The Blue Jays have work to do this winter, and not just on the glamour end of free agency. After a sub-.500 finish, Toronto has every reason to be aggressive, but there’s also a case for shopping in the veteran aisle. The club has leaned that way before with players a little past their peak, including Justine Turner and Max Scherzer, and there are a few older names who could still fill useful roles if the price and term make sense.
One obvious possibility is Paul Goldschmidt, who just showed he can still bring something to the table. In 105 games with the Yankees in 2026, the 39-year-old hit 18 home runs, drove in 52 runs and batted .252.
That kind of production would give Toronto another source of thump in a part-time role, whether that’s at designated hitter or at first base. Goldschmidt’s resume still carries weight, too: former MVP, seven-time All-Star and four-time Gold Glove winner.
Even at this stage, that’s the kind of veteran who can plug a hole and raise the floor.
Eugenio Suárez belongs in the same conversation, especially because Toronto badly needs more power. The 35-year-old turned in 26 home runs, 74 RBI and a .212 average in 125 games for Cincinnati this season, and he remains a realistic one-year target if the Reds don’t exercise their mutual option for 2027.
Suárez also crossed a notable milestone, becoming the 10th active player to reach 350 home runs. The Jays passed on him when Cincinnati waived him late in the season, likely because George Springer was locked in at DH and there wasn’t an easy place to put him.
That calculus could change now, particularly if Springer heads into free agency as expected.
Toronto would still need to sort through the ripple effects. A move for either Goldschmidt or Suárez would force the Jays to figure out what’s next with Anthony Santander and Addison Barger, with both ideally spending most of their time in the outfield. That may not be so simple, though, since both are coming off different arm-related injuries.
Then there’s Chris Bassitt, whose name shouldn’t be dismissed just because his 2026 season with Baltimore was uneven. He posted a 4.59 ERA in 20 games, but Toronto already knows what he can do when he’s right.
Across three seasons with the Blue Jays from 2023 to 2025, Bassitt went 37-31 with a 3.89 ERA, and he was especially sharp during Toronto’s 2025 postseason run, finishing with a 1.04 ERA in seven appearances. With the Blue Jays looking for pitching depth, bringing back the 37-year-old on a one-year deal would be a logical swing.
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Blue Jays Face A Tough Bullpen Choice This Offseason
Torontos bullpen was one of the more interesting parts of its 2026 season, with Louis Varland and Tyler Rogers giving the club steady innings while the front office cycled through several arms along the way. The Blue Jays also saw a few pitchers move off the roster entirely, whether through designation for assignment or the start of free agency, leaving this relief group looking a lot different now than it did a few months ago.
Patrick Corbin and Paul Sewald are among the names now in that uncertain middle ground as Toronto weighs whether to keep leaning on familiar veteran depth or turn over more of the relief corps. The decisions feel especially tricky because both pitchers bring some level of track record the club can point to, but the Blue Jays still have to decide how much of that matters when building a bullpen for next season. [Read more 🡒]
Vladdys Next Step Could Decide How Real This Blue Jays Rebound Is
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. took a notable offseason step with laser eye surgery, a move that naturally invites a fresh round of curiosity about what it might mean for the Blue Jays at the plate. A 2025 Society of American Baseball Research study looked at the broader effect of LASIK on major league hitters and found a positive trend, though not one that showed up as statistically significant, with most players not quite getting back to the level they had been two years before surgery.
For Toronto, the more interesting question is whether Guerreros recent struggles were ever going to be solved by vision alone. The full picture around his dip has included other possible contributors, from a bad back to anxiety and depression, and the details of his procedure and pre-surgery eyesight have not been disclosed. So even as the surgery adds a compelling new layer to his reset, it remains only one part of a much bigger rebound storyline for a player whose next step could tell a lot about how real this Blue Jays push really is. [Read more 🡒]
Blue Jays Face A Tough Bieber Decision This Offseason
Shane Bieber gave the Blue Jays a late-season reminder of why he remains such a complicated offseason case. After dealing with health setbacks and limited innings over the past three seasons, he settled in enough down the stretch of 2023 to leave Toronto with a meaningful sample to consider, and that matters because his next stop could come on the open market shortly after the World Series.
Bieber has said he would like to return, and the Blue Jays appear at least open to exploring it, especially if the price reflects the risk that comes with his recent track record. General manager Ross Atkins said the club will work through its process before deciding, which leaves Toronto in the familiar spot of weighing upside against uncertainty as it tries to sort out whether Bieber fits as a reunion candidate this winter. [Read more 🡒]