SAN ANTONIO – Best guess for the Blue Jays this winter: they add a pretty good hitter, a starting pitcher who bumps Yariel Rodriguez to the bullpen and some further relief depth.
A backup catcher? Maybe not. A second bat? That’d be ideal, but we’ll see. Will it all work? No spoilers here – check back in 2025. And either way, there’s a good chance the execution of this plan takes at least a couple months.
But after talking to executives and agents at the JW Marriott San Antonio Hill Country Resort & Spa this week, that’s the picture that’s emerging. Connecting with free agents has been a priority for the Blue Jays since most top agencies have representatives here in San Antonio, but the Toronto front office is also surveying the trade market, knowing their young position players have value league-wide.
“We’ll be patient in that category,” GM Ross Atkins said Tuesday. “But we feel like we’re well positioned.”
To say they’re keeping their options open would be putting it mildly.
“Typical Blue Jays,” said one agent. It wasn’t a compliment or an insult – just a description of a team that tends to keep multiple possibilities open for as long as possible.
Now eventually, information gathering must give way to decisiveness, but the way Atkins is talking about being patient, it’s clear the Blue Jays don’t mind waiting. And there can be advantages to that approach, as prices often drop later in the winter.
In the meantime, let’s consider a few of the many, many players relevant to the Blue Jays.
There’s Brent Rooker, who hit 39 home runs with a .927 OPS for the Athletics in 2024 and is still three years away from free agency. On paper, he’s an ideal fit for the Blue Jays – for any team, really – but A’s GM David Forst said Tuesday he doesn’t plan to move Rooker and two others with knowledge of the situation said Wednesday they don’t think those comments were just a negotiating ploy.
If anything, Oakland may look to add one more bat this winter in an attempt to contend and that leaves the Blue Jays out of luck on a really talented player. In theory, the Blue Jays’ ideal fit is probably a corner outfielder who bats left-handed, and Rooker’s a right-handed hitting DH, but his bat would have made it all worth it. He mashes – that’s the important part.
If the Blue Jays don’t add a corner outfielder, the next most likely position they’ll upgrade is second base, so it’s worth noting that Ha-Seong Kim’s expected to be fully recovered from shoulder surgery early in 2025, according to agent Scott Boras. As expected, the Blue Jays have some interest in Kim and Gleyber Torres as they survey infield options.
But it’s the starting pitching market where the Blue Jays are said to be most aggressive. The thinking there is simple enough: adding an impact arm would improve their rotation and deepen their bullpen with the addition of Rodriguez without blocking other MLB-ready contributors.
And while there’s risk in reading too much into early off-season conversations, it’s at least worth noting that the Blue Jays are asking about Max Fried, the 30-year-old left-hander who posted a 3.25 ERA with Atlanta this year en route to a 3.5-WAR season.
Fried’s one of the off-season’s top free agents with a projected six-year, $156 million contract by MLB Trade Rumors, and an expenditure of that scale might require special approval from ownership at Rogers Communications, Inc., which also owns Sportsnet. But he’s not the only top-ranked starter in whom the Blue Jays are showing interest – due diligence at least, or perhaps more.
As one person at the GM Meetings said: “In capitalism, anything is possible.”
For the Blue Jays, that’s certainly true. After all, this is the front office that signed Robbie Ray and Marcus Semien in one inspired off-season four years ago. A similar showing this winter would restore their status as contenders for 2025.
With free agency now underway, the possibilities are again wide open for the Blue Jays. Maybe they pull off that dream trade, sign a marquee free agent or two and hit big on a minor-league signing.
“The no-look behind the back pass,” as one executive put it.
But banking on that outcome isn’t realistic, either. After all, this front office is also the group that’s led the Blue Jays to the place they are now – trying to improve a deeply flawed roster so they can climb out of last place in their division. There are no guarantees of a return to relevance, yet doing better than last year is a must.
For now, the best guess is this: hitter, starter and bullpen depth – and maybe some more waiting first. How well it all works? That’s a question for next summer.
