Starting pitching has been a strength for the Toronto Blue Jays dating back to 2022, but with an aging rotation and plenty of injuries to their farm system, Toronto hopes to raise the floor on their starting five.

It wasn’t long ago when Jose Berrios, Kevin Gausman and Chris Bassitt were anchors for one of the best starting rotations in the American League. Almost a 10% drop in strikeout rate from Gausman and Bassitt crashing back down to earth in 2024 put the Blue Jays rotation in the bottom third of MLB last year. As it stands, they’re projected to have the 23rd-best starting pitching in 2025.

A full season of Bowden Francis should do wonders to bring those numbers up, but it would also help to sign a veteran starter to bounce Yariel Rodríguez into the bullpen and add some stability to the fifth starter spot.

Landing Corbin Burnes would’ve been nice to anchor the next phase of this starting rotation, but the Blue Jays will have to run it back and augment the back end of the rotation if need be. That’s why it’s difficult to see the club overextending now for someone like Jack Flaherty or Nick Pivetta, especially after the recent Santander signing.

With lots of options on the market, the Blue Jays could go with a former Cy Young winner and multi-time All-Star, a few ground ball specialists, or a former target in free agency from a few years ago. Any of these starters would make the Blue Jays better in 2025.

Late last week, Ben Nicholson-Smith from Sportsnet the Blue Jays had interest in the three-time Cy Young Award winner. At 40 years old, it sounds like Max Scherzer still has some gas left in the tank, and like Justin Verlander and Charlie Morton before him, will likely sign a one-year deal.

Scherzer has been batting injuries dating back to the 2023-2024 offseason with a back surgery. He was limited to nine starts with the Texas Rangers in 2024, sandwiched in between an early season thumb surgery and a season-ending shoulder issue.

There’s also the issue that the former Ranger lost another tick off his fastball last season, his average fastball velocity dipping down to 92.5 MPH from 93.7 MPH the year before. Again, that could’ve been injury-related, but it’s something to keep in mind.

Scherzer has the most pedigree of any free agent starting pitcher on the market, but those injuries are a huge red flag for potential suitors as well as his recent decline. There’s no question a healthy veteran like Scherzer can still contribute at 40, so if he has a clean bill of health, it’s worth the Blue Jays taking a gamble on a one-year deal.

Earlier this week, I threw my hat into the ring for Andrew Heaney as one of the solutions for the Blue Jays to shift focus after losing out on Roki Sasaki. The offer still stands. The left-hander still racks up strikeouts, even if he only averages 5.1 innings per start and is the prototypical “five and dive” guy.

It would be nice for the Blue Jays to add a left-hander to their starting rotation to give them some variance in their starting five. His strikeout rate rose in the second half, peaking at 26.3% in early September. And his fastball velocity maintained around 92 MPH for most of the season.

FanGraphs projects Heaney to have a 1.6 fWAR season in 2025, which is decent for a potential fifth starter on the Blue Jays. Steamer projects him to throw 158 innings and make 29 starts with a 4.26 ERA this coming season.

A few years ago, the Blue Jays reportedly made a handsome offer to Heaney before he signed a two-year deal with the Rangers. Toronto already did their homework on the left-hander a few years ago, so it might not be a bad idea to dust off those notes again and table a new one-year offer to Heaney.

Reports linked the Blue Jays to Jose Quintana earlier this offseason, and the fit still makes sense. Another veteran left-hander on this list, Quintana crossed the 170-innings pitched threshold with the Mets last year.

Unlike other starters on this list, you’re not getting huge strikeout totals from Quintana. He’s a pitch-to-contact guy with a 47.4% ground ball rate, so he’ll always keep the defenders busy on the infield. But pitching to contact keeps his pitch counts low.

If the Blue Jays are looking for the safest bet in terms of stability for the back end of the starting rotation, Quintana is their man. He’s not the sexiest starting pitching option out there, but for a fifth starter, you’re just looking to hold the fort and hand the game over to the bullpen on a short-term deal.

Kyle Gibson has bounced around several organizations over the last handful of years, but he’s flown under the radar as a solid innings-eater for the Phillies in 2022, the Orioles in 2023, and the Cardinals in 2024.

Gibson had a 43% quality start rate in 2024, which ranks second among all remaining free-agent starting pitchers (Jack Flaherty’s was 54%). He’s a sneaky-good defender and had a perfect fielding percentage as a pitcher in 2024.

Gibson’s strikeout numbers are better than Quintana’s, but Gibson still isn’t a huge strikeout threat as a starting pitcher. He also works to keep the ball on the ground, keep exit velocities down and let the defense do the work.

His sweeper is his best pitch and gets great vertical drop on his off-speed pitches to keep opposing hitters off-balance. There’s a lot to like about his repertoire, and Gibson would be a safe bet for the Blue Jays in their starting rotation for 2025 (as well as a previous connection before he signed with Baltimore in 2023).