Blue Jays president Mark Shapiro and general manager Ross Atkins met with the media this week to discuss a variety of topics beyond the club’s 2025 season, which was mostly sweet but ultimately painful. Sportsnet’s Ben Nicholson-Smith rounds up some of the details. Most notably, the Jays are interested in reuniting the infielder Beau Bichette And also looking for pitchers. Some trade talks involving starting pitching are already underway.
Neither detail is surprising. The Blue Jays are the only team Bichette has ever known. He expressed his willingness to return and continue to fight side by side Vladimir Guerrero Jr.as the pair have done for years. The Blue Jays definitely want Bichette back.
The Blue Jays spent the ALDS and ALCS without Bichette, depleting a lineup that usually featured Guerrero initially and then Andres Jimenez briefly, simultaneously Ernie Clement, Addison Barger and Isaiah Keener-Falefa Assign second and third base duties.
Although Keena-Falefa is now a free agent, they can bring back most of their personnel. Davis Schneider Might make a difference at second base at times. But the Blue Jays will definitely be a better team with Bichette in the lineup, especially when he’s fully healthy. He has a career batting line of .294/.337/.469 and is even better in 2025 at .311/.357/.483.
Now that Bichette is a free agent, other clubs will come calling. Teams like the Giants, Tigers, Yankees, Dodgers, Red Sox and Mets are all logical landing spots. MLBTR projects Bichette will receive an eight-year contract worth $208MM. The Jays have never given that much money to a free agent, even though they paid more than double Guerrero’s $500 extension. With the club’s recent World Series revenue, perhaps they’ll actively push for Bichette’s return.
Even if the Jays had the wherewithal to do it, there would be positioning issues. Bichette has primarily played shortstop during his career. A knee injury sidelined him in late 2025, with Gimenez taking over the position. Bichette is in good enough shape to play in the World Series, but clearly not 100 percent yet. The Blue Jays kept him at second base and used him at designated hitter a few times. George Springer injured.
Bichette has never been a great defensive shortstop, but Jimenez seems to be strong in that area, even though he’s primarily been used as a second baseman in recent years. While Bichette is willing to play second in the World Series and still be injured, is he willing to make a permanent move to that position? If he wanted to play shortstop for a few more years, would the Jays take him on? If not, how much of an impact will this have on his signing decision?
The non-Bichette portion of free agency includes the following players Alex Bregman, Eugenio Suarez, Gleyber Torres, Kim Ha Sung and others. guys like Brendan Donovan, Brandon Lowe, Alec Bohm, CJ Abrams, Josh Jung, Nolan Gorman Others may be obtained through trade.
And the Japanese infielder Munataka MurakamiNicholson-Smith named the Jayhawks and Yankees as two teams he has been linked to. He will be appointed today, so his free agency will be resolved within the next 45 days.
Murakami is not a good fit for the Blue Jays. He does have tremendous strength on the left side, which works well in their lineup. However, his defense at third base was considered poor, and many suspected he would soon be relegated to first base in the majors. Guerrero spent the next 14 years as a first baseman, along with players like Springer and Anthony Santander When lined up at DH time, Murakami will have to be shoehorned in.
If the Jays do think he can hit third, Clemente would move up to second and Baugh would move up to the outfield. That’s doable, but it doesn’t really leave room for Bichette unless some kind of trade is made. The Yankees also Ryan McMahon third, Ben Rice at first and Giancarlo Stanton Department of Health, but maybe they can find a way to balance that by putting Rice in charge.
Speaking of Toronto’s pitching staff, they just got a huge boost Sean Bieber His player option was unexpectedly triggered. He can now join the 2026 rotation Kevin Gausman and Trey Yesavich. Team Jie should also have it Jose Berrios Back into the mix. He ends 2025 on the injured list, but Atkins said he could have a normal offseason, Nicholson-Smith reported.
guys like Eric Lauer, bowden francis, Adam Marko, Lazaro Estrada and Easton Lucas The fifth spot is up for grabs, but the Jayhawks will look to add someone else. In that scenario, Raul would enter training camp as the No. 6 player, which will be the case at times in 2025. He can fill a long-term backup role when everyone is healthy and slot into the rotation when injuries arise. Everyone else in the depth group is optional and likely at the Triple-A level. guys like angel bastardo, Ricky Tiedemann and Jack Burrows Missed all or most of 2025 due to injury and could play if healthy.
The free agent market is characterized by things like Dylan Seth, Framber Valdez, Imai Tatsuya, rangers suarez There are many others. guys like Mackenzie Gore, Joe Ryan, Mickey Keller and other content should be available on the trade block.
In Nicholson-Smith’s column, Shapiro didn’t give a clear answer regarding the 2026 payroll, but he praised the support the club has received from the front office and said “I don’t think that support will go backwards at all.” This is logical because, as mentioned earlier, the club just made a ton of money from the extended postseason.
RosterResource projects the club’s payroll will be $235MM next year. That’s more than 20MM less than the $258MM they will spend in 2025, according to RR. If payroll remains steady, that would give the Jays some room to make big moves, although that would obviously be easier if the budget increases. For example, signing Bichette and a marquee starting pitcher would cost over $20MM per year.
In the bullpen, they could target dozens of prospects, including free agents and trade candidates. They could even go after the Terminator, since Atkins is noncommittal about it Jeff Hoffman Keegan Matheson of MLB.com said the position will remain in place next year. “The great thing about Jeff is he’s not married to this,” Atkins said. “I think he’ll be open to anything that can make us better.”
The Jayhawks signed Hoffman to a three-year, $33MM contract last offseason. He’s saved 33 games for the Blue Jays this year and two more in the playoffs, but in uneven ways. His strikeout rate was high, but he allowed a 4.37 ERA per nine games, thanks to allowing 15 homers that year, more than he had in his previous three years combined. As Jays fans know him well, or perhaps have stopped him, he allowed the Dodgers’ No. 9 hitter to hit a game-tying home run Miguel Rojas in the bottom half of Game 7, ninth, of the World Series.
A home run spike like this could be a fluke. A metric like SIERA, which controls such things, gave Huffman a 3.21 this year. Still, it’s understandable that the Jays would at least consider adding a proven closer and moving Hoffman into a starting role. The free agent market is characterized by guys with closing experience, e.g. Edwin Diaz, Robert Suarez, Pete Fairbanks and Devin Williams. Depending on the final payroll, the Jayhawks will have to weigh those pursuits against other targets.
As for Shapiro himself, he’s only contracted until the end of the 2025 season, but it would be a shock if he didn’t stay after such a successful season. He has previously hinted that he and the club may be able to agree a new deal, and he made similar comments this week. According to Nicholson-Smith, he said he and the team agreed to hold extension talks during the playoffs, but “probably it will be worked out soon.”
In most cases, the coaching staff will likely return as well. According to Nicholson-Smith, Atkins said there would be no “active attrition,” which seemed to be GM’s way of saying no one was being laid off. With bench coach Don Mattingly on his way out, there’s always the possibility that someone on the staff could get a promotion with another club, but it’s worth noting that the Jayhawks plan to keep the team together as much as possible.
Photos by John E. Sokolowski, Imagn Images
