The Toronto Blue Jays have been through it all this winter. On the heels of a disappointing 2024 season, Ross Atkins and the Jays front office set off to try and make a better product to remain competitive in 2025 and struggled mightily out of the gate.

They missed out on Juan Soto and Corbin Burnes, two marquee free agents that the club was negotiating with until the very end, and narrowly missed out on Japanese sensation Roki Sasaki, who decided to join the juggernaut Dodgers in what continues to be one of the most impressive offseasons in baseball history.

To add fuel to the fire, the club acquired Andrés Giménez from the Cleveland Guardians – a defensive specialist on the infield – and the $96 million he is owed through 2029 while trading away Spencer Horwitz, who was one of the better bats on the squad in the latter half of the 2024 season. The Blue Jays needed some power to their lineup and added another defensive-minded infielder- a move that still has fans on the fence about how this deal could play out for Toronto.

To make that fire into an inferno, Ross Atkins and his aggressive pursuit of Sasaki saw the Jays take on an abysmal Myles Straw contract from the Guardians with some cash kicked in and additional international bonus pool money – an attempt to gain favour to bring the right-hander North of the border and away from the west coast. The move was risky in that it was made before Sasaki’s decision was made public and it ultimately backfired for Atkins, drawing criticism and confusion from across the league in a move that just seemed more like a helping hand to a former workplace instead of a calculated measure, which has been normal practice for the Toronto ‘stick to their valuations’ Blue Jays squad. Now they were stuck with a minor leaguer on a big league salary and additional bonus pool space when the talent pool was already depleted outside of the players the Blue Jays were already tied to.

Even with the questionable decisions listed above, not all has been doom and gloom for the Jays this winter. The club has improved the bullpen in various ways, acquiring Nick Sandlin alongside Giménez while bringing back Yimi García on a two-year pact. The Blue Jays also signed Jeff Hoffman to a three-year deal, which carries some risk given his multiple flagged medicals from prospective teams wanting to sign the right-hander but it was a risk that the Jays felt comfortable taking. To top it all off, Toronto signed the big bat that they desperately needed in Anthony Santander earlier this evening.

The five-year deal does have the potential to be one that sours as time wears on but for a club wanting to contend now, not only does the move make sense for the Jays, as they needed some power to complement Vladimir Guerrero Jr. in the lineup, but it was done smartly. Deferrals push the AAV against the CBT down to around the $14 million area, which screams that the Jays still have some more salary space to work with, although that has yet to be confirmed.

This last part is key to the equation, mostly because the Blue Jays still have work that needs to be done if they want to avoid another season in the basement of the AL East. Santander, Hoffman, and Garcia make this squad better on paper and if Giménez can find his 2022 form at the plate this year and beyond, the club will reap the benefits that should come with a healthy Bo Bichette in 2025. However, there is still more that Toronto needs to do if they want to stand out amongst the crowd. There are still some areas that could use some tweaking or two.

First off – one of the biggest question marks surrounding this Jays roster is stability, mainly with their core superstars Bichette and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. Both are free agent eligible this winter and while Bichette contract extension talks have been pretty non-existent this offseason, Toronto and Guerrero continue to negotiate before his self-imposed February 18th deadline.

Signing Guerrero to an extension seems to be the popular option this winter and for many good reasons. Not only do you keep one of the top bats on the squad (and in the AL) in Toronto for the foreseeable future, but the Jays front office is showing free agents that they have a guy on the roster they are going to build around to remain competitive. Adding a name like Santander helps in that equation but it starts and ends with Guerrero and there should be zero reason he is wearing a different uniform heading into 2026. Finding common ground will be difficult given the length and term that both sides are vying for but there is room and time to find a way to make this all work.

If you can find a way to include Bichette into the equation that works as well but from the outside looking in, it appears both sides are heading to a separation by the end of the 2025 season. An interesting wrinkle is that he did make the trek to Toronto for the Roki Sasaki pitch, which could mean nothing at the end of the day, but it’s an interesting note considering the dialogue of last season regarding a potential trade and his future with the club twisting and turning as the campaign wore on.

Outside of extension talks, the Jays still have work to be done on the roster and the beat journalists that follow the Blue Jays seem to think that the club is not done yet, even with their salary climbing up to the second CBT threshold.

Looking at the current roster, the club would benefit from adding another starter – preferably a veteran on a short-term deal to shore up the back end of the rotation – and another bat, whether that’s a top-tier name like Alex Bregman and Pete Alonso or a lesser bat with some pop like Jurickson Profar or Yoan Moncada who have some increased risk but come at a lower cost.

In a perfect world, the club adds someone like Bregman or Alonso to shore up the lineup and create a deadly combo day in and day out for opposing pitchers but that would really be stretching the budget, which Rogers can technically afford but is still to be determined on where the line in the sand is drawn. The club was tied to both players in some capacity before the Santander signing and as of yet, there hasn’t been a ton of traction on the rumour mill front to Toronto being back to them after this most recent deal. After the Santander deal, the Sportsnet crew seems to be pivoting to Profar as the likely option.

Another interesting name in the mix is Max Scherzer, who fits the bill of being a veteran starter looking for a short-term deal, but is a tough sell considering the current position of the Blue Jays. Santander makes the squad better and signing Guerrero to an extension helps with the overall sales pitch but Scherzer can pick and choose his battles so late in his career, so it will be interesting to see if he would give Toronto a chance after posting such rough numbers last season. Outside of Scherzer, the likes of Andrew Heaney, Lance Lynn, Jose Quintana, and Kyle Gibson also fit the bill but all respectively have their pros and cons that come with the increased risk. Whether or not they outweigh having Yariel Rodriguez in the rotation is the big question, as the right-hander is currently slated to crack the rotation barring a monumental setback or an injury, with Bowden Francis taking the other unoccupied spot.

Should the Jays wish to go big game hunting on the starting front, Jack Flaherty is the last remaining name towards that top tier and the Jays have also been tied to the right-hander (shocker, I know). Flaherty makes sense for the Jays in a few different areas but there is some risk to signing him to a long-term deal, as the Yankees nixed a deadline deal for him last year over concerns with his medicals. He struggled out of the gate for Detroit before turning things around quickly, leading the Dodgers to acquire him for a push to the postseason. Wade with caution but if he can find the same rhythm that made him an attractive piece with the Tigers, it could be a slam-dunk deal moving forward when the price of starting pitcher continues to climb year after year.

Also floating around is Nick Pivetta, whose home run rate and ability to get hit hard at times, combined with the attached qualifying offer compensation, seem less attractive compared to Flaherty but the Canadian connection is always fun to pursue. Pass.

If the Jays wish to pursue some more bullpen options, there are some bounceback candidates or veteran arms still looking for a job that could become a bit more desperate as Spring Training begins to appear on the horizon. This would include the likes of Paul Sewald, Kenley Jansen, Kirby Yates, and David Robertson amongst many others while the Jays have reportedly been in contact with former Angels/Phillies reliever Carlos Estevez, who is one of the more attractive relievers left on the free agent market.

Regardless of what avenue Atkins and co. decide to pursue, the idea remains the same: adding Santander is tidy work but there is more that needs to be done.

In a greedy world, signing another starter and adding another bat like Bregman or Alonso changes things for the Blue Jays in the AL East in quick succession, making the club a more competitive team on paper (even with the positional shuffling the Jays would need to do bring the Polar Bear up North). These deals could also lead to the Jays moving some internal talent to fill other areas on the roster via trade (namely the bullpen) but there’s still time to make those types of deals before Spring Training rolls around – all depending on who Atkins can sign before Opening Day rolls around.

Baseball is a weird sport – on Friday, Jays fans were calling for Ross Atkins’ job and today, he makes what many describe as not only a pretty substantial signing but one that has some contract wiggle room to keep the narrative alive of being able to add more.

The next few weeks will still be crucial for Atkins and his future with the organization but the momentum has certainly shifted to a positive tone, one that worked so well that it quieted even the most critical of USA-based journalists, even if it’s for the short term. There will always be some who will call for his head even after the most recent Santander signing, which addresses a need for the Jays, but fans will be singing his praises if he can lock down Guerrero and continue adding to the roster, pushing the salary to even higher limits that the franchise has never seen before while making the team better as a whole.

Adding Santander is a great place to start – now keep going. Atkins needs to keep the pedal to the floor until he either sees the checkered flag of success or the door hitting him on the way out.