ORLANDO, Fla. – From Shane Bieber to Dylan Cease to Cody Ponce, the Blue Jays have added far more pitching than most teams so far this off-season, and they’re not done yet with a wide range of pitchers still on their radar.
“They’re signing a new pitcher everyday,” one agent observed from MLB’s annual Winter Meetings. “It’s like a freaking advent calendar.”
After Monday, there may be a little more clarity as to why. Speaking to the media from the Blue Jays’ team hotel suite at the Waldorf Astoria, general manager Ross Atkins offered insight on a wide range of topics related to the defending American League champions.
Asked about Kyle Tucker, Atkins said he’d prefer not to go into the weeds. On the topic of Bo Bichette, the GM acknowledged the 27-year-old’s “incredible impact” but declined to offer more detail. Given the stakes involved, that’s to be expected.
Yet on the pitching side, Atkins was more forthcoming. For instance: the Blue Jays consider Ponce a starter, there are no current plans to stretch out Louis Varland and there’s no firm workload limit on Trey Yesavage for 2026. The conversation between Atkins and a handful of reporters then turned to Shane Bieber, who opted in to his $16-million option after posting a 3.57 ERA in seven regular season starts and a 3.86 mark in five more post-season appearances.
Bieber pitched a lot, Atkins acknowledged, not only in the regular season but also in the post-season when he logged 18.2 more innings, culminating in a relief appearance on short rest in Game 7 of the World Series.
“So we’ll be cognizant,” Atkins said. “And make sure that we are doing everything we can to keep put him in the most safe position possible.”
And physically, Bieber’s fine?
“As of right now, he’s in a strong position,” Atkins said. “And I suppose as he starts to ramp up, we could consider some stagger and the potential of him, you know, not being at 100 per cent at the very start, but we’re taking it kind of a week at a time at this point with Shane”
By way of context, it’s rare for a GM to describe a player as week-to-week during the off-season. That doesn’t mean anything’s seriously wrong with Bieber, but the description suggests he’s still in the process of recovering from the ligament replacement surgery that cost him much of the 2024 and 2025 seasons. With two-plus months remaining before spring training begins, that recovery process could continue playing out as the season approaches.
As of now, Bieber’s expected to be ready for opening day.
“Yeah,” Atkins said. “I think that is a very realistic outcome. But all of the things that I said (apply) kind of taking it week-to-week.”
With that in mind, the Blue Jays’ subsequent pursuits of Cease and Ponce make more sense. Both will be needed, as will Yesavage, Bieber, Kevin Gausman, Jose Berrios, Eric Lauer and others like Bowden Francis, Adam Macko and Ricky Tiedemann. The attrition of an MLB season demands depth, so the Blue Jays continue to be open-minded about adding starting options.
Ultimately, the Blue Jays are in a good position here. Yes, they have questions in their rotation, but so do most teams. Maybe Berrios wasn’t thrilled to be left off the post-season roster, but when healthy he’s a 31-year-old two-time all-star who helps any big-league roster.
Big picture, the Blue Jays have an elite group that now includes Cease, who will be formally introduced Tuesday. And not only are they expected to add a reliever, they’re legitimately engaging on top free agents like Tucker and Bichette.
There’s still real work ahead for this front office, no question about it. But to borrow the agent’s metaphor, if this off-season were an advent calendar there would still be a couple squares waiting to be opened.
