LAS VEGAS — For Blue Jays general manager Ross Atkins, there is no time to sulk.
In the aftermath of painfully falling short of bringing Toronto its first world championship in over three decades, Atkins and the rest of the Blue Jays’ front office gathered in Las Vegas for the annual GM Meetings — less than two weeks following a loss to the Dodgers in Game 7 of the World Series — where executives from all 30 clubs are laying the foundation for how to attack the offseason.
“I love this time of the year,” Atkins said. “It’s so efficient. It’s an extremely productive time to have this many people in the room, on the agent side and on the team side, to start to cut to the chase a little bit and learn where the priorities are and where the opportunities may be. But there’s still a lot of dialogue and work to happen.”
There are plenty of discussions to be had, especially with a long list of notable impact contributors from this 2025 Blue Jays squad who are now free agents.
Here are some highlights from Atkins’ media availability on Wednesday:
The Bo Bichette question
Bichette will dominate the headlines all winter as one of the biggest names on the free-agent market. He’s a homegrown star and is beloved in Toronto. There’s no question he is open to remaining a Blue Jay long term, and the club wants him back. But the market will be highly competitive.
“Great player,” Atkins said of Bichette. “Bo’s been a significant part of us being in a strong position today and a reason that we’re coming off five solid seasons of baseball and one really, really good year of baseball. He’s had a lot to do with it. I know he’s going to be attractive to the market. We’ll be in his market.”
Pitching depth
The Blue Jays’ pitching staff could look a lot different next season. Shane Bieber has opted in for 2026, but starters Chris Bassitt and Max Scherzer are free agents, as is reliever Seranthony Domínguez. Meanwhile, Kevin Gausman is only one year away from free agency.
Given that outlook, how does Toronto seek to address its pitching situation for the short term and long term? Could they make a run at a Framber Valdez, Dylan Cease or Tatsuya Imai type? Or perhaps those arms on the second tier, such as Michael King and Ranger Suárez?
“Honestly, you’re not going to love my answer,” Atkins said. “But [the objective] is just to get better. Fortunately, we have some flexibility and we’ll be open to making our team better any way we can, and pitching is important.”
Coaching changes
The Blue Jays will also need to address their coaching staff. Assistant hitting coach Hunter Mense is leaving to become the new Giants hitting coach, while bench coach Don Mattingly recently revealed that he will not be coming back after his contract expired following the end of the season.
“We’re going to spend some more time on that this week and just think about the dynamic,” Atkins said. “To lose Hunter Mense and to lose Donnie is a hit. We just have to turn that into an opportunity to think about how to get better moving forward. Not necessarily improve upon them, but how to get better from where we currently are standing today.”
