<p>The Toronto Blue Jays enter a pivotal point in franchise history. Toronto has struggled to find a sniff of postseason success since Ross Atkins and Mark Shapiro took over the helm in late 2015, having not won a playoff game since inheriting Alex Anthopoulos&#8217;s squad in 2016, and enter a year when a core group of players are slated to test free agent waters this upcoming winter.</p>
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<p>There is a lot of uncertainty with this squad, both on the field and in the front office. Atkins is on the hot seat after a dismal 2024 season, with fans calling for his replacement at the end of last season, and the club has just a limited number of players under contract past the 2026 season &#8211; the most recent being Alejandro Kirk and his five-year extension that kicks in next year. That provides a win for the club, even if it wasn&#8217;t the extension most Jays fans were hoping for this winter.</p>
<p>The biggest headliner for impending free agency is Vladimir Guerrero Jr., who continues to<a href="https://twitter.com/Buster_ESPN/status/1905262809820111341"> dominate the headlines</a> with the extension narratives that seem to be &#8216;coming down to the wire&#8217; from various sources south of the border. Behind Guerrero sits Bo Bichette, Chris Bassitt, Max Scherzer, Erik Swanson, and Chad Green, who are all able to test free agency this winter like Vlad, and then followed by Kevin Gausman, George Springer, Daulton Varsho, and Yimi Garcia the winter after. This latter group also includes José Berríos, who has a player option at his disposal, meaning this Jays squad could potentially lose three of their starting pitchers from the 2025 rotation, two outfielders, and numerous key bullpen arms over the next two free-agent periods.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">The Blue Jays have made another offer in their negotiations with Vladimir Guerrero, per sources; a gap still remains between the two sides.</p>
<p>&mdash; Buster Olney (@Buster_ESPN) <a href="https://twitter.com/Buster_ESPN/status/1905262809820111341?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 27, 2025</a></p></blockquote>
<p><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p>
<p>It&#8217;s a tricky narrative for the Blue Jays because there is an argument to be made that it&#8217;s not due to the front office&#8217;s lack of trying.</p>
<p>The club&#8217;s adjusted payroll sits at about $242 million per <a href="https://www.spotrac.com/mlb/toronto-blue-jays/overview/_/year/2025">Spotrac</a>, which is not a small sum by any means (ranking fifth in the Major Leagues) and the club hasn&#8217;t been afraid to throw money around in free agency as seen in the recent pursuits of Corbin Burnes, Shohei Ohtani, and Juan Soto. The club is also throwing hundreds of millions at Guerrero in an attempt to lock him down as well, albeit still not hitting the value he is looking for. That narrative is a debate in its own right, but the Jays have brought players in to try and turn things around &#8211; Springer, Gausman, Bassitt, Hyun Jin Ryu, Marcus Semien &#8211; but that all has amounted to zero postseason wins. Six attempts &#8211; zero wins.</p>
<p>At the end of the day, the roster instability is a front office issue by and large, and a season that repeats what happened last year is going to be cause for concern on numerous fronts.</p>
<p>Duplicating the 2024 season, where the Jays are out of contention in late June, likely signals a change on multiple fronts for this organization.</p>
<p>Atkins will likely get canned, and Mark Shapiro might leave when his contract is up this winter. The Jays will have to contemplate the future of the organization and whether they want to capitalize on acquiring assets for their expiring contracts, both this year and next, regardless of whoever is at the helm. Another rebuild could be on the horizon, a gut punch for an organization that was promised a great farm system and postseason baseball when the duo took over years ago while also boasting a newly renovated stadium and Player Development Complex. While the renovations on both fronts have gone well, the on-field metrics are lacking, especially since the Jays&#8217; farm system has fallen to the back end of the league pool in the eyes of analysts far and wide.</p>
<p>On paper, it all seems to make sense &#8211; including the spending on payroll and bringing in players like Scherzer and Santander this past winter. Chasing after premier free agents and playing in the deep end of the free-agent pool. Updating the different amenities to try and improve the development of players internally.</p>
<p>But still, the Jays are still looking for that crucial win in October, the one that felt like a guarantee when fans had to witness the rebuilding years of the late 2010s. That brutal time when veteran players like Russell Martin, Jose Bautitsa, Edwin Encarnacion, and many others were given their walking papers or signed elsewhere. It was a tough few years for the fanbase, and now, with players like Guerrero and Bichette flirting with free agency and projections showing the Jays to be a middle-of-the-pack team in the AL East, there is fear that a repeat may be on the horizon.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">🚨 OUR FIRST LINEUP OF 2025 🚨 <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/lightsupletsgo?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#lightsupletsgo</a> <a href="https://t.co/mPQQHmBr3h">pic.twitter.com/mPQQHmBr3h</a></p>
<p>&mdash; Toronto Blue Jays (@BlueJays) <a href="https://twitter.com/BlueJays/status/1905273814793019503?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 27, 2025</a></p></blockquote>
<p><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p>
<p>At the end of the day, there can be a lot of finger-pointing at where the fault lies, but the best thing the club can do is change the narrative &#8211; a task that is easier said than done. Winning solves everything &#8211; fans come to see a team that is putting runs on the board and is competing day in and day out.</p>
<p>Do the Blue Jays have a winning roster? That is still to be determined, especially with the first pitch just moments away. Once Jose Berrios throws toward home, the clock on the 2025 season officially begins, and so does arguably one of the most important seasons in franchise history.</p>
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The Toronto Blue Jays enter a pivotal point in franchise history. Toronto has struggled to find a sniff of postseason success since Ross Atkins and Mark Shapiro took over the helm in late 2015, having not won a playoff game since inheriting Alex Anthopoulos's squad in 2016, and enter a year when a core group of players are slated to test free agent waters this upcoming winter.
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There is a lot of uncertainty with this squad, both on the field and in the front office. Atkins is on the hot seat after a dismal 2024 season, with fans calling for his replacement at the end of last season, and the club has just a limited number of players under contract past the 2026 season - the most recent being Alejandro Kirk and his five-year extension that kicks in next year. That provides a win for the club, even if it wasn't the extension most Jays fans were hoping for this winter.

The biggest headliner for impending free agency is Vladimir Guerrero Jr., who continues to<a href="https://twitter.com/Buster_ESPN/status/1905262809820111341"> dominate the headlines</a> with the extension narratives that seem to be 'coming down to the wire' from various sources south of the border. Behind Guerrero sits Bo Bichette, Chris Bassitt, Max Scherzer, Erik Swanson, and Chad Green, who are all able to test free agency this winter like Vlad, and then followed by Kevin Gausman, George Springer, Daulton Varsho, and Yimi Garcia the winter after. This latter group also includes José Berríos, who has a player option at his disposal, meaning this Jays squad could potentially lose three of their starting pitchers from the 2025 rotation, two outfielders, and numerous key bullpen arms over the next two free-agent periods.

https://twitter.com/Buster_ESPN/status/1905262809820111341

It's a tricky narrative for the Blue Jays because there is an argument to be made that it's not due to the front office's lack of trying.

The club's adjusted payroll sits at about $242 million per <a href="https://www.spotrac.com/mlb/toronto-blue-jays/overview/_/year/2025">Spotrac</a>, which is not a small sum by any means (ranking fifth in the Major Leagues) and the club hasn't been afraid to throw money around in free agency as seen in the recent pursuits of Corbin Burnes, Shohei Ohtani, and Juan Soto. The club is also throwing hundreds of millions at Guerrero in an attempt to lock him down as well, albeit still not hitting the value he is looking for. That narrative is a debate in its own right, but the Jays have brought players in to try and turn things around - Springer, Gausman, Bassitt, Hyun Jin Ryu, Marcus Semien - but that all has amounted to zero postseason wins. Six attempts - zero wins.

At the end of the day, the roster instability is a front office issue by and large, and a season that repeats what happened last year is going to be cause for concern on numerous fronts.

Duplicating the 2024 season, where the Jays are out of contention in late June, likely signals a change on multiple fronts for this organization.

Atkins will likely get canned, and Mark Shapiro might leave when his contract is up this winter. The Jays will have to contemplate the future of the organization and whether they want to capitalize on acquiring assets for their expiring contracts, both this year and next, regardless of whoever is at the helm. Another rebuild could be on the horizon, a gut punch for an organization that was promised a great farm system and postseason baseball when the duo took over years ago while also boasting a newly renovated stadium and Player Development Complex. While the renovations on both fronts have gone well, the on-field metrics are lacking, especially since the Jays' farm system has fallen to the back end of the league pool in the eyes of analysts far and wide.

On paper, it all seems to make sense - including the spending on payroll and bringing in players like Scherzer and Santander this past winter. Chasing after premier free agents and playing in the deep end of the free-agent pool. Updating the different amenities to try and improve the development of players internally.

But still, the Jays are still looking for that crucial win in October, the one that felt like a guarantee when fans had to witness the rebuilding years of the late 2010s. That brutal time when veteran players like Russell Martin, Jose Bautitsa, Edwin Encarnacion, and many others were given their walking papers or signed elsewhere. It was a tough few years for the fanbase, and now, with players like Guerrero and Bichette flirting with free agency and projections showing the Jays to be a middle-of-the-pack team in the AL East, there is fear that a repeat may be on the horizon.

https://twitter.com/BlueJays/status/1905273814793019503

At the end of the day, there can be a lot of finger-pointing at where the fault lies, but the best thing the club can do is change the narrative - a task that is easier said than done. Winning solves everything - fans come to see a team that is putting runs on the board and is competing day in and day out.

Do the Blue Jays have a winning roster? That is still to be determined, especially with the first pitch just moments away. Once Jose Berrios throws toward home, the clock on the 2025 season officially begins, and so does arguably one of the most important seasons in franchise history.

<hr />

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Expectations of the Toronto Blue Jays heading into the 2025 season

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