LAS VEGAS — Armed with the cachet of an inspired World Series run that captivated both fans and the wider industry’s interest, the Toronto Blue Jays jumped into the off-season with what some agents called a motivated posture across various player markets.
One prominent agent believes the American League champions will find a more receptive audience for their pitches this winter, too, having shown the baseball world how success looks north of the border.
Baseball tends to have “a pack mentality,” said the agent, and between seeing players succeed with the Blue Jays, the enthusiasm from fans Canada-wide and positive reviews of the team’s facilities, “it should be easier for them to get players” this off-season.
A second agent described the Blue Jays as “hungry” and “acting like the big boys,” while both representatives said they are involved on top-end starting pitchers, back-end relievers, position players and talent from Asia.
“They’re in every market,” said the second agent.
That’s not necessarily different than in previous years, as the Blue Jays generally canvas the entire player pool to assess what opportunities may exist for them. But after losing Game 7 of the World Series to the now two-time champion Los Angeles Dodgers, the dynamics around them seem to be different this time around — not only with agents but, most importantly, with players.
And while MLB players are foremost on that list, NPB players presumably also took note of the team that took the Dodgers to seven games.
As well positioned as they seemingly are, however, markets in baseball often take weeks, even months, to develop, with one executive remarking how teams are more comfortable than ever doing business in January.
Last year, for instance, the Blue Jays’ biggest free-agent signings — Anthony Santander, Jeff Hoffman and Max Scherzer — took place once the calendar flipped from 2024 to 2025, so their current posture doesn’t guarantee anything.
Simply put, it’s demonstrative of the wide-range of options they’re examining, along with perhaps an increased receptiveness to their pursuits from the industry.
Now, based on the way their roster is positioned at this point, the Blue Jays have the flexibility to augment the club in different ways, although pushing more aggressively on the pitching side might make more sense.
The free-agent market is deeper in both starters, perhaps the wisest place for them to seek impact, and relievers, another area where they’re surely looking to get deeper.
But the free agency of Bo Bichette, one of the prime talking points in baseball’s gossip circles, looms large and given both their ambition and perceived financial wherewithal, some see the Blue Jays as a potential landing spot for outfielder Kyle Tucker, too.
Worth remembering is that as much as the Blue Jays may blanket the market, they operate with a discipline to their valuations rather than a get-the-player-at-all-costs approach, even in their past pursuits of premium free agents like Shohei Ohtani and Juan Soto.
How that methodology functions within the current perception of the market certainly bears watching.
Club president and CEO Mark Shapiro last week called their 2025 spending — which ranked fifth at a projected $280 million for Competitive Balance Tax purposes according to Spotrac — a “championship-calibre payroll,” and added that “we’ve had an unprecedented level of support, and I don’t see that support going backwards at all.”
Less clear was how much the capacity there is for that support to go forward, although they would seem unlikely to suddenly mimic the profligate spending of the Dodgers and New York Mets, who by wide margins are outspending the rest of the majors.
That positions the Blue Jays well — not on the level of the Dodgers, Mets or even the Yankees perhaps, but still in a strong position. Now it’s a question of when the moves start for real and how the reigning AL Champions can leverage their on-field success into an even stronger roster in 2026.
Scene and heard roaming The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas during the GM Meetings:
SECOND FOR SCHNEIDER
Bobby Cox in 1985 remains the only Blue Jays winner of the AL Manager of the Year award after John Schneider finished second to Cleveland’s Stephen Vogt in balloting by members of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America.
Schneider received 10 of a possible 30 first-place votes while 17 went to Vogt, with overall tally running 113-91 in his second consecutive win.
Like 1989, when Cito Gaston rallied the Blue Jays from a 12-24 start to an AL East title but ended up second in the voting, Schneider also had a compelling case that went unrewarded.
He oversaw a 20-win turnaround from 2024 to 2025 as the Blue Jays went from worst to first in the AL East, finishing with the same 94-68 record as the New York Yankees but claiming the division thanks to the better head-to-head record.
Voting is done at the end of the regular season and before the playoffs, so the club’s post-season run wasn’t factored into the decision (full disclosure, neither writer here voted on the award).
Recognition would have been well deserved for Schneider, a Blue Jays lifer since he was a 13th-round draft pick in 2002. He spent six seasons in the system, topping out at triple-A in 2007 before transitioning to hitting coach for the Gulf Coast League Blue Jays in 2008, slowly working his way up the system.
After the Blue Jays’ Game 7 win over Seattle in the ALCS, he said that “besides my wife and my kids, this organization is what I live for and what I’ve devoted my adult life to. I don’t take it lightly. I know there’s scrutiny and second-guessing that comes with my job and I get it, it’s OK. But I will do everything in my power to do what’s right for this organization and this entire country.”
MLB’S SLOW MARKETS
Contrary to the off-seasons in North America’s other major sports leagues, the baseball market moves painfully slow and over time has only grown slower as clubs and players fight tooth and nail over every last dollar. As a result, where once free agents were almost all signed by Christmas, now deals pushing into spring training are common.
“In my career you’re going back a long time and it’s changed dramatically,” said David Dombrowski, the veteran president of baseball operations for the NL East champion Philadelphia Phillies whose free agents this winter include Kyle Schwarber, J.T. Realmuto and Ranger Suarez. “I’m sure some people might say to their agents, ‘Well, I still want to sign by the holidays,’ but that really used to be a driver before, so when you got to that time period, OK, you were pretty well set and then you switched to arbitration, contract negotiations and all that. Now, maybe there are some people that are in a hurry, but I wouldn’t say it’s anywhere near NBA or NFL where everybody’s signing within the first three days. You just have to wait it out.”
Players “control the time frame,” he added and while teams “are involved in that,” and “at some point you have to say you need to get some answers here before you move forward,” they can’t simply force the issue. “I don’t think there’s any magic answer to that. You just have to have a pulse on what’s taking place. Sometimes they could care less what you think. Other times it’s very important. There is no rhyme or reason and that’s why you just have to have communications with people and keep all avenues open.”
