Blue Jays Corbin Burnes pivot isn’t remotely good enough

The American League East Division just might be the toughest in baseball in 2025. The Baltimore Orioles retained their young core with prospects on the verge of breaking out at the big league level while the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees made major improvements to their rosters this offseason. No moves have been made by the Toronto Blue Jays to keep up with their division rivals. 

At this point, Blue Jays general manager Ross Atkins has to be feeling some pressure to make moves to show he is not already conceding the 2025 season. Atkins avoided talks with many free agents prior to Juan Soto signing with the Mets and then missed out on the Corbin Burnes sweepstakes once Burnes inked a deal with the Arizona Diamondbacks. The current free agent target the Blue Jays are eyeing is not quite good enough to make a big difference. 

For more news and rumors, check out MLB Insider Robert Murray’s work on The Baseball Insiders podcast, subscribe to The Moonshot, our weekly MLB newsletter and join the discord to get the inside scoop during the MLB offseason. 

Blue Jays interested in Jose Quintana 

Late Monday night, MLB insider Hector Gomez reported on X that the Toronto Blue Jays have shown interest in left-handed starter Jose Quintana. Quintana put together a respectable season for the New York Mets in 2024 going 10-10 in 31 starts with a 3.75 ERA. However, Quintana is no Corbin Burnes. 

With the current starting rotations that the Red Sox and Yankees have, it is hard to see the addition of Quintana making the Blue Jays competitive in their division. Quintana would add some depth to their rotation but to improve significantly, Toronto will likely have to take a chance on a big-name free agent such as Justin Verlander or Max Scherzer which is not all that realistic.