Toronto’s Task List: What Blue Jays Must Address in Offseason
With the Los Angeles Dodgers just one win away from a World Series championship, the official start of the 2024-25 off-season is nearly here, as free agency will open five days after this year’s winner is crowned.
The good news for the Toronto Blue Jays is they only have one pending free agent: left-hander Ryan Yarbrough. That’s the benefit of trading every single expiring contract during the regular season. So, general manager Ross Atkins and the rest of the front office can hit the ground running once the free-agent market opens next week.
Coming off a disappointing 2024 season that saw this franchise miss the playoffs, you can expect management to have its hands in just about every cookie jar on the shelf this winter, especially with as many holes as they have to fill on their roster.
Between upgrading an underwhelming offence, overhauling a bullpen ravaged by injuries and poor performances, rounding out the starting rotation, and fortifying the catcher position — the Blue Jays have lots of work ahead. They likely won’t address every area via free agency. That being said, there should be plenty of payroll spending available based on their projected CBT payroll of approximately $213 million, according to FanGraphs’ Roster Resource.
That puts the organization roughly $28 million shy of the initial $241 million luxury tax threshold, which they exceeded in 2023 and were on track to surpass again this past season before narrowly slipping under after becoming sellers at the trade deadline, resetting their tax bracket.
This is one of the most critical off-seasons in Blue Jays’ history, and its success will determine the franchise’s direction beyond 2025. With little time to waste, let’s get to work on how the organization might approach this fall’s free-agent market.
Acquire (at least) One Big Bat
Betting on internal improvements and veteran, complementary additions aren’t going to cut it this time — the Blue Jays need to be big-game hunting this time.
Of course, the biggest fish in the sea is New York Yankees outfielder Juan Soto, who’s expected to command a contract north of $500 million this off-season. However, that isn’t expected to repel Toronto’s front office from attempting to execute the impossible: steal the newly-turned 26-year-old superstar away from the Biggle Apple.
But, as aggressive as the Blue Jays might act, many throughout the industry already believe he’s destined to remain in New York, whether he re-signs with the Yankees or leaves for the Mets. Either way, the odds don’t favour him joining Canada’s lone MLB franchise. Atkins has been in this position before, though, as recently as last winter with Shohei Ohtani. However, he can’t afford to be left without a quality pivot point for a second straight off-season.
In the likely event the Blue Jays don’t land Soto, they must have a better strategy already in place to ensure their lineup — which ranked 20th in SLG (.389) and 26th in home runs (156) in 2024 — takes a positive step forward in ’25. One advantage they’ll have this winter compared to last is a more talented secondary tier of hitters beneath the Yankees slugger.
That market is expected to include impact players such as first basemen Pete Alonso and Christian Walker, outfielders Teoscar Hernández, Tyler O’Neill and Jurickson Profar, shortstop Willy Adames, third baseman Alex Bregman and designated hitter/right fielder Anthony Santander.
Considering Toronto’s position-player group features many openings, nobody should be off-limits from that group. Granted, management will also likely explore the trade market for an offensive upgrade or two, and rightly so. As long as they add at least one middle-of-the-order thumper to an offence that already includes Vladimir Guerrero Jr., that’s all that matters.
