It’s Dylan Cease’s world, and we are all just living in it.

The Blue Jays signed the right-hander to a seven-year deal worth $210 million this past winter, giving him an AAV of $30 million and setting the benchmark for the franchise when it comes to free agent deals. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. still leads the contract category for the Jays with his 14-year, $500 million extension, but Cease ranks right up in there with his deal as well.

This past winter, 19 players signed a free agent deal worth over $40 million per Michael Ginnitti, the founder of Spotrac. This is led by Kyle Tucker, whose $60 million AAV over four years with the Dodgers all the way down to Merrill Kelly and Jorge Polanco, who signed similar 2-year, $40 million deals with the Diamondbacks and Mets, respectively. Cease ranks second amongst the group in terms of total dollars, and tied for seventh with his AAV.

However, there is one stat that Cease is leading amongst the other 18 players – fWAR.

Per Ginnitti’s social media post, and when traced back to FanGraphs, Cease leads all of these 19 players with his 4.8 mark. The next best player of the group is Pete Alonso with a 3.5 fWAR. Among big league arms, Cease ranks fourth – sitting behind Jacob Misiorowski (5.3), Cristopher Sanchez (5.2), and Yankees hurler Cam Schlittler (4.9). For the Jays, the next arm on the list would be former Jays hurler Kevin Gausman (2.7) and closer Louis Varland (2.6), who has been one of the top arms in a big league bullpen. Jose Soriano, Toronto’s newest pitcher, owns a collective 2.4 fWAR from his time split with the Jays and Angels.

Looking further into Cease’s stats, he’s continued his strikeout ways with Toronto, and just recently surpassed the 200 strikeout mark and leads the AL with his 201 punchouts. Cease also leads the AL in K/9 (13.1), HR/9 (0.6), H/9 (5.7), and FIP (2.37) and has a complete game shutout under his belt. The right-hander also owns a 1.061 WHIP and a 2.42 ERA across 137.2 innings pitched and has gone five or more innings in at least 20 of his 23 starts. The former Padres hurler has also allowed two runs or fewer in 17 of those starts.

If you’re looking for something to nitpick on, the walk rate has been Cease’s biggest hurdle. He owns a 10.7% walk rate and a 3.9 BB/9, which is near his career average (so it’s not abnormal), but it does drive the pitch count up and is one of the reasons Jays fans have seen him sit in the 5-6 inning range versus more starts ending up in the 6-7 range. Considering he’s in the 100th percentile in pitching run value (+33), the Jays are accepting of the free pass now and then, but bringing that walk number up could be a difference maker if Cease is looking for some individual hardware at the end of the season.

The Jays received some criticism for giving out a large paycheque to Cease after a down season 2025 season in San Diego, but the 30-year-old has proven to have been one of the best signings from the 2025/2026 offseason when it comes to production on the field correlated to dollar value.

Cease is the engine that drives the rotation and gives the Jays some stability for seasons to come. This deal does have the potential to fall off the tracks towards the back end, as many long-term deals do, but so far, Cease is proving he was worth the money up in his first season North of the border.

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