TORONTO, ON – JUNE 17: José Berríos #17 of the Toronto Blue Jays looks on from the dugout before a game against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Rogers Centre on June 17, 2025 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. (Photo by Vaughn Ridley/Getty Images)
Getty Images
The Toronto Blue Jays looked ready to emerge as one of baseball’s most aggressive teams this winter after coming within one win of a World Series championship.
The Blue Jays have a young franchise cornerstone in place with Vladimir Guerrero Jr., earned a major boost for their starting rotation with a team-friendly return from Shane Bieber and saw a significant amount of the payroll coming off the books via free agency.
And the team quickly made good on those expectations by striking a seven-year, $210 million deal with frontline starter Dylan Cease.
Now the Blue Jays could look to some additions for the bullpen as well as a potential return for Bo Bichette. And in the meantime, it could be searching for a trade partner to take on two-time All-Star Jose Berrios.
“Their attention must shift to the everyday lineup and bullpen, where there are still a few holes,” Gregor Chisholm wrote for The Toronto Star. “Beyond free agency, it’s possible the Jays will use Jose Berrios, Eric Lauer or prospects as trade bait to help make it happen.”
The idea that a contending team might leverage young talent or a swingman like Lauer as “trade bait” might not be much of a surprise, but Berrios’ finding himself outside of the starting rotation and looking in is noteworthy considering that he still has three years left on the seven-year, $131 million deal he signed with the team.
Berrios has made at least 30 starts for the Blue Jays in each of the last three seasons, but his 4.17 ERA from this past campaign marked his highest in that span. After removing Berrios from the rotation for its entire playoff run, it seems the Blue Jays could prefer to cut ties with him entirely.
“While Berrios was one of baseball’s most reliable starters for his entire career, the righty posted a 4.17 ERA in 2025, suffered an elbow injury and lost his rotation spot at the end of the year,” Mitch Bannon noted for The Athletic. “Owed $18.7 million in 2026 before a player opt-out, the Jays could look to move Berrios after four years in Toronto. Even if the 31-year-old remains with the Jays, he’ll have to earn a rotation spot again in spring training, another reason to add more depth.”
With no guarantee that Berrios will ever return to his former place in the Blue Jays’ rotation, the team might feel that they can move on entirely after bringing Cease into the fold.