Nearly one month removed from their heartbreaking Game 7 defeat in the World Series, the 2025-26 off-season hasn’t quite started to take shape for the Toronto Blue Jays yet — at least from a roster-building perspective. They’re still very much in the info-gathering stage of the winter, with the annual Winter Meetings (Dec. 8-11) less than two weeks away. 

But if we’ve learned anything from how general manager Ross Atkins and this front office have operated in the past, transaction season may soon begin to gather steam. When that train inevitably starts rolling, it’ll be interesting to see how, if at all, the franchise’s activity — whether in free agency, via trade, or both — is influenced by lessons learned from last off-season.

And there were a few crucial ones worth noting. So, let’s dive in.

Patience is truly a virtue in the off-season.

Unlike other professional sports, MLB’s off-season is usually a slow burn. It takes several weeks, even months in some years, for the hot stove to transform from a quiet sizzle into a blazing hot mess. For most, staying disciplined is usually the best course of action.

Alright, let’s use last winter as an example. Here are some of the free agents who signed contracts with new teams in November 2024: Blake Snell, Yusei Kikuchi, Kyle Hendricks, Brent Suter, T.J. McFarland, Justin Wilson, Travis d’Arnaud, Kevin Newman, Austin Slater, Jacob Stallings and Kyle Farmer.

Additionally, here are the notable players traded during that month: Jonathan India, Brady Singer, Joey Wiemer, Eli Morgan, Jose Siri and Taylor Trammell.

Outside of Snell and Kikuchi, both of whom landed in Los Angeles (albeit with different franchises), those lists include several fringe, down-the-roster depth players. They aren’t the type of pieces that can make or break an off-season.

What was the Blue Jays’ biggest move last November? Re-signing Braydon Fisher to a minor-league contract with an invitation to big-league camp in spring training — a decision that certainly paid dividends in the end.

If you remember, most of this organization’s dealings came later in the off-season, beginning with the Andrés Giménez trade and signings of Yimi García and Eric Lauer in December. Those moves were followed by the Jeff Hoffman, Anthony Santander and Myles Straw additions in January, then capped off with Max Scherzer’s arrival in February.

They weren’t all hits, as García and Santander each endured lost seasons due to injury, although both will return in 2026 with opportunities for redemption. But the biggest takeaway was that there’s still value to be found deeper into the off-season. You don’t always have to jump the market aggressively during the first few months.

How can that lesson be applied to this winter? Perhaps in the starting pitching market, where the Blue Jays’ biggest priority lies — outside of retaining Bo Bichette, of course. Japan’s Tatsuya Imai, for example, has until Jan. 2 to sign with an MLB club before his posting window closes. Whoever lands him may have to sit back while other notable starters — like Dylan Cease, Framber Valdez, Ranger Suárez and Michael King — come off the board. But the potential reward for waiting out that market could be substantial.

Or maybe remaining disciplined will result in a savvy relief-pitcher signing, another area of need for this team. Last year, that approach earned them a new closer in Hoffman. Who knows, maybe this year it could be Devin Williams or Robert Suarez.

Sticking with the reliever market, signing Hoffman to a lucrative three-year, $33 million contract was no small feat for the Blue Jays organization.

From an on-field standpoint, that move drastically improved the back end of their bullpen. However, on the business end, it was a major shift in philosophy for this front office, which has historically shied away from financial commitments such as Hoffman’s. In most instances, they’ve targeted the middle tiers in free agency — think of seventh and eighth-inning setup arms — rather than shopping in the luxury-car section.

Pre-Hoffman signing, García’s previous two-year, $11 million contract (plus third-year option) was the largest commitment to a free-agent reliever under the Ross Atkins-Mark Shapiro era, per Cot’s Baseball Contracts. But they surprisingly took a walk on the wilder side last winter, and it proved that you don’t always have to be risk-averse with free-agent spending on top-end relievers.

Sure, Hoffman’s inaugural campaign ended in heartbreak, surrendering a game-tying home run with the Blue Jays two outs away from winning their first World Series in 32 years. He still carried immense value prior to that crushing moment, though, adding plenty of swing-and-miss to the ‘pen (90th percentile in whiff rate, 98th in chase rate), as well as featuring a dominant start to the 2025 season (1.10 ERA with 23 strikeouts and two walks over his first 14 appearances) and the club’s run to the Fall Classic (one run allowed in 15 combined appearances, including regular and post-season, leading up to Game 7 of the World Series).

When you compare Hoffman’s contract to Tanner Scott’s (four years, $72 million) and Carlos Estévez’s (two years, $22 million), who were the No. 1 and No. 3 highest-paid relievers from last off-season, with Hoffman sandwiched between them, Toronto ended up gambling on the right reliever from the 2024-25 free-agent crop.

Knowing what they do now, it’s understandable why the Blue Jays’ brass has reportedly expressed interest in this winter’s top free-agent reliever, Edwin Díaz. Their confidence in making such a lucrative expenditure like this is undoubtedly much higher than it would’ve been in previous off-seasons.

They aren’t always going to come out ahead as they did in Year 1 with Hoffman. It’s like with anything in life, sometimes you’re going to get burned by taking risks. Finding a workable comfort level in that regard will be key for Toronto this winter.

Maybe that won’t include making a $100-million splash for Díaz. Or maybe it will. The point is, last off-season’s bold decision to bet on Hoffman is proof this franchise can afford to spend atop the reliever market, which is why they’re also potential suitors for Williams, Suarez and Ryan Helsley (probably only as a reliever, though).

The ’25 season served as a reminder that value can be obtained through many different avenues, even via minor-league signings and salary-dump trades.

Take Lauer’s remarkable journey, for example. After rediscovering himself in Korea to end the ’24 campaign, he worked his way back to the majors before saving the Blue Jays’ rotation in the first half of last season, with Scherzer injured and Bowden Francis sporting an inflated 6.05 ERA before being optioned to triple-A Buffalo.

Lauer, who’s arbitration-eligible and under club control through next season, served every role imaginable for this team. From starting, then transitioning to a multi-inning reliever and occasionally serving as a lefty specialist out of the ‘pen — he did it all. In the end, the 30-year-old southpaw was their third-most valuable pitcher, courtesy of his 1.4 fWAR — trailing only Chris Bassitt’s 2.4 and Kevin Gausman’s 4.1 ratings.

Or how about Straw’s value to the ’25 Blue Jays? His 1.8 fWAR was the highest of the club’s off-season acquisitions, regardless of position. While the 31-year-old outfielder provided minimal-to-marginal offensive upside, his Gold Glove-calibre defence in centre helped preserve the team’s run-prevention identity amid Daulton Varsho’s injury-plagued campaign.

Toronto will need to continue spending to build on this year’s memorable run to the World Series, which will mean maintaining a top-five payroll in baseball. However, Lauer and Straw are perfect examples of the organization’s recent success in discovering hidden gems, and they may serve as future blueprints for finding the next versions of undervalued, high-upside targets.