The Blue Jays held their introductory press conference for big-ticket free agent acquisition Anthony Santander on Tuesday. General manager Ross Atkins told the Toronto beat that the club still has some financial flexibility after finalizing that five-year pact (link via Keegan Matheson of MLB.com).
Atkins didn’t provide much in the way of specific targets. He noted generally that the front office will continue to pursue upgrades on both the position player and pitching sides. Toronto has been linked to the likes of Max Scherzer and Jurickson Profar within the past few days. They’ve long been tied to Alex Bregman and Nick Pivetta and have been mentioned as a potential Pete Alonso suitor. Most of the top remaining free agents have been at least loosely connected to the Jays at some point over the offseason.
If the Jays make a move on the pitching side, they could focus on the rotation. Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet wrote on Monday that they have been “less aggressive” in attacking the bullpen since they signed Jeff Hoffman to a three-year deal. Toronto had acquired Nick Sandlin and re-signed Yimi García earlier in the offseason. They join holdovers Chad Green and Erik Swanson as potential leverage options. That’s still not the most formidable bullpen, but it’s far better than the group which Toronto carried into the offseason.
A rotation pickup could also indirectly improve the relief corps. Yariel Rodríguez can pitch in either role. He’s currently penciled in as the fifth starter behind Kevin Gausman, José Berríos, Chris Bassitt and Bowden Francis. Signing a starter would allow the Jays to use Rodríguez as a multi-inning reliever if everyone is healthy coming out of camp.
There are a few areas for possible upgrade on the position player side. Even after adding Santander, they could accommodate a corner outfielder. Adding a left fielder would allow them to keep Santander in right field and use George Springer as a designated hitter and rotational outfielder. Their third basemen are mostly unproven at the major league level, though a second big infield pickup (following the Andrés Giménez trade) could block the path for the likes of Will Wagner, Orelvis Martinez and Addison Barger to get opportunities to prove themselves.
The Jays dipped narrowly below the luxury tax threshold last year. They’re well beyond the $241MM base number this season. RosterResource calculates their CBT figure around $263MM — $2MM above the second penalization tier. That includes an $18.5MM estimate for Santander, though the deferrals in his contract are expected to push the “true” average annual value closer to $14MM. That could drop the Jays back into the first tier once the Santander terms are fully reported, but any acquisition of significance is likely to push them back into the second tier.
Toronto will pay a 20% tax on spending between $241MM and $261MM and will be taxed at a 32% rate for spending between $261MM and $281MM. The penalties escalate further if they go past $281MM, which would also push their top pick in the 2026 draft back by 10 spots.
I got a notification at 12:42 am and got excited we did something cool late at night. Instead it’s telling me the team with a top 5 richest ownership group in baseball has more money they can spend.
Going back to bed 🙁
How do they have that much tied up in salary with such a mediocre lineup???
Almost $64 million of it is tied up among three staring pitchers with another almost $53 million on the right corners
This is what happens when you have no farm and limited home grown players.
You end up trading prospects for more expensive players and have to grow the team with free agents.
Last place team
Perhaps, but that’s because they play in the best division in MLB by far and a couple incompetent clowns in the front office on top of a complete fat boob moron manager who couldn’t manage a little league team with any success. In the Central they’d finish 1-2-3 easily. In the West they’d also finish 1-2-3. In the NL, perhaps win the NL Central.
I think another pitcher could help them. Pivetta is Canadian and now that they lost a pick for Santander the pick penalty for signing Pivetta isn’t as serious.
Davidi suggests this isn’t true and any additional signings would need to go to ownership.
With that limited money to spend, picking up the gimenez and straw contracts is hilarious.
I think Toronto will do all the can to try to get Scherzer to sign with them. They might even pay him up to $20M (max earning potential with incentives) to come North of the border. If he doesn’t want to play there then they will fall back on Pivetta and sign him to a 3 year deal with a 4th year option.
Toronto doesn’t have a proven closer either. I guess they’ll try Hoffman there but he’s more of a setup guy at heart.