The Toronto Blue Jays have started the GM Meetings with a pair of small but notable retention moves, bringing back outfielder Victor Arias and right-handed pitcher Josh Stephan on minor league deals. Both players will also head into training camp with invites, giving Toronto some extra organizational depth at two spots that always matter over the long haul.
Arias is the more intriguing name of the two. Toronto signed him out of Venezuela as an international free agent in 2019 when he was 16, and his pro career got underway in 2021. He broke out with High-A Vancouver in 2025, winning the organization’s minor league MVP, then spent most of last season with Double-A New Hampshire.
The numbers in New Hampshire were more ordinary than the year before, but Arias still filled up the stat sheet. In 87 games, he hit .226 with a .656 OPS while scoring 42 runs and adding 14 doubles, three triples, 10 home runs, 43 RBIs and nine stolen bases. That was enough to keep him in the picture as he finished the year ranked 24th among Blue Jays prospects by MLB Pipeline.
He has also carried that momentum into winter ball. Playing for Aguilas del Zulia in the Venezuelan Winter League, the 23-year-old posted a .329 average and .898 OPS over 23 games, along with 12 runs scored, two doubles, three home runs, 16 RBIs and six stolen bases. The expectation is that Arias opens the 2027 season back in New Hampshire, though Buffalo could be next if things go well.
Stephan’s path is a little different. Toronto picked him up in the trade that sent Adam Macko to the Texas Rangers at the deadline, with Josh Smith also part of that deal.
The 25-year-old righty didn’t have much success after landing in the Blue Jays’ system, going 0-6 with a 6.64 ERA and 1.40 WHIP in seven games for Triple-A Buffalo. Over 39.1 innings, he gave up 29 earned runs, including eight homers, while walking 12 and striking out 34.
Even with those struggles, Toronto decided to keep him in the fold and give him another shot in 2027. Stephan is not ranked among the Blue Jays’ top 30 prospects, and he’ll need to clean up the issues that followed him through a rough 2026 season in the minors.
His Triple-A résumé goes back to his time in the Rangers’ system, when he first reached the level in 2025 and threw 7.2 innings. He then spent all of 2026 with the Round Rock Express, logging 101 innings with a 5.44 ERA and 5.62 FIP.
Moves like these rarely make headlines for long, but they do matter in the margins. Most fade away, though every so often one of them sticks and turns into something bigger, like Spencer Miles did when he emerged from the group and established himself in the MLB corps.
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