2026 Toronto Blue Jays Season Thread

[Roof-Daddy]

Apparently the Athletic is reporting that Berrios is indeed on the trade block.

Will be interesting to see if they can find someone to take him. Its extra risky for the buyer because of the player option. If he sucks he likely take sthe option and the team is stuck with him, if hes good he probably declines and then goes to free agency.

[bizaro86]

Berrios has been a steady starter his whole career until the last portion of the last season. Trading him now feels like selling low, but also we clearly don't need 7-8 starters and he's the worst from a cost to value point of view (esp with his option years). If they can find someone willing to give value back (eg good reliever) and eat most/all of his contract it probably does make sense.

[bizaro86]

Originally Posted by Roof-Daddy

Apparently the Athletic is reporting that Berrios is indeed on the trade block.

Will be interesting to see if they can find someone to take him. Its extra risky for the buyer because of the player option. If he sucks he likely take sthe option and the team is stuck with him, if hes good he probably declines and then goes to free agency.

He'd have to be pretty good to not exercise that, imo.

I think any taker for him has to look at it as a 3 year deal. If he wins the Cy Young and opts out you're probably still happy with that.

[Roof-Daddy]

I think Berrios is going to get traded and I think the Jays will also bring Scherzer back for depth. IMO maybe Berrios and the team had a falling out when they yanked.him from the rotation late last season. Maybe I'm wrong, but sure seems plausible.

Gausman
Cease
Bieber
Yesavage
Ponce
Scherzer
Lauer

I think they want to be very deep with starters so they can lighten work loads and keep guys fresh, especially the guys who will be starting in the playoffs.

[Jason14h]

Zero chance Berrios is a Jay next season. I was saying this before signing Ponce

1. They aren’t paying 18 million for an insurance 5th starter
2. Berrios isn’t going to go to the pen
3. Berrios hasn’t said 1 word during the World Series run or postseason - he is clearly done with the team

Also - as much as we assume Berrios will opt in , with a 2-3 War season he can opt out and probably get a 4-5 year deal for 20 mil a year. He is going to want to have a big year so he can opt out and get more (not sure how likely it is but starters who can go 30 games get paid )

I could see the Jays having to pick up money if Berrios opted in after this season but I don’t think he will be as hard to trade as people think .

[SuperMatt18]

I don't think he will be that hard to move TBH

He's 31 so it's not like he's ancient and can't bounce back. It's hard to find starters that can generally give you 170+ innings. Even with his perceived struggles he's 6.1 WAR the last 3 seasons, and 7th in the MLB in innings pitched in that time.

A team will take a flyer. He's a better pitcher than Luis Severino, and Severino got 3 x $67M last year. That's exactly what is left on Berrios deal.

Honestly still think he takes a lot of unnecessary hate. 6.1 WAR, 548 IP, 95 starts, 36-28 record, 3.79 ERA, isn't that bad over the last 4 seasons but I do think it would be a smart time for the Jays to try to sell. His biggest issue is giving up HRs...but if I'm a team that plays in a stadium that tends to be a bit more HR friendly (San Francisco, Cleveland, KC) then maybe it's not a bad bet.

Edit: And I think his salary is more like 3 x $59 TBH, he's not going to his most of these escalators for the extra $5M to bump his salary to the $24M. He maybe hits the 300 and 350 innings ones for an extra $2M, but would need 180 innings to hit 350. Don't think he's winning any Cy Youngs.

Incentives available
2027-2028 Escalators up to $5M
$1M each for 300, 350 innings pitched across 2025-2026
$500,000 each for 375, 400 innings pitched across 2025-2026
$2M for a Cy Young in 2025-2026
$1.5M for finishing 2nd-5th in Cy Young 2025-2026
$750,000 for finishing 6th-10th in Cy Young 2025-2026

[bizaro86]

Originally Posted by SuperMatt18

I don't think he will be that hard to move TBH

He's 31 so it's not like he's ancient and can't bounce back. It's hard to find starters that can generally give you 170+ innings. Even with his perceived struggles he's 6.1 WAR the last 3 seasons, and 7th in the MLB in innings pitched in that time.

A team will take a flyer. He's a better pitcher than Luis Severino, and Severino got 3 x $67M last year. That's exactly what is left on Berrios deal.

Honestly still think he takes a lot of unnecessary hate. 6.1 WAR, 548 IP, 95 starts, 36-28 record, 3.79 ERA, isn't that bad over the last 4 seasons but I do think it would be a smart time for the Jays to try to sell. His biggest issue is giving up HRs...but if I'm a team that plays in a stadium that tends to be a bit more HR friendly (San Francisco, Cleveland, KC) then maybe it's not a bad bet.

I mean, I think the average "how much you like Berrios" scores on this forum are massively influenced by one outlier at the very bottom. I think most posters have him as a good middle of the rotation starter who can eat innings, with some question marks due to performance/injury at the end of last season. I think he'd be very tradeable especially with a bit of retention (because the option years at $24MM would scare some teams)

Edited to ask about your edit: isn't the $24 MM the base and then the escalators are on top of that? That's how I read sportrac but I could absolutely be wrong...

Agree the Cy Young ones absolutely don't matter - if he finishes top 10 in Cy Young voting he'll opt out.

[SuperMatt18]

Maybe - it's not clear but I'm assuming the max $5M escalator is what takes you from $19M to $24M

Edit: It seems like I was wrong and the escalators could be on top of the $24M

His guaranteed money was $131M which is the $24M, and could go up to $141M

[Andrew]

At times he was lights out. Just is not good enough or consistent

[bluejays]

Almost no chance he opts out IMO. He may not be great but $24M or whatever is owed is too much to opt out of in hopes he exceeds. He'll go somewhere and be a reliable 4 if not injured. He's just worn out his welcome here. Change of scenery could be what he's looking for.

[mile]

https://twitter.com/user/status/1996390240270135388

[Roof-Daddy]

Hopefully they get him. That's a difference maker right there.

23.4 fWAR the last 5 seasons.

10th in all.of MLB in that time frame

[bluejays]

There really isn't any news there. The Jays were interested, they're one of the highest paying possibilities, the guy probably lives/visits the area, it's a no doubter he'd visit Florida facilities. Probably some other teams involved too. I'd take Bo over him, just for the 2nd base huge advantage he provides over the competition. I do worry about Bo's weight long term but I think Bo's average and position make him a huge asset, that probably a lot of Jays fans are undervaluing.

[howard_the_duck]

This offseason feels surreal. Keep the spending coming.

[howard_the_duck]

Originally Posted by bluejays

There really isn't any news there. The Jays were interested, they're one of the highest paying possibilities, the guy probably lives/visits the area, it's a no doubter he'd visit Florida facilities. Probably some other teams involved too. I'd take Bo over him, just for the 2nd base huge advantage he provides over the competition. I do worry about Bo's weight long term but I think Bo's average and position make him a huge asset, that probably a lot of Jays fans are undervaluing.

You’d take Bo over Tucker? I like Bo but if it’s not a budget concern, give me Tucker everyday. Barger can play third and Ernie slides over to 2nd, easy peasy.

[Roof-Daddy]

Really hoping we get one of them, but if I had to pick i think I take Tucker.

Still hoping Atkins/Rogers pull out all the stops and get both.

Step 1 would be signing Tucker. Step 2 would be matching the best offer Bo sees, if they do that he isn't leaving IMO

[Mathgod]

Originally Posted by mile

https://twitter.com/user/status/1996390240270135388

A real report? Or fake news?

I just don't want to get burned again like we did when the Ohtani rumors were circulating.

[bluejays]

Quoting not working ATM, but I'd take Bo over Tucker specifically for the advantage an elite hitting 2nd baseman brings over the rest of the league. There are a handful of good 2nd baseman. Truth be told is we don't know how teams will scout and work around Clement and Bargers flaws next year as both really shone at the end of the season. Can they adjust with more light on them? We'll see but I have a little bit of doubts. But Bo has proven mostly year after year he's elite at getting on base. I'm not complaining about Tucker whatsoever. He'd be a nice replacement for Springer for next year, and he's fit. But to have an elite infielder who can hit is of utmost importance.

[browna]

Yeah with Bo basically leading the league in hits, played right into the Jays leaning into that sort of relentless and smart at bats to get the team where it got. Clear from early that Santander wasn’t bringing the long ball.

Nevermind his infield abilities.

Of course the *why not both* meme, but I think you know what you have in Bo, and the team strategy almost shifts offensively if you lose him (whether Tucker comes in or not) and defensively you’re weakened overall too.

[howard_the_duck]

Originally Posted by bluejays

Quoting not working ATM, but I'd take Bo over Tucker specifically for the advantage an elite hitting 2nd baseman brings over the rest of the league. There are a handful of good 2nd baseman. Truth be told is we don't know how teams will scout and work around Clement and Bargers flaws next year as both really shone at the end of the season. Can they adjust with more light on them? We'll see but I have a little bit of doubts. But Bo has proven mostly year after year he's elite at getting on base. I'm not complaining about Tucker whatsoever. He'd be a nice replacement for Springer for next year, and he's fit. But to have an elite infielder who can hit is of utmost importance.

Don’t get me wrong I like Bo. I just wonder a bit how he ages especially with how few walks he takes. We’ve seen when he’s bad, it can crater real fast, and he’s a subpar defender now.