,600,000 with the San Francisco Giants and 3B Stu Daniels signed a 5 year deal with $109,400,000 deal with the Atlanta Braves. With their departures the Jays had a shoping list heading into the off season and GM Ryan Stewart was quite pleased with how things turned out.

Blue Jays Off Season:

1. First Base

The Blue Jays would fill the hole at first base by agreeing to a trade with the Oakland Athletics. The trade would see SP Gus Price dealt to Oakland in exchange for 1B Dave Johnson.

Players to Oakland

SP Gus Price is a 25 year old right handed pitcher who was a former supplemental 1st round pick of the Houston Astros back in 2020 out of Denver High School in the USHSBA. He was traded to the Blue Jays in 2023 by the Miami Marlins in exchange for SP Steve Sampson. Price was 3-10 with a 4.49 ERA with 47 BB and 89 strikeouts for AAA Buffalo in 2025. He has yet to live up to his billing as a possible middle of the rotation arm at the major league level and a change of scenery should do him a lot of good. 

Players to Toronto

1B Dave Johnson is a 26 year old former 3rd round pick 79th overall by the Oakland A's out of Georgetown University in the NCAA. He hit .438 with 1 HR and 6 RBI in AAA for the A's this season but struggled in 100 games with the A's hitting just .212 with 4 HR and 19 RBI. Johnson didn't get a lot of regular playing time and most of his at bats came as a pinch hitter. The Jays are hoping that with regular at bats he can put up some better numbers at the MLB level.

2. Third Base

The Jays made a bit of a splash during free agency landing 3B Bo Bichette to a 7 year deal worth $75,000,000. Bichette isn't an All star by any means and did struggle last season with Pittsburgh (.221/.335/.328 with 12 HR and 55 RBI) but did produce a WAR of 3.7. He also led the majors with 94 walks last season and is a gold glove caliber defender. He was signed as insurance and will likely split time at third with 3B Jesus Valdez unless one of the two absolutely runs away with the position to start the season. 

3. Second Base

The Jays were quiet on this front during free agency. We like our depth and will give them a chance to show what they can do during the Spring. 

4. Assistant GM

We have a contract offer on the table for a new Assistant GM but as of the start of Spring Training nothing has been finalized as of yet. 

5. Other Moves

GM Ryan Stewart was quite happy to add MR Dylan Bundy on a 1 year $1,300,000 contract. The 33 year old is coming off a down season where he suffered through injuries with the Pittsburgh Pirates and was only able to pitch to a 5-4 record with 1 save and a 5.98 ERA with 30 walks and 69 strikeouts. He still has great stuff with a 93-95 MPH fastball and he was brought in to add a veteran presence and is a great bounce back candidate. He has not won 10 games in the majors since 2023 with the Nationals but GM Ryan Stewart believes this could be a major steal for relatively no cost. 

The Jays also added another power arm that is a reclamation project in MR Jacob Bukauskas who signed a 1 year deal worth $1,000,000. The 29 year old can top triple digits with a 99-101 MPH fastball but has struggled a ton with command. He was 4-10 with a 7.14 ERA walking 61 and striking out 101 in 103.1 IP with the Texas Rangers last season. He made 16 starts for the Rangers last year and we intend to have him pitch out of the bullpen where his stuff can be a very dangerous weapon.

Rule V Draft

The Jays 40 man roster is full so they were unable to select anyone in the Rule V draft but they did lost a pair of players in 1B Cesar Garza and CL Jesus Sosa.

1B Cesar Garza is a 26 year old former 3rd round pick 95th overall out of the University of New Mexico back in 2021. He hit .322/.385/.527 with 23 HR and 114 RBI with AA New Hampshire last season. I am really kicking myself for not protecting him and was hoping that he could sneak through but he was nabbed by San Diego with the 6th pick in the 1st round.

CL Jesus Sosa is a 24 year old righty who was signed as an International Free Agent out of the Dominican Republic for $750,000 back in 2018. He was 11-8 with a 2.50 ERA walking 28 and striking out 138 for Advanced A Dunedin. The 24 year old has a big arm with a fastball that can touch 96-98 MPH.

Waiver Claim

The Jays would lose 1B Chris Daniels on waivers when he was claimed by the Kansas City Royals. Daniels was placed on waivers to make room for newly acquired 1B Dave Johnson. With the aquisition of Johnson Daniels slid down to #3 on the depth chart and we thought we might be able to slide him through waivers and stash him in AAA.

2025 Major Free Agent Signings

SP Alex Wood - 2 years $36,500,000 (Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim)
3B Chris Goodwin - 4 years $69,600,000 (San Francisco Giants)*
3B Bo Bichette - 7 years $75,000,000 (Toronto Blue Jays)
1B Cesar Melendez - 5 years $99,400,000 (Boston Red Sox)
3B Manny Machado - 2 years $28,000,000 (Arizona Diamondbacks)
SP Shelby Miller - 2 years $55,200,000 (Milwaukee Brewers)
RF Derek Fisher - 4 years $13,280,000 (Baltimore Orioles)
1B Will Benson - 6 years $199,200,000 (New York Yankees) Extension
SP Jim Meltron - 5 years $78,700,000 (Atlanta Braves)
SP Dan Mullen - 7 years $155,200,000 (New York Yankees)
CL Christopher Machamer - 3 years $37,300,000 (Boston Red Sox)
CF Jesus Rivera - 2 years $15,800,000 (Boston Red Sox)
1B J.P. Crawford - 4 years $35,600,000 (Baltimore Orioles)
SS Hideto Asamura - 1 year $12,600,000 (San Francisco Giants)
SP Rob Waller - 5 years $111,000,000 (Colorado Rockies)
SP Mike Sanford - 5 years $111,800,000 (Detroit Tigers)
3B Miguel Sano - 5 years $71,600,000 (Chicago White Sox)
C Travis D'Arnaud - 1 year $15,400,000 (Boston Red Sox)
SP Max Kranick - 5 years $42,100,000 (Kansas City Royals)
SP Noah Syndergaard - 2 years $38,800,000 (St. Louis Cardinals)
SP Jose Marquez - 7 years $163,200,000 (Boston Red Sox)
SP Carlos Rodon - 4 years $72,800,000 (Milwaukee Brewers)
3B Stu Daniels - 5 years $109,400,000 (Atlanta Braves)
SP Archie Bradley - 1 year $17,000,000 (Boston Red Sox)
SP Jameison Taillon -2 years $29,600,000 (New York Yankees)

Note:
*Blue Jays will receive supplemental 1st round picks for Daniels, Goodwin and Melendez in the 2026 First Year Player Draft.

Up Next: Spring Training 2026

Blue Jays Crush Indians Will Face The Yankees in Next Round

October 13th, 2022

The Toronto Blue Jays pinned their season hopes on the shoulders of their Ace in SP Jamie Cox as they sent him to the hill in a winner take all battle against the second place wild card team the Cleveland Indians. The Jays head into the playoffs getting a pair of key players back in 3B Stu Daniels and SP Gerritt Cole both missed significant time with injuries but are back at 100% and will be ready as the Jays head deeper into the playoffs. 

SP Jamie Cox showed why he is widely considered the best pitcher in baseball right now as he dominated the Indians for 8 innings allowing them just 1 run on 5 hits with 2 walks and struck out 14. The Jays gave him a lot of run support early on as well scoring 6 runs int he 3rd and adding 4 more in the 4th inning and knocking the Indians Ace SP Justin Hooper out of the game early. Offensively 1B A.J. Reed was 3-3 with 2 homeruns a double and drove in 3 runs and SS Carlos Correa and CF Albert Almora added homeruns and each drove in 3. For the Indians only 1B Bran O'Quinn could muster anything offensively going 2-3 with a pair of doubles and adding 2 RBI.

ALDS Game #1 - New York Yankees @ Toronto Blue Jays
SP Justin Hooper (17-11 2.67 ERA) vs
SP Jamie Cox (18-4 2.58 ERA)



W: SP Jame Cox (1-0) 8.0 IP 5 H 1 R 2 BB 14 K
L: SP Justin Hooper (0-1) 2.0 IP 8 H 10 R 1 BB 2 K

Up Next: Divisional Series Toronto @ New York

2021 Regular Season is in the Books, Jays are Baseball's Best During Regular Season
 
October 6th, 2021
 
The 2021 Regular Season is now officially over and the Toronto Blue Jays finished with the best record in baseball at 108-54. They ran away with the American League East in the final month of the season. The Jays started September with a slim 2.5 game lead over the Yankees and by the time the dust settled and the season was over the Jays had opened up an 18 game lead over the second place Yankees. With the victory the Jays have clinched their 4th consecutive AL East Title and 4th consecutive playoff birth. The Jays will have to wait to see who they will face in the American League Division Series as they will play the winner of the AL Wild Card Game between the Cleveland Indians (96-66) and the New York Yankees (90-72). The news was not all good for the Jays in the final month of the season as they were hit with a rash of injuries just as the season was winding down. They would end up losing C Max Pentecost (out 3 weeks with hamstring tendinitis), RF Oswaldo Arcia (out 4 weeks with a separated shoulder) and 3B Stu Daniels (out 7 weeks with a fractured finger). Pentecost and Arcia should only miss the start of the ALDS but Danies is defiantly going to be out for the entire ALDS.
 
Minor League Awards
The 2021 season has wrapped up in the minor leagues as well and the Jays minor league affiliates boasted 11 MVP or Pitcher of the Year Award winners. GM Ryan Stewart "We couldn't be happier with the progress that our development and coaching staffs have made with our minor league system this season. We have put a big emphasis on building a sustainable pipeline of minor league talent that we draft and develop up through the system and that we can use on the MLB roster or as potential trade pieces to help fill gaps in our talent base. I can't praise our coaching and development people enough they did a fantastic job this season and were excited to see what they will be able to accomplish next year"
 
AAA Buffalo
SP Erik Black (1st Round Pick 27th Overall in 2017) was named the International League Pitcher of the Year after going 20-3 with a 2.35 ERA.
SS Wilmer Flores (Signed as a minor league free agent in 2021) was named the International League MVP after hitting .350 with 14 HR and 75 RBI.
 
Advanced A Dunedin
CL Mike McNeal (5th round Pick 154th overall in 2020) was named the Florida State League Pitcher of the Year after going 8-3 with 40 Saves and a 1.61 ERA.
 
Low A Lansing
SP Sam Kyte (6th Round Pick 180th Overall in 2016) was named the Midwestern League Pitcher of the Year after going 18-2 with a 2.27 ERA.
1B Tim Nelson (17th round Pick 506th Overall in 2018) was named the Midwestern League MVP after hitting .327 with 33 HR and 103 RBI.
 
Short Season A Vancouver
 
SP Tristan Polley (18th Round Pick 536th Overall in 2018) was named the Northwest League Pitcher of the Year after he went 10-3 with a 3.86 ERA.
1B Alex Murphy (17th round pick 514th overall in 2017) was named the Northwest League MVP after hitting .300 with 23 Hr and 63 RBI.
 
RL Bluefield Blue Jays
SP Norberto Perez (International Free Agent Signing in 2017 out of Cuba) was named the Appalachian League Pitcher of the Year after going 10-0 with a 1.16 ERA. 
 
Gulf Coast League
SP Jose DeJesus (3rd Round Pick 94th Overall in 2020) was named the GCL Pitcher of the Year after he went 13-0 with a 2.50 ERA
CF Nate Wells (12th Round Pick 360th Overall in 2016) was named the GCL MVP after he hit .389 with 19 HR and 69 RBI.
 
Dominican Summer League
SP Jorge Amoras (International Free Agent Signing in 2017 out of Venezuela) was named the DSL Pitcher of the Year after he went 9-0 with a 1.47 ERA.
 
Around the Majors
 
RF Carlos Gonzalez of the Washington Nationals belted his 300th career homerun in a 5-3 loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates. The 35 year old veteran is hitting .236 with 20 HR and 58 RBI for the Nats this season and has a career line of .286 with 300 HR and 1005 RBI in 1656 career games.
 
1B Miguel Cabrerra of the Detroit Tigers joined elite company as he hit his 600th career homerun in a 6-5 loss to the Chicago White Sox. The 38 year old slugger hit .276 with 27 HR and drove in 95 runs for the Tigers this season. He owns a career batting average of .311 with 600 homeruns 2019 RBI and 3428 hits.  He ranks 6th all time in hits and is 9th on the all time homerun list.
 
SP Zach Greinke of the St. Louis Cardinals earned career victory #200 in a 4-1 triumph over the San Diego Padres. The 37 year old is 6-8 with a 4.54 ERA this season and has struggled with a number of injuries that has really limited his playing time. He owns a career record of 200-153 with a 3.55 ERA and 2716 strikeouts.
 
Up Next: 2021 ALDS Recap
 
 
 
 
 
 

Opening Day is Around the Corner The Jays had another successful spring finishing off Grapefruit League action with a record of 15-11 which was the best in their division with the Tampa Bay Rays finishing second with a record of 13-13. The Boston Red Sox had a really rough spring going just 8-19 and it looks like its going to be a long season in Boston. The Jays had a couple of scares this spring as they had both SP Jamie Cox and newly acquired SS Carlos Correa miss time due to injuries. Neither proved to be serious and both are going to be ready for opening day. 

Spring Training Surprises

The biggest surprise of the Spring was the play of 22 year old rookie LF Don Bergeron the former 2nd round pick out of Washington High School put up some dynamite numbers this spring hitting .347 with 5 HR and 13 RBI and had my scouting and development staffs raving about his ability. We are going to start him out in AA New Hampshire since he has never appeared above A Lansing and I bet he isn't there long with a promotion to AAA Buffalo looming before the end of the 2021 season. The other nice surprise was the play of CL Jim Phillips the 25 year old righty had a great spring tossing 14.1 innings of shut out base ball waking just 3 and striking out 11. He really put himself on the map and will be one of the first arms to be called up from AAA Buffalo. The former 8th round pick 244th overall in 2017 out of Michigan State could be a major contributor to the Jays bullpen as soon as this season. 

Spring Training Disappointments

The biggest dissapointment of the spring was the pitching of veteran MR Aaron Crow. Crow pitched to a 17.74 ERA in 12 innings of work allowing 6 homeruns and 9 walks against just 3 strikeouts. The 34 year old essentially played his way out of a job and found himself headed down to AAA Buffalo. Its not know if he is suffering from a nagging injury and that has caused his drop in performance. Never the less he will start the season in AAA and if he can get it together and find his form from last season he could be back up in the Jays bullpen later this season.
OPENING DAY ROSTERS

SP Jamie Cox
SP Nathan Kirby
SP Marcus Stroman
SP Gerrit Cole
SP Kohl Stewart

MR Tony BooneMr Kevin ChapmanMR Jarred CosartMR Mark MontgomeryMR Carson FulmerMR Chris RichardsonCL Rex Brothers

C Max Pentecost
1B A.J. Reed
2B Kolten Wong
3B Stu Daniels
SS Carlos Correa
LF Justin Williams
CF Albert Almora
RF Oswaldo Arcia
DH Josh Donaldson

C Wyatt Cross
INF Gosuke Katoh
OF Randal Girchuk
OF Andrew Alpin

Pre Season Predictions

The baseball writers have spoken and they have the Jays finishing with a record of 100-62 and taking home the American League East title. In the National League the defending World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers are predicted to have the best record in baseball winning a total of 110 games. The Boston Red Sox and Milwaukee Brewers are predicted to have tough seasons both on pace to lose well over 100 games. wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww
Financial Information

The Blue Jays are in pretty good shape financially. We have an opening day budget of $178,000,000 and are currently spending $124,480,000 on players. Our budget is ranked #5th highest in the league and our payroll is 7th. Last season we turned a $38,000,000 profit and our owner (Rogers Communication Inc) took $22,500,000. Needless to say our owners should be quite happy with what they are getting from a financial stand point. We do have some players that we will be looking to lock up this season so we are going to eat into some of our available funds that away. We also have $8,000,000 available for the draft but with 3 additional compensation round selections coming our way we are probably going to spend over that amount.

Top Prospects and Farm Systems

Baseball America released their first prospect rankings today and the 10 best prospects in the majors were:

1. SP Sam Hobbs - 20, Colorado Rockies
2. LF Chris Caro - 21, New York Yankees
3. LF Ivan Saldana - 21, Baltimore Orioles
4. SP Vic Johnson - 22, Toronto Blue Jays
5. SP Jose Cerventes - 22, Toronto Blue Jays
6. RF Danny Miller - 22, Seattle Mariners
7. SP Chris Lee - 21, New York Mets
8. LF Jesus Vargas - 21, Kansas City Royals
9. LF Buddy Sims - 22, Milwaukee Brewers
10. SP Alfredo Bernal - 21, Pittsburgh Pirates

The Minnesota Twins have over taken the New York Yankees as having the #1 rated system in the majors. The Twins don't have a lot of talent ranked high on the top prospects list but they have 9 players ranked in the top 100. The Yankees graduated a few of their top prospects to the Majors last season and that dropped them out of the top spot and into second. The Blue Jays on the back of a pair of top rated pitchers (SP Vic Johnson being rated so high is a pleasant surprise) have vaulted into the #3 spot on the list. Rounding out the top 5 are the Cincinnati Reds and Milwaukee Brewers. The Phillies, Cardinals, Rays and Braves all are tied for last in terms of the prospect rankings each not having a single player ranked withing the top 100 prospects in major league baseball. 

Up Next: April Review 

Hey,
 
Thanks for the post! Glad that people are enjoying the story so far. Pentecost has to have had a number of talent bumps over the last couple of seasons and is really rounding into a top flight catcher. As for Ochinko he played in the Jays system with the AAA Buffalo Bisons until the conclusion of the 2015 season. In 2015 he hit .301 with 3 HR and 23 RBI in 42 games. At the end of 2015 he became a free agent and didn't sign with any new clubs. He retired at the end of the 2017 season and is currently a bench coach for the University of Hawaii Rainbows in the NCAA. He holds a career record of 42-30 in 2 seasons at the helm. 

I have been dying to get back into writing a dynasty report ever since I lost my Blue Jays Dynasty after a corrupted hard drive killed it in 2032. So I decided to start a new 2015 game and let it sim 5 seasons before I took over. I wanted to see what the computer GM would do with the Jays and to be honest he did a very good job! 

In 5 seasons the Blue Jays managed to make the playoffs 4 times (with 2017 being the exception) and in the last 2 seasons they have had the best record in baseball winning 103 games in 2019 and 110 in 2019. The regular season is where their success seems to stop however, as they have not made it out of the first round yet losing to Detroit in 2018 and just this past season they were swept by the Cleveland Indians. 

We pick up our story at the conclusion of the 2019 Playoffs. The National League Champion Philadelphia Phillies have steam rolled the Cleveland Indians 4 games to 1 to capture the 2019 World Series. The Phillies went 88-7 during the regular season capturing the National League East Crown before beating the Dodgers and the Brewers en route to their 3rd World Series title and 1st since 1998. The Rule V draft is right around the Corner and the Jays new GM, Ryan Stewart has some very big decisions looming with a couple of players in Salary Arbitration. 

Here we go! Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy.

I have been dying to get back into writing a dynasty report ever since I lost my Blue Jays Dynasty after a corrupted hard drive killed it in 2032. So I decided to start a new 2015 game and let it sim 5 seasons before I took over. I wanted to see what the computer GM would do with the Jays and to be honest he did a very good job! 

In 5 seasons the Blue Jays managed to make the playoffs 4 times (with 2017 being the exception) and in the last 2 seasons they have had the best record in baseball winning 103 games in 2019 and 110 in 2019. The regular season is where their success seems to stop however, as they have not made it out of the first round yet losing to Detroit in 2018 and just this past season they were swept by the Cleveland Indians. 

We pick up our story at the conclusion of the 2019 Playoffs. The National League Champion Philadelphia Phillies have steam rolled the Cleveland Indians 4 games to 1 to capture the 2019 World Series. The Phillies went 88-7 during the regular season capturing the National League East Crown before beating the Dodgers and the Brewers en route to their 3rd World Series title and 1st since 1998. The Rule V draft is right around the Corner and the Jays new GM, Ryan Stewart has some very big decisions looming with a couple of players in Salary Arbitration. 

Here we go! Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy.