Toronto’s Core in Jeopardy: Blue Jays Risk Losing Several Franchise Cornerstones This Winter. DD
To say the Toronto Blue Jays have their hands full this offseason would be the understatement of the year.
Moves in free agency will drastically impact the upcoming season, and the Toronto Blue Jays now have a chip on their shoulder after coming up short in an extra-inning battle in game seven of the World Series.
The team had the lowest bar set going into 2025, as many predicted them to finish last in the AL East, again, so nobody expected them to make the playoffs, let alone the Fall Classic.
Arguably, the biggest free agent in baseball right now is their shortstop Bo Bichette. Bichette has been very vocal about his desire to stay in Toronto, so working out a deal with him is easily their top priority, but he wasn’t the only key piece to the 2025 team that is now up for grabs.
Ranking Blue Jays Free Agents
The Blue Jays now have six free agents that were on their roster last year. In a surprising move, starting pitcher Shane Bieber quickly took his name out of the hat as he signed a one-year $16M deal which will impact some of the moves that management will now make with the rotation.
Joining Bichette on the list is starting pitcher Chris Bassitt, relief pitcher Seranthony Domínguez, first baseman Ty France, infielder Isiah Kiner-Falefa and starting pitcher Max Scherzer. Will all of these guys be back? Unlikely.
No. 1: Bichette
This feels sort of like a no brainer as he was on track to finish the year with 100 RBI had he not been sidelined the final month of the regular season. He trailed only Aaron Judge in batting average as one of seven in baseball to have an average over .300. Again he missed almost all of August, but still finished second in the majors in hits (181).
No.2: Domínguez
Domínguez on the other hand joined the team at the trade deadline and immediately bolstered the bullpen. Time and time again he got the team out of a jam during the playoffs and his postseason play should keep him on the team.
No.3 Bassitt
Bassitt was moved into the bullpen with Domínguez during the playoffs after being the workhorse during the regular season in the starting rotation. Now with Bieber, Trey Yesavage, José Berríos, Kevin Gausman and Bassitt that feels like a deadly rotation, but is that too many guys? Maybe, maybe not.
Bassitt finished the year with a better ERA than Berríos at 3.96 which was second-best amongst starters trailing only Gausman (minimum 10 starts). He also finished with the most wins by the end of the year to complement the second-most strikeouts (166).
With how stacked the hitting lineup is, it doesn’t make sense to keep either Kiner-Falefa or France. Neither made an impact at the plate, especially Kiner-Falefa. It was almost painful to watch during the postseason as he batted a .162 with an on-base percentage of .184. That just doesn’t fit what the Jays are doing at the plate.
No matter how much everyone loves Max Scherzer, it just doesn’t really seem like he is going to have a place on the roster unless it is coming out of the bullpen. His age makes him a concern as he is going to be 42 years old, but for argument’s sake, management might be willing to keep him for next to nothing.
Easily, the Blue Jays have to keep Bichette and need to also prioritize keeping Domínguez in the bullpen. Bassitt could decide that he doesn’t want to take on a lesser role and decide to move on, but it would be difficult to see him go. The offseason is a chess match, but nobody will know who ultimately won until 2026 has begun. Let the free agency game begin!
