In the aftermath of the Blue Jays reportedly signing Dylan Cease, we asked MLB Insider Mark Feinsand to answer some questions about how this deal will affect the rest of the Hot Stove.
1. On a scale of 1-10 (with 10 being most surprised), how surprised are you by this move, both in terms of the timing and the team/player?
The timing is definitely a 10. It’s rare to see the top free agents — especially those represented by Scott Boras — sign huge nine-figure deals in November. Then again, Blake Snell — another Boras client — signed his five-year, $182 million deal with the Dodgers on Nov. 30 last year.
As for the team and player, I can’t say I’m that surprised. Toronto had to bring in at least one starter after Chris Bassitt and Max Scherzer hit the free-agent market, and with both Kevin Gausman and Shane Bieber under control for only one more year, there was going to be a huge need for starting pitching a year from now. Cease not only gives the Blue Jays a very strong rotation for 2026, but he is now locked in at the top of the rotation for the next seven seasons.
2. Do you think this move has any impact on Toronto re-signing Bo Bichette?
For the past couple weeks, we have heard about the Blue Jays’ interest in Kyle Tucker, with some suggesting that Toronto could sign both Tucker and Bichette. Now that the Jays have handed out a $210 million deal to Cease, it seems unlikely that there’s room for both Bichette and Tucker.
Bichette is probably still the No. 1 priority for Toronto, and given that many in the industry expect Tucker to sign for considerably more than Bichette, it’s possible that Cease’s deal is a sign that Bichette is their preference among the hitters.
3. With Cease off the board, which starting pitcher do you think will sign next?
The top four starters left are Ranger Suárez, Michael King, Framber Valdez and Tatsuya Imai. Suarez and Imai are both represented by Boras, who clearly already has a feel for what the starting pitching market looks like after negotiating the Cease deal.
The guess here is that Suárez is the next starter to sign, as Imai may choose to wait until he gets closer to the end of his posting window, which will arrive on Jan. 2. When Snell signed his deal last Nov. 30, another top Boras client — Corbin Burnes — signed a six-year, $210 million deal with the Diamondbacks exactly one month later.
4. Which team do you think is now most on the spot to make a move in response to this, and what do you think that move might be?
The Orioles probably need a starting pitcher as much as any other team in baseball, and after watching the Blue Jays sign Cease and the Red Sox trade for Sonny Gray, Baltimore’s urgency has to be a little greater with two of their division rivals bulking up their rotations.
