Ross Atkins' final opportunity to make the Blue Jays competitive may be slipping away

Toronto GM Ross Atkins came into the offseason with huge plans to make the Blue Jays a serious 2025 AL contender. But as the dominoes started to fall, Atkins’ plans started to crumble.

It began when Juan Soto signed with the Mets. Atkins challenged the deep pocketbook of the MLB’s richest owner in Steve Cohen only to see his top target fall into Cohen’s hands. Since then, the market has shrunk considerably as several names found new homes. But while the sands have shifted, Toronto remains close to the same. Atkins has added Andres Gimenez and Yimi Garcia while losing Spencer Horowitz and Jordan Romano.

The Blue Jays’ last greatest hope of contending seems to lie in one of the game’s greatest arms. But as Atkins has made great strides in attempting to lure the prize of the pitching market to the Blue Jays, one MLB insider is casting doubts on Toronto’s chances.

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Jon Paul Morosi lists the Giants as the favorites to land Corbin Burnes

The Giants are somewhat of a late entry to the Corbin Burnes sweepstakes but have definitely changed the landscape. While on MLB Network’s Hot Stove, MLB insider Jon Paul Morosi had this to say:

“The Giants are viewed by many as one of the frontrunners, perhaps the frontrunner, to sign Corbin Burnes."

With many impact bats and hurlers already off the market, Burnes may be the one game-changing player Atkins has a shot at. Burnes threw to a 2.92 ERA with 181 strikeouts over 194.1 innings in 2024, posting just one of his several great seasons. In only seven years in the majors, Burnes has been a top 10 Cy Young contender five times, walking away with the award once in 2021. That season, he wowed Brewers’ fans with an amazing 2.43 ERA, an MLB best for that year.

He maintains a career ERA of 3.19 and has posted sub-3.00 ERAs four times including the brief 2020 season (though not including his debut year of 2018). While already elite, his 2.33 postseason ERA is even more astounding.

If the Blue Jays miss out on Burnes, their pitching staff, which posted an abysmal 4.29 ERA last season ranking them 22nd in the MLB in cumulative ERA, would continue to be a liability. This would only add to the misery that plagues Toronto’s search for offensive firepower which is getting trickier by the day.

In any case, if Atkins is going to assemble a contender before the 2025 season, it appears as though nabbing Burnes is essential to Toronto’s success. At this point, Atkins needs to devote everything at his disposal to landing Burnes before Bo Bichette and Vladimir Guerrero Jr., who turned down a monster extension, hit free agency after the 2025 season.

Atkins has enough money to work with after losing out on Soto. This should give him enough leverage to beat out San Francisco for the free agent ace. Without Burnes, there isn’t much to stop the Blue Jays from repeating the last place 74-88 season they posted last season.