<p>Rumours continue to swirl about the Toronto Blue Jays&#8217; level of interest in this year&#8217;s free-agent starting pitching market, and it doesn&#8217;t appear they&#8217;ll dissipate any time soon. </p>
<p>While the organization has much larger needs, like, for example, upgrading its offence and the back end of the bullpen, the amount of talent that&#8217;s currently available seems to have intrigued management about possibly acquiring a front-line starter this winter. They may only be window-shopping right now. But, where there&#8217;s smoke, there&#8217;s usually fire &#8212; as the old saying goes.</p>
<p>And there&#8217;s plenty of smoke surrounding Toronto&#8217;s front office these days.</p>
<h2>Blue Jays Pursuing Snell, Burnes, Fried</h2>
<p>Unsurprisingly, in addition to Juan Soto&#8217;s market, Toronto also appears to have its hands in several cookie jars amongst the top-tier starting pitching market, as <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5935761/2024/11/21/blake-snell-free-agency-dodgers-mlb-offseason/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><em>The Athletic&#8217;s </em>Ken Rosenthal reported Monday night</a> that they&#8217;re pursuing Blake Snell, Corbin Burnes and Max Fried.</p>
<p>Rosenthal noted Snell had already met with the Boston Red Sox and Los Angeles Dodgers, adding he could also meet with the Blue Jays and Baltimore Orioles if he hasn&#8217;t already. By all accounts, it appears the 30-year-old southpaw intends to ink his next contract sooner rather than later after he went unsigned until March 19 last off-season.</p>
<p>According to<a href="https://www.sportsnet.ca/mlb/article/blue-jays-show-clear-interest-in-starting-pitching-as-gm-meetings-wrap/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> <em>Sportsnet</em>&#8216;s Ben Nicholson-Smith</a>, the Blue Jays expressed interest in many free-agent starting pitchers at the GM Meetings earlier this month, gathering information on the likes of Fried, Luis Severino and Japan’s Roki Sasaki &#8212; who&#8217;ll be posted during the 2025 international signing period, beginning on January 15, MLB commissioner <a href="https://x.com/MLBONFOX/status/1859373413145497882" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Rob Manfred said Wednesday</a>.</p>
<p>Procuring any of the names above would significantly improve a starting rotation that includes Kevin Gausman, José Berríos, Chris Bassitt and Bowden Francis, moving Yariel Rodríguez to the bullpen.</p>
<h2>Jacob Stallings Re-Signs With Rockies</h2>
<p>What was already a thin free-agent class for catchers became even smaller on Wednesday, with Stallings returning to Colorado on a one-year, $2-million contract with a $2 million mutual option for 2026, including a $500,000 buyout.</p>
<p>The 34-year-old backstop, who&#8217;ll turn 35 next month, spent last season with the Rockies, posting a career-high nine home runs and 36 RBIs while slashing .263/.357/.453 across 82 games, earning a 114 wRC+ (100 league average). He was worth 0.9 fWAR, his highest rating since 2021 (3.1).</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">Welcome back, Jacob Stallings! <a href="https://t.co/dqFIUmRIY8">pic.twitter.com/dqFIUmRIY8</a></p>
<p>— Colorado Rockies (@Rockies) <a href="https://twitter.com/Rockies/status/1859308260437991798?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 20, 2024</a></p></blockquote>
<p>This signing scratches off another possible target as the Blue Jays seek a catching partner for Alejandro Kirk. Over the last few weeks, the front office has watched Travis d&#8217;Arnaud (Angels) and Stallings come off the board, leaving behind a less-than-ideal list of potential options, headlined by Danny Jansen and Kyle Higashioka.</p>
<p>A few other catchers feature modest upside, such as Carson Kelly and Elías Díaz, but that group continues to shrink more and more by the second.</p>
<h2>Chris Sale, Tarik Skubal Named Cy Young Winners</h2>
<p>As expected, Sale and Skubal took home this year&#8217;s AL and NL Cy Young Awards as the top pitchers from their respective leagues.</p>
<p>In Sale&#8217;s case, the former Red Sox lefty received 26 of 30 first-place votes, while the Phillies&#8217; Zack Wheeler earned the remaining four. Skubal, meanwhile, won unanimously after receiving all 30 first-place votes, with the Royals&#8217; Seth Lugo &#8212; a former reliever-turned-starter &#8212; finishing as the runner-up thanks to his 14 second-place votes.</p>
<p>Further down the list, former Blue Jays starter Yusei Kikuchi earned one fifth-place vote, the first Cy Young vote of his career. The 33-year-old southpaw was traded to the Houston Astros ahead of this past season&#8217;s trade deadline, sending three prospects in return &#8212; including Jake Bloss, Joey Loperfido and Will Wagner.</p>
<h2>Friday&#8217;s Non-Tender Deadline</h2>
<p>All 30 teams must tender contracts to arbitration-eligible players by Friday&#8217;s deadline. For anyone who isn&#8217;t tendered, they&#8217;ll enter free agency. The Blue Jays have nine cases to settle this year, although many should be fairly straightforward.</p>
<p>Toronto will undoubtedly tender contracts to Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (because, of course), Daulton Varsho, Alejandro Kirk and Ernie Clement. They&#8217;ll also most likely tender Alek Manoah, who&#8217;s expected to miss the first half of next season while recovering from Tommy John surgery.</p>
<p>However, the statuses of Jordan Romano, Erik Swanson, Zach Pop and Dillon Tate remain giant question marks.</p>

Rumours continue to swirl about the Toronto Blue Jays' level of interest in this year's free-agent starting pitching market, and it doesn't appear they'll dissipate any time soon. 

While the organization has much larger needs, like, for example, upgrading its offence and the back end of the bullpen, the amount of talent that's currently available seems to have intrigued management about possibly acquiring a front-line starter this winter. They may only be window-shopping right now. But, where there's smoke, there's usually fire -- as the old saying goes.

And there's plenty of smoke surrounding Toronto's front office these days.
<h2>Blue Jays Pursuing Snell, Burnes, Fried</h2>
Unsurprisingly, in addition to Juan Soto's market, Toronto also appears to have its hands in several cookie jars amongst the top-tier starting pitching market, as <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5935761/2024/11/21/blake-snell-free-agency-dodgers-mlb-offseason/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><em>The Athletic's </em>Ken Rosenthal reported Monday night</a> that they're pursuing Blake Snell, Corbin Burnes and Max Fried.

Rosenthal noted Snell had already met with the Boston Red Sox and Los Angeles Dodgers, adding he could also meet with the Blue Jays and Baltimore Orioles if he hasn't already. By all accounts, it appears the 30-year-old southpaw intends to ink his next contract sooner rather than later after he went unsigned until March 19 last off-season.

According to<a href="https://www.sportsnet.ca/mlb/article/blue-jays-show-clear-interest-in-starting-pitching-as-gm-meetings-wrap/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> <em>Sportsnet</em>'s Ben Nicholson-Smith</a>, the Blue Jays expressed interest in many free-agent starting pitchers at the GM Meetings earlier this month, gathering information on the likes of Fried, Luis Severino and Japan’s Roki Sasaki -- who'll be posted during the 2025 international signing period, beginning on January 15, MLB commissioner <a href="https://x.com/MLBONFOX/status/1859373413145497882" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Rob Manfred said Wednesday</a>.

Procuring any of the names above would significantly improve a starting rotation that includes Kevin Gausman, José Berríos, Chris Bassitt and Bowden Francis, moving Yariel Rodríguez to the bullpen.
<h2>Jacob Stallings Re-Signs With Rockies</h2>
What was already a thin free-agent class for catchers became even smaller on Wednesday, with Stallings returning to Colorado on a one-year, $2-million contract with a $2 million mutual option for 2026, including a $500,000 buyout.

The 34-year-old backstop, who'll turn 35 next month, spent last season with the Rockies, posting a career-high nine home runs and 36 RBIs while slashing .263/.357/.453 across 82 games, earning a 114 wRC+ (100 league average). He was worth 0.9 fWAR, his highest rating since 2021 (3.1).
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">Welcome back, Jacob Stallings! <a href="https://t.co/dqFIUmRIY8">pic.twitter.com/dqFIUmRIY8</a></p>
— Colorado Rockies (@Rockies) <a href="https://twitter.com/Rockies/status/1859308260437991798?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 20, 2024</a></blockquote>
This signing scratches off another possible target as the Blue Jays seek a catching partner for Alejandro Kirk. Over the last few weeks, the front office has watched Travis d'Arnaud (Angels) and Stallings come off the board, leaving behind a less-than-ideal list of potential options, headlined by Danny Jansen and Kyle Higashioka.

A few other catchers feature modest upside, such as Carson Kelly and Elías Díaz, but that group continues to shrink more and more by the second.
<h2>Chris Sale, Tarik Skubal Named Cy Young Winners</h2>
As expected, Sale and Skubal took home this year's AL and NL Cy Young Awards as the top pitchers from their respective leagues.

In Sale's case, the former Red Sox lefty received 26 of 30 first-place votes, while the Phillies' Zack Wheeler earned the remaining four. Skubal, meanwhile, won unanimously after receiving all 30 first-place votes, with the Royals' Seth Lugo -- a former reliever-turned-starter -- finishing as the runner-up thanks to his 14 second-place votes.

Further down the list, former Blue Jays starter Yusei Kikuchi earned one fifth-place vote, the first Cy Young vote of his career. The 33-year-old southpaw was traded to the Houston Astros ahead of this past season's trade deadline, sending three prospects in return -- including Jake Bloss, Joey Loperfido and Will Wagner.
<h2>Friday's Non-Tender Deadline</h2>
All 30 teams must tender contracts to arbitration-eligible players by Friday's deadline. For anyone who isn't tendered, they'll enter free agency. The Blue Jays have nine cases to settle this year, although many should be fairly straightforward.

Toronto will undoubtedly tender contracts to Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (because, of course), Daulton Varsho, Alejandro Kirk and Ernie Clement. They'll also most likely tender Alek Manoah, who's expected to miss the first half of next season while recovering from Tommy John surgery.

However, the statuses of Jordan Romano, Erik Swanson, Zach Pop and Dillon Tate remain giant question marks.

News and Notes: Blue Jays continue to pursue top-tier starting pitchers, thin catching market takes another hit, Cy Young Award winners, and more

Blue Jays Prospect Spotlight: Connecting with pitcher Colby Martin about his draft experience and first taste of pro ball

Toronto Blue Jays first baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (27) celebrates after hitting a double in the fifth inning against the Los Angeles Angels at Angel Stadium

Recent articles from Thomas Hall

Breaking News