Who says the MLB offseason takes a holiday off? Just one day after our first blockbuster trade of the winter, we have our first huge free-agent signing, as the Toronto Blue Jays reportedly agreed to a seven-year, $210 million deal with star righty Dylan Cease on Wednesday night. (The New York Post's Jon Heyman was first with the news, while The Athletic's Ken Rosenthal reports that Cease's contract does include some deferred money.)
Cease's 4.55 ERA last season might not look like much, but don't get it twisted: He misses bats as well as just about anybody in baseball, and his inflated 2025 numbers were more a result of fluky batted-ball luck than anything else. His command can go haywire at times, but when he's on, there are few better, and he's cracked the 165-inning mark in each of the last five seasons.
In short, he's a perfect fit for a Blue Jays team that needed a shot of long-term stability in its rotation. The fact that Toronto was able to fill that need at the top of the market, before the rest of the league had even gotten its feet under it, is a testament to that fact. It's also a warning to MLB, a harbinger of a potential sea change to come. Because if the Blue Jays were a sleeping giant before, they're very much awake now, and that's a scary proposition for everyone else.
Need to Know
- Cease is the perfect fit for Toronto both now and into the future
- With the rotation address, the Jays sure feel like AL favorites again in 2026
- Beyond that, the move is also a signal to the rest of the league that one of its richest franchises is finally ready to live up to its potential
Updated Blue Jays rotation after Dylan Cease signing
Player | Under team control through |
|---|---|
Kevin Gausman | 2026 |
Dylan Cease | 2032 |
Trey Yesavage | 2031 |
Shane Bieber | 2026 |
Jose Berrios | 2028 |
Eric Lauer | 2026 |
With Max Scherzer and Chris Bassitt off to free agency this offseason, the Jays had two holes to fill in their rotation. They also had some long-term question marks, as long-time ace Kevin Gausman has just one year remaining on his deal while Bieber will hit the open market next winter. (Not to mention Jose Berrios, who can opt out of his contract after 2026.)
Cease answers just about all of those questions in one fell swoop. He makes Toronto's starting five substantially more formidable next season; there just aren't many guys who are better bets for 200 strikeouts a year, and his run prevention should improve with a better defense behind him and some regression to the mean. But he also offers a tentpole to build around for the future, a true running mate for Trey Yesavage for years to come. As things stood, the Jays were going to be more or less starting from scratch with their pitching staff next offseason. Now, that task becomes less daunting.
But this move feels significant beyond just its on-field implications for the Jays. It feels like the start of something very, very big, something that could spell trouble for the Los Angeles Dodgers, New York Yankees and the rest of baseball's biggest spenders (and contenders).
Dylan Cease signing signals baseball's sleeping giant is now fully awake
How many times in recent years had we seen this franchise try and fail to land a big fish in free agency? Whether it was Corey Seager or Shohei Ohtani or Juan Soto or Corbin Burnes or countless others, Toronto was clearly fighting an uphill battle when it came to convincing the biggest names in the sport to come north of the border — a transition that comes with not just a culture shift but tax considerations and much else.
But this year's magical run to Game 7 of the World Series felt like it unlocked something. The Blue Jays became the center of the baseball world; Rogers Centre was packed and rocking on a nightly basis throughout October, and it was obvious to anyone watching just how special a clubhouse Toronto had built. Who wouldn't want to be a part of that?
Cease's decision offers proof of concept. And now, it sure feels like the dam's broken, and there's nothing stopping the Jays from becoming the powerhouse they always threatened to become. Toronto is a major market, and Rogers Communications is one of the deepest-pocketed owners in the sport. On paper, all the boxes were checked; all that was needed was a spark, and this team could really start throwing its weight around.
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Blue Jays steal a page from Dodgers' playbook with deferred money
Look no further than the details of Cease's contract. Contrary to popular belief, the Dodgers did not in fact invent the practice of deferring portions of free-agent deals in order to help defray short-term costs; it's been around for decades, and is by no means exclusive to L.A.
But it does require having enough cash on hand to guarantee that money into the future. And while we don't yet know exactly how much of Cease's deal is deferred, and for how long, it's notable that Toronto appears to be embracing this strategy. Not only because they can afford to do so — an indication of just how much money this team really has, no matter how often they're thought of among the sport's big-market clubs — but beacuse it signals that their offseason is far from over.
This is just the start of what could be a huge offseason for Toronto
Starting pitching was priority No. 1 for this offseason, and it's been addressed before the calendar even flips to December. $30 million a year is certainly nothing to sneeze at, but the Blue Jays still have payroll room left with which to upgrade the rest of this roster even more.
Rumors have swirled around Toronto's interest in star outfielder Kyle Tucker for weeks now. This type of money, at this point in the winter, sure suggests that there's fire behind all that smoke; this is not a deal that says "we're content to make one big move and call it a day". Why can't they go north of $400 million for Tucker's services, after they were willing to go above $700 for both Ohtani and Soto?
And what about former franchise shortstop Bo Bichette? Sure, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. already got $500 million, and Cease is now on the books, but again: The Jays are telling anyone who will listen that they're all in on trying to win a World Series as soon as possible. Given his value to this fan base and how thin the infield market is beyond Bichette, why wouldn't they be interested in bringing him back? And given how much money they've already thrown around, why wouldn't they be able to compete with anybody?